Are you ready to master one of machine learning’s most powerful and interpretable algorithms? This course will guide you through the complete journey of understanding, building, and evaluating decision tree models using Java, the enterprise-standard programming language. You’ll start by exploring the core concepts, how decision trees partition data, why splitting criteria such as entropy and the Gini index matter, and when decision trees outperform other algorithms. From there, you’ll move into hands-on implementation, using industry-standard tools like Weka’s intuitive GUI and Java API along with Smile’s high-performance library to develop, tune, and deploy models. Through practical exercises, you’ll learn to configure hyperparameters, balance rapid prototyping with production-ready design, and apply robust model evaluation techniques such as confusion matrices, cross-validation, and key performance metrics.

Build & Evaluate Decision Trees for ML

Build & Evaluate Decision Trees for ML
This course is part of Level Up: Java-Powered Machine Learning Specialization


Instructors: Starweaver
Access provided by Interbank
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Explain decision tree fundamentals including tree structure, splitting criteria, and how recursive partitioning builds predictive models.
Build decision tree classifiers using Weka GUI and Java API, implement models with Smile, and configure hyperparameters for optimal performance.
Evaluate decision tree models using confusion matrices, accuracy metrics, cross-validation techniques, and interpret results to assess model quality.
Skills you'll gain
- Technical Communication
- Machine Learning Software
- Machine Learning
- Model Evaluation
- Supervised Learning
- Decision Tree Learning
- Feature Engineering
- Java
- Classification Algorithms
- Data Preprocessing
- Applied Machine Learning
- Machine Learning Algorithms
- MLOps (Machine Learning Operations)
- Predictive Modeling
- Tree Maps
- Algorithms
Details to know

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January 2026
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There are 3 modules in this course
Explore decision tree foundations including tree structure, classification mechanics, splitting criteria like entropy and Gini index, and how recursive partitioning creates predictive models for machine learning applications.
What's included
4 videos2 readings1 peer review
Build decision tree classifiers using Weka's GUI and Java API, then explore Smile library for modern implementations. Configure hyperparameters, train models on real datasets, and export trained models.
What's included
3 videos1 reading1 peer review
Evaluate decision tree performance using confusion matrices, accuracy metrics, precision, recall, and F1-scores. Apply cross-validation techniques to assess model generalization. Learn to interpret results and identify overfitting.
What's included
4 videos1 reading1 assignment2 peer reviews
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