Spam filter - step 1

We are going to create a function, which can read the information from files !truth.txt or !prediction.txt into the dictionary data structure.

Working with a dictionary

Working with (text) files

The usage of section ''if __name__ == "__main__":''

Method ''split()'' of string values

Task:

• In a module called utils.py, create a function read_classification_from_file() that will read the mail classes from a text file.

Why do we need it:

• We will need this function if we want to create a learning filter, and during the evaluation of the filter quality.

Function read_classification_from_file() (in module utils.py) has to conform to the following specifications:

The function loads a text file contaning a pair of strings per line, separated by single space, like this:

email01 OK
email02 OK
email03 SPAM
email1234 OK

{'email1234': 'OK', 'email03': 'SPAM', 'email02': 'OK', 'email01': 'OK'}

If the file is empty, it returns an empty dictionary.

Task:

• In module utils.py, create function write_classification_to_file() that will write the (usually predicted) mail classes to a text file.

Why do we need it:

• The function will come handy when writing the filter; it can be used to create the !prediction.txt file.

Function write_classification_to_file() (in module utils.py) should conform to the following specifications:

The following code

>>> cls_dict = {'email1234': 'OK', 'email03': 'SPAM', 'email02': 'OK', 'email01': 'OK'}
>>> fpath = '1/!prediction.txt'
>>> write_classification_to_file(cls_dict, fpath)

shall create file !prediction.txt in directory 1 (the directory must exist) with the following contents:

email01 OK
email02 OK
email03 SPAM
email1234 OK

The actual order of individual rows in the file is not important.

If the cls_dict is empty, the function shall create an empty file.