In the course, I give a basic introduction into some of the recent developments in the field of computational historical linguistics. While this field is predominantly represented by phylogenetic approaches with whom scholars try to infer phylogenetic trees from different kinds of language data, the approach taken here is much broader, concentrating specifically on the prerequisites needed in order to get one’s data into the shape to carry out phylogenetic analyses. As a result, we will concentrate on topics such as automated phonetic alignments, automated cognate detection, the handling of semantic shift, and the modeling of word formation in comparative wordlists. A major goal of the course is to emphasize the importance of computer-assisted — as opposed to computer-based — approaches, which acknowledge the importance of qualitative work in historical language comparison. The course will be accompanied by code examples which participants can try to replicate on their computers.