Running Python

The simplest way to run Python is via IDLE, the Integrated Development Interface. It opens up a window and you can enter commands at the >>> prompt. You can also open up an editor with File -> New Window and type in a program, then run it using Run -> Run Module. Save your program to a file with a .py extension.

Windows

Start -> All Programs -> Python 2.6 -> IDLE

Mac

Finder -> Applications -> MacPython 2.6 -> IDLE

Unix

$ idle

Check that the Python interpreter is listening by typing the following command at the prompt. It should print Monty Python!

>>> print "Monty Python!"

Check that NLTK is installed by typing "import nltk" at the prompt.

Chapter 1 of the NLTK book suggests dozens of things to try.

Running NLTK's Graphical Demonstrations

Chart Parser

 nltk.app.chart() 
 Shift-Reduce Parser

 nltk.app.srparser()

Recursive Descent Parser
nltk.app.rdparser()

 Parse Trees

 nltk.app.tree()




 POS Concordance

 nltk.app.concordance()

Chunk Parser

 nltk.app.chunkparser()

Other Demonstrations

Most NLTK modules include demonstration code. Here are some examples involving tokenizing, stemming, and tagging:

>>> import nltk
>>> nltk.stem.porter.demo()
>>> nltk.stem.lancaster.demo()
>>> nltk.probability.demo()

Here are some more examples, involving parsing and semantic interpretation:

>>> import nltk
>>> nltk.chunk.regexp.demo()
>>> nltk.parse.chart.demo()
>>> nltk.sem.evaluate.demo()
>>> nltk.sem.logic.demo()

Online Documentation

You can ask for help on any Python or NLTK object using the built-in help facility, e.g. help(list), help(nltk.parse).