Data Prep for Machine Learning: Encoding -- Visual Studio Magazine

Dr. James McCaffrey of Microsoft Research uses a full code program and screenshots to explain how to programmatically encode categorical data for use with a machine learning prediction model such as a neural network classification or regression system. This article explains how to programmatically encode categorical data for use with a machine learning (ML) prediction model such as a neural network classification or regression system. Suppose you are trying to predict voting behavior from a file of people data. Your data might include predictor variables like each person's sex (male or female) and region where they live (eastern, western, central), and a dependent variable to predict like political leaning (conservative, moderate, liberal). Neural networks are essentially complex math functions which work with numeric values. Therefore, categorical predictor variables and categorical dependent variables must be converted to a numeric form.