Recurrent Neural Networks and Sequence Modeling
Chapter 1: Introduction to Sequential Data
Understanding Sequential Data
Characteristics of Sequence Data
The Need for Sequence Models
Representing Sequences Numerically
Common Sequence Modeling Tasks
Quiz for Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Recurrent Neural Network Fundamentals
The Core Idea: Processing Sequences Iteratively
Simple RNN Architecture
The Role of the Hidden State
Mathematical Formulation of an RNN Cell
Information Flow in RNNs
Backpropagation Through Time (BPTT)
Unrolling the Network for Training
Quiz for Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Building Simple RNNs
Setting Up the Development Environment
RNN Cell Implementation
Using Framework APIs for Simple RNN Layers
Handling Input and Output Shapes
Constructing a Basic RNN Model
Training Loop for RNNs
Hands-on Practical: Simple Sequence Prediction
Quiz for Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Challenges in Training RNNs
The Problem of Vanishing Gradients
The Problem of Exploding Gradients
Impact on Long-Range Dependency Learning
Gradient Clipping Explained
Weight Initialization Strategies
Activation Functions Considerations
Quiz for Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Networks
Addressing RNN Limitations with Gating
The LSTM Cell Architecture
The Forget Gate
The Input Gate
Updating the Cell State
The Output Gate
Information Flow Through an LSTM Cell
Advantages of LSTMs
Quiz for Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Gated Recurrent Units (GRUs)
Introducing GRUs: A Simpler Gated Architecture
The GRU Cell Architecture
The Update Gate
The Reset Gate
Calculating the Candidate Hidden State
Calculating the Final Hidden State
Comparing GRU and LSTM
Computational Efficiency Considerations
When to Choose GRU or LSTM
Quiz for Chapter 6
Chapter 7: Implementing LSTMs and GRUs
Using LSTM Layers in Deep Learning Frameworks
Using GRU Layers in Deep Learning Frameworks
Configuring LSTM/GRU Layer Parameters
Stacking Recurrent Layers
Understanding Bidirectional RNNs
Implementing Bidirectional Layers
Hands-on Practical: Sentiment Analysis
Quiz for Chapter 7
Chapter 8: Preparing Sequence Data for RNNs
Text Data Preprocessing Overview
Tokenization and Vocabulary Building
Integer Encoding Sequences
Introduction to Embedding Layers
Handling Variable Length Sequences
Padding Sequences
Masking Padded Values
Batching Sequential Data
Preprocessing Time Series Data
Practice: Data Preparation Pipeline
Quiz for Chapter 8
Chapter 9: Sequence Modeling Application Techniques
Sequence Prediction Approaches
Time Series Forecasting Models
Sequence Classification Techniques
Text Classification Models
Sequence Generation Methods
Text Generation Models
Introduction to Encoder-Decoder Architecture
Brief Overview of Attention Mechanisms
Hands-on Practical: Time Series Forecasting
Quiz for Chapter 9
Chapter 10: Evaluating and Tuning Sequence Models
Metrics for Sequence Classification
Metrics for Sequence Prediction
Metrics for Sequence Generation
Visualizing Model Behavior
Hyperparameter Tuning Strategies
Regularization Techniques for RNNs
Troubleshooting Common Training Issues
Practice: Tuning an RNN Model
Quiz for Chapter 10
Understanding Sequential Data
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- Deep Learning, Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville, 2016 (MIT Press) - A comprehensive textbook that provides a foundational understanding of deep learning, including dedicated chapters on sequential models and recurrent neural networks.
- Speech and Language Processing: An Introduction to Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and Speech Recognition, Daniel Jurafsky and James H. Martin, 2025 (Online manuscript released August 24, 2025) - A definitive textbook for natural language processing, offering detailed coverage of text as sequential data, its properties, and various modeling techniques. The 4th edition draft is continuously updated.
- Sequence Models (Course 5 of the Deep Learning Specialization), Andrew Ng, Kian Katanforoosh, Younes Bensouda Mourri, 2021 (Coursera / DeepLearning.AI) - An online course providing a practical introduction to sequential data and its modeling using recurrent neural networks, LSTMs, and other advanced techniques.