Let's Build a Music Recommender!

Let’s Build a Music Recommender!

TIMESTAMPS

• 0:00 Overview
• 2:21 AudiSet Dataset
• 6:15 Embedding Generator
• 9:46 Code: Generate Embedding from WAV
• 16:30 Code: AudioSet Processing
• 24:55 ANNOY Explained
• 34:33 Recommendation Engine Code with ANNOY

CODE: https://github.com/ajhalthor/spotify-recommender

RESOURCES
[1] ANNOY Explained in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkCCyLW0ehU
[2] AudioSet Download: https://research.google.com/audioset/download.html
[3] MAX Audio Embedding Generator: https://github.com/IBM/MAX-Audio-Embedding-Generator
[4] Annoy slidedeck: https://www.slideshare.net/erikbern/approximate-nearest-neighbor-methods-and-vector-models-nyc-ml-meetup

#machine-learning #data-science

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Buddha Community

How to Build A Flexible Movie Recommender Chatbot In Python

Follow our steps to discover what it takes to create a web-app that recommends movies based on open-ended user inputs!

Our working final product can be tested here.

Have you ever wondered what a chatbot is and how to build one?

In this three-part series, we will teach you everything you need to build and deploy your Chatbot. By “we” here, I mean my team members (Ahmed, Dennis, Pedro, and Steven), four data science students at the Minerva Schools at KGI. The series will cover the following topics:

• Part 1: Building a content-based recommender using a cosine similarity algorithm.
• Part 2: Deploying the model on AWS serverless computing platform and creating an interactive chatbot web application.
• Part 3: Model analysis and future recommendations.

We use a Jupyter Python 3 notebook as a collaborative coding environment for this project, and other bits of code for the web app development and deployment. All the code for this series is available in this GitHub repository.

Introduction

Businesses integrate chatbots into many processes and applications. You might need to interact with one while buying an item from Sephora, booking a flight from British Airways, or even customizing your cup of coffee from Starbucks. Developers build chatbots to understand customers’ needs and assist them without needing human help, making chatbots very useful for many customer-facing businesses. So how does a chatbot work?

Generally, there are three types of chatbots:

1. Rule-based Chatbots: these bots can answer customers’ requests based on pre-defined rules that we created. These bots are suitable to handle simple, repetitive, and predicted tasks but might fail to address complex ones.
2. **Retrieval-based Chatbots: **these bots utilize advanced algorithms to select the most suitable response from a pool of diverse answers to accommodate customer’s needs. The retrieval approach is more intelligent than the rule-based fixed algorithm as it considers the message and the context of the conversation in answering customer’s requests.
3. **Generative Chatbots: **these bots use Machine Learning algorithms to simulate how humans understand and respond to customers’ requests. Like humans, they can generate new and different responses based on the context and wording of customer’s questions. Although Generative bots are the most intelligent type of chatbots, it is challenging to build and train them.

The chatbot we settled on creating is retrieval-based. Our bot can take a diverse set of responses, which are only slightly structured and output tailored recommendations. We had two main challenges to making this work: first, to build a flexible recommendation system in Python capable of taking in written requests by users and outputting decent recommendations. Second, implementing that algorithm in a web-app that is user-friendly and easy to use.

#movie-recommendation #towards-data-science #recommendation-system #chatbots #how to build a flexible movie recommender chatbot in python #chatbot in python

The Best Way to Build a Chatbot in 2021

A useful tool several businesses implement for answering questions that potential customers may have is a chatbot. Many programming languages give web designers several ways on how to make a chatbot for their websites. They are capable of answering basic questions for visitors and offer innovation for businesses.

With the help of programming languages, it is possible to create a chatbot from the ground up to satisfy someone’s needs.

Plan Out the Chatbot’s Purpose

Before building a chatbot, it is ideal for web designers to determine how it will function on a website. Several chatbot duties center around fulfilling customers’ needs and questions or compiling and optimizing data via transactions.

Some benefits of implementing chatbots include:

• Generating leads for marketing products and services
• Improve work capacity when employees cannot answer questions or during non-business hours
• Reducing errors while providing accurate information to customers or visitors
• Meeting customer demands through instant communication
• Alerting customers about their online transactions

Some programmers may choose to design a chatbox to function through predefined answers based on the questions customers may input or function by adapting and learning via human input.

#chatbots #latest news #the best way to build a chatbot in 2021 #build #build a chatbot #best way to build a chatbot

Build Your Own Cryptocurrency Blockchain in Python

Cryptocurrency is a decentralized digital currency that uses encryption techniques to regulate the generation of currency units and to verify the transfer of funds. Anonymity, decentralization, and security are among its main features. Cryptocurrency is not regulated or tracked by any centralized authority, government, or bank.

Blockchain, a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) network, which is comprised of data blocks, is an integral part of cryptocurrency. These blocks chronologically store information about transactions and adhere to a protocol for inter-node communication and validating new blocks. The data recorded in blocks cannot be altered without the alteration of all subsequent blocks.

In this article, we are going to explain how you can create a simple blockchain using the Python programming language.

Here is the basic blueprint of the Python class we’ll use for creating the blockchain:

class Block(object):
    def __init__():
        pass
    #initial structure of the block class 
    def compute_hash():
        pass
    #producing the cryptographic hash of each block 
  class BlockChain(object):
    def __init__(self):
    #building the chain
    def build_genesis(self):
        pass
    #creating the initial block
    def build_block(self, proof_number, previous_hash):
        pass
    #builds new block and adds to the chain
   @staticmethod
    def confirm_validity(block, previous_block):
        pass
    #checks whether the blockchain is valid
    def get_data(self, sender, receiver, amount):
        pass
    # declares data of transactions
    @staticmethod
    def proof_of_work(last_proof):
        pass
    #adds to the security of the blockchain
    @property
    def latest_block(self):
        pass
    #returns the last block in the chain

Now, let’s explain how the blockchain class works.

Initial Structure of the Block Class

Here is the code for our initial block class:

import hashlib
import time
class Block(object):
    def __init__(self, index, proof_number, previous_hash, data, timestamp=None):
        self.index = index
        self.proof_number = proof_number
        self.previous_hash = previous_hash
        self.data = data
        self.timestamp = timestamp or time.time()
    @property
    def compute_hash(self):
        string_block = "{}{}{}{}{}".format(self.index, self.proof_number, self.previous_hash, self.data, self.timestamp)
        return hashlib.sha256(string_block.encode()).hexdigest()

As you can see above, the class constructor or initiation method ( init()) above takes the following parameters:

self — just like any other Python class, this parameter is used to refer to the class itself. Any variable associated with the class can be accessed using it.

index — it’s used to track the position of a block within the blockchain.

previous_hash — it used to reference the hash of the previous block within the blockchain.

data—it gives details of the transactions done, for example, the amount bought.

timestamp—it inserts a timestamp for all the transactions performed.

The second method in the class, compute_hash , is used to produce the cryptographic hash of each block based on the above values.

As you can see, we imported the SHA-256 algorithm into the cryptocurrency blockchain project to help in getting the hashes of the blocks.

Once the values have been placed inside the hashing module, the algorithm will return a 256-bit string denoting the contents of the block.

So, this is what gives the blockchain immutability. Since each block will be represented by a hash, which will be computed from the hash of the previous block, corrupting any block in the chain will make the other blocks have invalid hashes, resulting in breakage of the whole blockchain network.

Building the Chain

The whole concept of a blockchain is based on the fact that the blocks are “chained” to each other. Now, we’ll create a blockchain class that will play the critical role of managing the entire chain.

It will keep the transactions data and include other helper methods for completing various roles, such as adding new blocks.

Let’s talk about the helper methods.

Adding the Constructor Method

Here is the code:

class BlockChain(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.chain = []
        self.current_data = []
        self.nodes = set()
        self.build_genesis()

The init() constructor method is what instantiates the blockchain.

Here are the roles of its attributes:

self.chain — this variable stores all the blocks.

self.current_data — this variable stores information about the transactions in the block.

self.build_genesis() — this method is used to create the initial block in the chain.

Building the Genesis Block

The build_genesis() method is used for creating the initial block in the chain, that is, a block without any predecessors. The genesis block is what represents the beginning of the blockchain.

To create it, we’ll call the build_block() method and give it some default values. The parameters proof_number and previous_hash are both given a value of zero, though you can give them any value you desire.

Here is the code:

def build_genesis(self):
        self.build_block(proof_number=0, previous_hash=0)
 def build_block(self, proof_number, previous_hash):
        block = Block(
            index=len(self.chain),
            proof_number=proof_number,
            previous_hash=previous_hash,
            data=self.current_data
        )
        self.current_data = []  
        self.chain.append(block)
        return block

Confirming Validity of the Blockchain

The confirm_validity method is critical in examining the integrity of the blockchain and making sure inconsistencies are lacking.

As explained earlier, hashes are pivotal for realizing the security of the cryptocurrency blockchain, because any slight alteration in an object will result in the creation of an entirely different hash.

Thus, the confirm_validity method utilizes a series of if statements to assess whether the hash of each block has been compromised.

Furthermore, it also compares the hash values of every two successive blocks to identify any anomalies. If the chain is working properly, it returns true; otherwise, it returns false.

Here is the code:

def confirm_validity(block, previous_block):
        if previous_block.index + 1 != block.index:
            return False
        elif previous_block.compute_hash != block.previous_hash:
            return False
        elif block.timestamp <= previous_block.timestamp:
            return False
        return True

Declaring Data of Transactions

The get_data method is important in declaring the data of transactions on a block. This method takes three parameters (sender’s information, receiver’s information, and amount) and adds the transaction data to the self.current_data list.

Here is the code:

def get_data(self, sender, receiver, amount):
        self.current_data.append({
            'sender': sender,
            'receiver': receiver,
            'amount': amount
        })
        return True

Effecting the Proof of Work

In blockchain technology, Proof of Work (PoW) refers to the complexity involved in mining or generating new blocks on the blockchain.

For example, the PoW can be implemented by identifying a number that solves a problem whenever a user completes some computing work. Anyone on the blockchain network should find the number complex to identify but easy to verify — this is the main concept of PoW.

This way, it discourages spamming and compromising the integrity of the network.

In this article, we’ll illustrate how to include a Proof of Work algorithm in a blockchain cryptocurrency project.

Finalizing With the Last Block

Finally, the latest_block() helper method is used for retrieving the last block on the network, which is actually the current block.

Here is the code:

def latest_block(self):
        return self.chain[-1]

Implementing Blockchain Mining

Now, this is the most exciting section!

Initially, the transactions are kept in a list of unverified transactions. Mining refers to the process of placing the unverified transactions in a block and solving the PoW problem. It can be referred to as the computing work involved in verifying the transactions.

If everything has been figured out correctly, a block is created or mined and joined together with the others in the blockchain. If users have successfully mined a block, they are often rewarded for using their computing resources to solve the PoW problem.

Here is the mining method in this simple cryptocurrency blockchain project:

def block_mining(self, details_miner):
            self.get_data(
            sender="0", #it implies that this node has created a new block
            receiver=details_miner,
            quantity=1, #creating a new block (or identifying the proof number) is awarded with 1
        )
        last_block = self.latest_block
        last_proof_number = last_block.proof_number
        proof_number = self.proof_of_work(last_proof_number)
        last_hash = last_block.compute_hash
        block = self.build_block(proof_number, last_hash)
        return vars(block)

Summary

Here is the whole code for our crypto blockchain class in Python:

import hashlib
import time
class Block(object):
    def __init__(self, index, proof_number, previous_hash, data, timestamp=None):
        self.index = index
        self.proof_number = proof_number
        self.previous_hash = previous_hash
        self.data = data
        self.timestamp = timestamp or time.time()
    @property
    def compute_hash(self):
        string_block = "{}{}{}{}{}".format(self.index, self.proof_number, self.previous_hash, self.data, self.timestamp)
        return hashlib.sha256(string_block.encode()).hexdigest()
    def __repr__(self):
        return "{} - {} - {} - {} - {}".format(self.index, self.proof_number, self.previous_hash, self.data, self.timestamp)
class BlockChain(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.chain = []
        self.current_data = []
        self.nodes = set()
        self.build_genesis()
    def build_genesis(self):
        self.build_block(proof_number=0, previous_hash=0)
    def build_block(self, proof_number, previous_hash):
        block = Block(
            index=len(self.chain),
            proof_number=proof_number,
            previous_hash=previous_hash,
            data=self.current_data
        )
        self.current_data = []  
        self.chain.append(block)
        return block
    @staticmethod
    def confirm_validity(block, previous_block):
        if previous_block.index + 1 != block.index:
            return False
        elif previous_block.compute_hash != block.previous_hash:
            return False
        elif block.timestamp <= previous_block.timestamp:
            return False
        return True
    def get_data(self, sender, receiver, amount):
        self.current_data.append({
            'sender': sender,
            'receiver': receiver,
            'amount': amount
        })
        return True        
    @staticmethod
    def proof_of_work(last_proof):
        pass
    @property
    def latest_block(self):
        return self.chain[-1]
    def chain_validity(self):
        pass        
    def block_mining(self, details_miner):       
        self.get_data(
            sender="0", #it implies that this node has created a new block
            receiver=details_miner,
            quantity=1, #creating a new block (or identifying the proof number) is awared with 1
        )
        last_block = self.latest_block
        last_proof_number = last_block.proof_number
        proof_number = self.proof_of_work(last_proof_number)
        last_hash = last_block.compute_hash
        block = self.build_block(proof_number, last_hash)
        return vars(block)  
    def create_node(self, address):
        self.nodes.add(address)
        return True
    @staticmethod
    def get_block_object(block_data):        
        return Block(
            block_data['index'],
            block_data['proof_number'],
            block_data['previous_hash'],
            block_data['data'],
            timestamp=block_data['timestamp']
        )
blockchain = BlockChain()
print("GET READY MINING ABOUT TO START")
print(blockchain.chain)
last_block = blockchain.latest_block
last_proof_number = last_block.proof_number
proof_number = blockchain.proof_of_work(last_proof_number)
blockchain.get_data(
    sender="0", #this means that this node has constructed another block
    receiver="LiveEdu.tv", 
    amount=1, #building a new block (or figuring out the proof number) is awarded with 1
)
last_hash = last_block.compute_hash
block = blockchain.build_block(proof_number, last_hash)
print("WOW, MINING HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL!")
print(blockchain.chain)

Now, let’s try to run our code to see if we can generate some digital coins…

Wow, it worked!

Conclusion

That is it!

We hope that this article has assisted you to understand the underlying technology that powers cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

We just illustrated the basic ideas for making your feet wet in the innovative blockchain technology. The project above can still be enhanced by incorporating other features to make it more useful and robust.

Learn More

Thanks for reading !

Do you have any comments or questions? Please share them below.

#python #cryptocurrency

Create Music Streaming App Like Spotify

Interested in music application development like Spotify? We at AppClues Infotech help to build online music streaming and podcast apps like Spotify for iOS and Android. Hire our best designers & developers to build your own music streaming app like Spotify with customized features & functionality.

For more info:
Website: https://www.appcluesinfotech.com/
Email: info@appcluesinfotech.com
Call: +1-978-309-9910

#create music streaming app like spotify #create music streaming app like spotify #create music streaming app like spotify #hire music streaming app developers #cost to make a music streaming app #cost to make an app like spotify

WSDM — KKBox’s Music Recommendation Challange

Introduction

“Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting_” — _Leibniz

Music helps anybody to connect with what you are doing. It elevates mood and rejuvenates the waves of thoughts. People are fond of listening to music every time whether it’s commute time, work time or focus time. Different people have different flavours of music. Music has served its users with various platforms like waves of Victrola, a culture of Cassette, Walkman era, i-pods, FM-Radios and now latest musical apps like Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Deezer, SoundCloud, Gaana, etc.

Intenet made life easy in terms of selecting music of users’ choice, but still, algorithms are needed to recommend favourite music to users without selecting manually.

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1. Business Problem and constrains:

Our business objective is to serve users with songs of their taste! This recommendation should not take hours, seconds would be sufficient to predict the chances of listening.

• ML Problem Formulation

We have to build the model which will predict whether a user will re-listen to the song by evaluating given features of the user and songs. We can convert this problem as a classification problem and can apply various classification algorithms.

---

2. Data Discussion:

Dataset source: https://www.kaggle.com/c/kkbox-music-recommendation-challenge/data

The problem has 6 data files:

1.train.csv: This file includes

user_id (msno), song_id, source_system_tab (where the event was triggered),

source_type (an entry point a user first plays music), source_screen_name (name of the layout user sees) and target ( 1 means there is a recurring listening event(s) triggered within a month after the user’s a very first observable listening event, target=0 otherwise ).

2. test.csv: This file includes

user_id (msno), song_id, source_system_tab (where the event was triggered),

source_type (an entry point a user first plays music) and source_screen_name (name of the layout user sees).

3. songs.csv: This file has features like

song_id, song_length, genre_id, artist_name, composer, lyricist and language.

4. members.csv: This file has msno (user_id), city, bd (may contains outliers), gender, register_via (register method), register_init_time (date) and expirartion_date (date).

5. song_extra_info.csv: This file has features like song_id, song_name and

ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) used to identify songs.

#machine-learning #classification #recommendation-system #music-recommendations #data-science #deep learning