Introduction to Feature Engineering
Chapter 1: The Role of Features in Machine Learning
Revisiting the Machine Learning Workflow
What Constitutes a Feature?
Impact of Feature Quality on Model Performance
Common Data Types and Their Challenges
Overview of Feature Engineering Tasks
Quiz for Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Handling Missing Data
Identifying Missing Values
Mechanisms of Missing Data (MCAR, MAR, MNAR)
Simple Imputation Strategies: Mean, Median, Mode
Creating Missing Value Indicators
Multivariate Imputation: KNN Imputer
Multivariate Imputation: Iterative Imputer
Comparing Imputation Methods
Hands-on Practical: Imputing Missing Data
Quiz for Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Encoding Categorical Features
Challenges with Categorical Data
Nominal vs. Ordinal Categories
One-Hot Encoding for Nominal Features
Ordinal Encoding for Ordered Features
Handling High Cardinality Features
Target Encoding (Mean Encoding)
Binary Encoding
Hashing Encoder
Comparing Encoding Methods
Hands-on Practical: Applying Encoding Techniques
Quiz for Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Feature Scaling and Transformation
The Need for Feature Scaling
Standardization (Z-score Scaling)
Normalization (Min-Max Scaling)
Scaling for Outliers
Log Transformation for Skewed Data
Box-Cox Transformation
Yeo-Johnson Transformation
Quantile Transformation
Choosing the Right Scaling/Transformation Method
Hands-on Practical: Scaling and Transforming Features
Quiz for Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Feature Creation
Motivation for Creating New Features
Interaction Features
Polynomial Features
Feature Creation from Date/Time Data
Binning Numerical Features
Domain-Specific Feature Engineering
Automated Feature Creation (Introduction)
Hands-on Practical: Engineering New Features
Quiz for Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Feature Selection
Importance of Feature Selection
Filter Methods Overview
Filter Methods: Variance Threshold
Filter Methods: Univariate Statistical Tests (ANOVA F-value, Chi-Squared)
Filter Methods: Correlation Analysis
Wrapper Methods Overview
Wrapper Methods: Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE)
Wrapper Methods: Sequential Feature Selection (SFS)
Embedded Methods Overview
Embedded Methods: Regularization (Lasso L1)
Embedded Methods: Tree-Based Feature Importance
Hands-on Practical: Selecting Features
Quiz for Chapter 6
Embedded Methods: Regularization (Lasso L1)
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- Regression Shrinkage and Selection via the Lasso, Robert Tibshirani, 1996 Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Methodological), Vol. 58 (Wiley) DOI: 10.1111/j.2517-6161.1996.tb02080.x - Introduces the Lasso method for simultaneous coefficient shrinkage and variable selection in linear models.
- The Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction, Trevor Hastie, Robert Tibshirani, Jerome Friedman, 2009 (Springer) DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-84858-7 - A canonical textbook providing detailed theoretical and practical coverage of Lasso, Ridge, and Elastic Net regularization, including their geometric properties.
- 1.1. Linear Models - Lasso, scikit-learn developers, 2024 - Official documentation for
sklearn.linear_model.Lasso, detailing its parameters, use cases, and code examples for L1 regularization in Python. - 3.13. Feature selection - SelectFromModel, scikit-learn developers, 2024 - Official documentation for
sklearn.feature_selection.SelectFromModel, illustrating its use for feature selection based on model-derived importance, such as Lasso coefficients.
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