[Public] On "save"
Some of you have expressed interest in knowing more about what I do for work/research/school. ve often said "I teach computers to understand human language." But what exactly does that mean? A lot of things, really, but here's one.
Word sense disambiguation. What does this mean? Many words have multiple meanings. Just as an example, I've looked up "save" in a dictionary, and here are the results. Each line is a "word sense" (the sense of the word). While I think many of us would argue that some of these definitions are really the same... there are still quite a few definitions here.
We humans do a pretty good job of figuring out which meaning of "save" is meant when someone uses the word. But a computer doesn't really have a grasp of the English language. It only knows what I (or someone else) writes into a computer program. I can even write in all these definitions into the program, and the computer will know it is one of them. But which one.
Which sense below do you think my comment in last night's post about "saving friendships" falls under?
save - /seɪv/ [seyv], saved, sav·ing
-verb (used with object)
1. to rescue from danger or possible harm, injury, or loss: to save someone from drowning.
2. to keep safe, intact, or unhurt; safeguard; preserve: God save the king.
3. to keep from being lost: to save the game.
4. to avoid the spending, consumption, or waste of: to save fuel.
5. to keep, as for reuse: to save leftovers for tomorrow's dinner.
6. to set aside, reserve, or lay by: to save money.
7. to treat carefully in order to reduce wear, fatigue, etc.: to save one's eyes by reading under proper light.
8. to prevent the occurrence, use, or necessity of; obviate: to come early in order to save waiting.
9. Theology, to deliver from the power and consequences of sin.
10. Computers, to copy (a file) from RAM onto a disk or other storage medium.
11. Sports, to stop (a ball or puck) from entering one's goal.
-verb (used without object)
12. to lay up money as the result of economy or thrift.
13. to be economical in expenditure.
14. to preserve something from harm, injury, loss, etc.
15. to admit of being kept without spoiling, as food.
-noun
16. an act or instance of saving, esp. in sports.
17. Baseball, a statistical credit given a relief pitcher for preserving a team's victory by holding its lead in a game.
-preposition
18. except; but: All the guests had left save one.
-conjunction
19. except; but (usually fol. by that ): He would have gone, save that he had no means.
Word sense disambiguation. What does this mean? Many words have multiple meanings. Just as an example, I've looked up "save" in a dictionary, and here are the results. Each line is a "word sense" (the sense of the word). While I think many of us would argue that some of these definitions are really the same... there are still quite a few definitions here.
We humans do a pretty good job of figuring out which meaning of "save" is meant when someone uses the word. But a computer doesn't really have a grasp of the English language. It only knows what I (or someone else) writes into a computer program. I can even write in all these definitions into the program, and the computer will know it is one of them. But which one.
Which sense below do you think my comment in last night's post about "saving friendships" falls under?
save - /seɪv/ [seyv], saved, sav·ing
-verb (used with object)
1. to rescue from danger or possible harm, injury, or loss: to save someone from drowning.
2. to keep safe, intact, or unhurt; safeguard; preserve: God save the king.
3. to keep from being lost: to save the game.
4. to avoid the spending, consumption, or waste of: to save fuel.
5. to keep, as for reuse: to save leftovers for tomorrow's dinner.
6. to set aside, reserve, or lay by: to save money.
7. to treat carefully in order to reduce wear, fatigue, etc.: to save one's eyes by reading under proper light.
8. to prevent the occurrence, use, or necessity of; obviate: to come early in order to save waiting.
9. Theology, to deliver from the power and consequences of sin.
10. Computers, to copy (a file) from RAM onto a disk or other storage medium.
11. Sports, to stop (a ball or puck) from entering one's goal.
-verb (used without object)
12. to lay up money as the result of economy or thrift.
13. to be economical in expenditure.
14. to preserve something from harm, injury, loss, etc.
15. to admit of being kept without spoiling, as food.
-noun
16. an act or instance of saving, esp. in sports.
17. Baseball, a statistical credit given a relief pitcher for preserving a team's victory by holding its lead in a game.
-preposition
18. except; but: All the guests had left save one.
-conjunction
19. except; but (usually fol. by that ): He would have gone, save that he had no means.