Topic Modeling in Mallet; Documentation

Question

I'm looking for some good documentation for Mallet, specifically for its classes related to topic modeling. I've looked at the Java docs but they aren't too helpful. For example:

estimate

public void estimate()
              throws java.io.IOException

    Throws:
        java.io.IOException

still don't know what this method does (please let me know if you do...). Also, if you've got some experience with mallet and can help me print the topics learned by a topic model (or the word groups representing the topics) please let me know. All advice welcome!

I've seen the method getTopWords, but I haven't been able to call it...perhaps a mising jar?

Answer 1

When you say "Java docs" are you talking about the API documentation? It's pretty extensive regarding the code, but doesn't tell you much about procedure (IE: do this step then this step...). If you're looking for a tutorial, this pdf by the head developer is the closest I know of. The part on topic modelling starts at slide 96.