WordPredictor!

G. Batten
December 12, 2014

Coursera Data Science Capstone Presentation caption

The Problem

The keyboards on smart phones are much better than those on flip phones, but they still allow us to use only our thumbs to type. Using fewer keys to enter what you want would make texting easier and faster.

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The Solution is . . .

WordPredictor!, an app that predicts what the next word is so you don't have to type it out. WordPredictor! is a proof-of-concept application which predicts the next word when a phrase is entered. In the production model, you will be able to tap the word to append it to your text, saving time and frustration.

How does it work?

The algorithm underlying WordPredictor! takes a large body of current text (blogs, news, and tweets), and determines how often words or groups of words appear. These frequencies are combined into “dictionaries” that are queried when a phrase is entered into the app.
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For Example . . .

If you entered the phrase “It's raining cats and”, WordPredictor! would first look in the dictionary containing 5-word combinations. It finds that “It's raining cats and dogs” is the most frequent phrase starting with those four words, and returns “dogs”.

If it hadn't found the solution, it would take “raining cats and” and look it up in the 4-word table. This processes continues down to the 3-word and 2-word tables. If necessary, WordPredictor! re-visits higher order tables while leaving out some of the middle words, e.g. “It's raining * and” until it finds the solution.

In the end, if none are found, a suggestion is made based on the part of speech of the last word of the phrase.

How do I use WordPredictor!?

WordPredictor! is easy to use! Simply type your phrase in the white box, hit the “Update View” button, and the suggested next word appears in green. Try it here: https://gwbatten.shinyapps.io/WordPredictor2-app/ caption