What does num_negatives mean?
From the comment specified by the programmer it is clear that he intends to generate negative samples
def get_train_samples(train_mat, num_negatives):
    user_input, item_input, labels = [], [], []
    num_user, num_item = train_mat.shape
    for (u, i) in train_mat.keys():
        user_input.append(u)
        item_input.append(i)
        labels.append(1)
        # negative instances   &lt;============================  FROM THIS COMMENT LINE
        for t in range(num_negatives):
            j = np.random.randint(num_item)
            while (u, j) in train_mat.keys():
                j = np.random.randint(num_item)
            user_input.append(u)
            item_input.append(j)
            labels.append(0)
    return user_input, item_input, labels