A project-based book that teaches beginning Python programmers aged 10 and higher how to build working, useful, and fun voice-controlled applications.
Make Python Talk offers a fun and creative introduction to Python programming. Beginners learn how to put their newfound Python programming skills to work building applications that use speech recognition and text to speech. Experienced Python programmers learn how to integrate voice into their repertoire.
This book requires no prior coding experience. As you become proficient in Python you'll learn how to create Python functions, modules, and packages and build real working, useful applications. You'll learn how to develop games, scrape web pages, automatically access videos and music online, and teach your computer how to make informed, intelligent decisions.
Each chapter covers multiple projects that build on each other to develop skills at a manageable pace. Projects range from fun games — like a voice-activated Connect Four game with intelligent computer opponents — to an Alexa-style personal assistant, a real-time language translator, and a program to automatically read news headlines.
All programs are cross-platform so can be run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Dr. Mark H. Liu is an Associate Professor and (founding) Director of the Master of Science in Finance Program at the University of Kentucky where he teaches Python Predictive Analytics and runs Python workshops for finance master students. He has more than 20 years of coding experience in Fortran, SAS, Stata, and Python. Dr. Liu obtained his Ph.D from Boston College and his M.A. from Western University in Canada and has published his research in top finance journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Review of Corporate Finance Studies.
