Posit AI Blog: TensorFlow Estimators

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Posit AI Blog: TensorFlow Estimators



Posit AI Blog: TensorFlow Estimators

The tfestimators package deal is an R interface to TensorFlow Estimators, a high-level API that gives implementations of many various mannequin varieties together with linear fashions and deep neural networks.

More fashions are coming quickly equivalent to state saving recurrent neural networks, dynamic recurrent neural networks, help vector machines, random forest, KMeans clustering, and so forth. TensorFlow estimators additionally supplies a versatile framework for outlining arbitrary new mannequin varieties as customized estimators.

The framework balances the competing calls for for flexibility and ease by providing APIs at totally different ranges of abstraction, making widespread mannequin architectures obtainable out of the field, whereas offering a library of utilities designed to hurry up experimentation with mannequin architectures.

These abstractions information builders to put in writing fashions in methods conducive to productionization in addition to making it doable to put in writing downstream infrastructure for distributed coaching or parameter tuning impartial of the mannequin implementation.

To make out of the field fashions versatile and usable throughout a variety of issues, tfestimators supplies canned Estimators which might be are parameterized not solely over conventional hyperparameters, but in addition utilizing function columns, a declarative specification describing how you can interpret enter knowledge.

For extra particulars on the structure and design of TensorFlow Estimators, please try the KDD’17 paper: TensorFlow Estimators: Managing Simplicity vs. Flexibility in High-Level Machine Learning Frameworks.

Quick Start

Installation

To use tfestimators, you’ll want to set up each the tfestimators R package deal in addition to TensorFlow itself.

First, set up the tfestimators R package deal as follows:

devtools::install_github("rstudio/tfestimators")

Then, use the install_tensorflow() perform to put in TensorFlow (notice that the present tfestimators package deal requires model 1.3.0 of TensorFlow so even when you have already got TensorFlow put in it’s best to replace in case you are working a earlier model):

This will give you a default set up of TensorFlow appropriate for getting began. See the article on set up to find out about extra superior choices, together with putting in a model of TensorFlow that takes benefit of NVIDIA GPUs if in case you have the proper CUDA libraries put in.

Linear Regression

Let’s create a easy linear regression mannequin with the mtcars dataset to show the usage of estimators. We’ll illustrate how enter features may be constructed and used to feed knowledge to an estimator, how function columns can be utilized to specify a set of transformations to use to enter knowledge, and the way these items come collectively within the Estimator interface.

Input Function

Estimators can obtain knowledge by way of enter features. Input features take an arbitrary knowledge supply (in-memory knowledge units, streaming knowledge, customized knowledge format, and so forth) and generate Tensors that may be equipped to TensorFlow fashions. The tfestimators package deal contains an input_fn() perform that may create TensorFlow enter features from widespread R knowledge sources (e.g. knowledge frames and matrices). It’s additionally doable to put in writing a completely customized enter perform.

Here, we outline a helper perform that may return an enter perform for a subset of our mtcars knowledge set.

library(tfestimators)

# return an input_fn for a given subset of knowledge
mtcars_input_fn <- perform(knowledge) {
  input_fn(knowledge, 
           options = c("disp", "cyl"), 
           response = "mpg")
}

Feature Columns

Next, we outline the function columns for our mannequin. Feature columns are used to specify how Tensors acquired from the enter perform needs to be mixed and remodeled earlier than coming into the mannequin coaching, analysis, and prediction steps. A function column could be a plain mapping to some enter column (e.g. column_numeric() for a column of numerical knowledge), or a metamorphosis of different function columns (e.g. column_crossed() to outline a brand new column because the cross of two different function columns).

Here, we create a listing of function columns containing two numeric variables – disp and cyl:

cols <- feature_columns(
  column_numeric("disp"),
  column_numeric("cyl")
)

You can even outline a number of function columns directly:

cols <- feature_columns( 
  column_numeric("disp", "cyl")
)

By utilizing the household of function column features we are able to outline varied transformations on the info earlier than utilizing it for modeling.

Estimator

Next, we create the estimator by calling the linear_regressor() perform and passing it a set of function columns:

mannequin <- linear_regressor(feature_columns = cols)

Training

We’re now prepared to coach our mannequin, utilizing the prepare() perform. We’ll partition the mtcars knowledge set into separate coaching and validation knowledge units, and feed the coaching knowledge set into prepare(). We’ll maintain 20% of the info apart for validation.

indices <- pattern(1:nrow(mtcars), dimension = 0.80 * nrow(mtcars))
prepare <- mtcars[indices, ]
check  <- mtcars[-indices, ]

# prepare the mannequin
mannequin %>% prepare(mtcars_input_fn(prepare))

Evaluation

We can consider the mannequin’s accuracy utilizing the consider() perform, utilizing our ‘test’ knowledge set for validation.

mannequin %>% consider(mtcars_input_fn(check))

Prediction

After we’ve completed coaching out mannequin, we are able to use it to generate predictions from new knowledge.

new_obs <- mtcars[1:3, ]
mannequin %>% predict(mtcars_input_fn(new_obs))

Learning More

After you’ve develop into accustomed to these ideas, these articles cowl the fundamentals of utilizing TensorFlow Estimators and the primary elements in additional element:

These articles describe extra superior subjects/utilization:

One of one of the best methods to study is from reviewing and experimenting with examples. See the Examples web page for a wide range of examples that can assist you get began.

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