[mlpack] google summer of code [GSoC]

[Daniel Bell]

oh ok thank you, I guess at my current level it is just outside my reach.  I am in my first algorithm course.  could you recommend something similar that might be more in my current skill set?

Thank you,
Daniel


On 2013-04-09, at 8:59 PM, Ryan Curtin <gth671b at mail.gatech.edu> wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 09, 2013 at 08:16:43PM -0600, Daniel Bell wrote:
>> I was intrigued by your improvement of tree traversers suggestion, I
>> am currently in a course that has a component on trees and so did some
>> work with them.  I am interested in learning about and learning
>> machine learning however I have never programmed in C++.  Do you think
>> this is within my skill set that I have laid out?
> 
> The tree traversal project is a particularly difficult one which expects
> rigorous C++ knowledge.  This does not mean that you could not do it,
> but in slightly more detail:
> 
> Many of the algorithms in mlpack are fast because they are tree-based
> branch-and-bound algorithms.  If you don't know about those you can read
> them about them online; search for something like 'nearest neighbor' and
> 'kd-trees'.
> 
> In addition, there are many different possible types of trees and many
> different machine learning algorithms.  mlpack uses C++ templates to
> provide abstract traversals and algorithms which can work with any type
> of tree (assuming the user implements the tree with the proper methods).
> This is actually very neat and to my knowledge there is no other library
> which implements anything even remotely similar.
> 
> However, the functionality is still somewhat experimental -- which is
> why the tree abstractions haven't been advertised as a main selling
> point.  The branch and bound type algorithms to which I was referring to
> earlier depend heavily on tight bounds.  So improving the effectiveness
> of these tree traversals will depend on the implementation of the bounds
> in the algorithms and the efficiency of those bound calculations (as
> well as other calculations).
> 
> So the project would involve both analyzing the existing traversals for
> either algorithmic or implementational improvements as well as examining
> the existing algorithms.
> 
> I could talk about this all day, given that it is my primary research
> interest, but I'll spare the gory details for now.
> 
> tl;dr: if you're a second-year undergraduate without heavy algorithmic
> knowledge and you're interested in this project, you probably are best
> served by putting in 30 hours a week reading papers both on dual-tree
> algorithms and learning C++ inside-out (metaprogramming does happen in
> the mlpack world of trees).  So, I'm not going to say it's impossible,
> but there's a reason its difficulty is rated a 9/10...
> 
> -- 
> Ryan Curtin       | "...I still don't know what it means."
> ryan at igglybob.com |   - Rigby Reardon