10 machine learning YouTube videos.

On libraries, algorithms, and tools.

(If you want to start with machine learning, having a comprehensive set of hands-on tutorials you can always refer to is fundamental.)

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For a long time, I didn't understand how to use Virtual Environments in Python 🐍.

If this is just, let's end it here and now: 🧵👇

[2] Virtual Environments let you deal with the dependencies that your code has with external Python libraries.

It avoids having conflicts when your projects depend on different versions of the same library.

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[3] Let's imagine that you are building your first Python project and you install the "requests" library:

pip install requests

You get version 2.24.0 installed in your system.

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[4] A month later, you decide to work on your second project. It also needs the "requests" library.

But the latest version is not 2.24.0 anymore.

Now version 3 is available, and that's the one you want to use!

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[5] You could upgrade your entire system to version 3, but then you'll be potentially breaking the first project you built that depends on 2.24.0!

Can you imagine this happening on a server with many more applications running?

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I'll blow your mind with a technique you aren't using yet.

Sometimes, you want your system to do exactly the opposite of what your machine learning model thinks you should do.

Let me convince you. ↓

I'm going to start with a nice problem:

Imagine a model that looks at a picture of an electrical transformer and predicts whether it's about to break or not.

Don't worry about how the model does this. We are going to focus on the results instead.

There are 4 possible results for this model:

1. It predicts a bad unit as bad.
2. It predicts a bad unit as good.
3. It predicts a good unit as bad.
4. It predicts a good unit as good.

#2 and #3 are the mistakes the model makes.

Assuming we run 100 units through the model, we can organize the results in a matrix:

• The rows represent the "actual" condition of the transformer.

• The columns represent the "prediction" of the model.

We call this a "Confusion Matrix."

This is how we can read this confusion matrix:

• 60 bad units were predicted as bad.
• 3 bad units were predicted as good.
• 7 good units were predicted as bad.
• 30 good units were predicted as good.

What's machine learning?

Not a framework. Not a different language. Not the latest "cool" thing around the Internet.

Thread: Let me convince you that machine learning is the best thing since sliced bread 🍞.

Let's start with a simple exercise:

"Write a function that returns 0 if a supplied number is even or 1 if the number is odd."

If you are a developer, I'm sure you know how to write this function. It should be simple, right?

To avoid using a specific syntax, let's represent this function as follows:

y = f(X)

Where:
• X → The input number
• y → The result (0 if even, 1 otherwise)
• f → The function that does the work

We can now get to the interesting part.

If you are a programmer, writing this function is simple.

You know the relationship between X (the input number) and y (the output), so you can easily write the rules (the function.)

In machine learning, we don't write the rules. We learn them.

Imagine we had an algorithm that processes many samples (X → y), learns the relationship between them, and comes up with the correct rules.

We call these samples "training data," and they would like like this:

• 2 → 0
• 5 → 1
• 8 → 0
• 4 → 0
• 3 → 1
• ...

Machine learning terms you must know about as a beginner.

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These terms won't mean anything unless you know what Machine learning is all about.

> Machine learning is the process of making a program which allows a computer to learn from data.

The data could be anything, images, audio or even text.

(2 / 11)

In machine learning we use something called a neural network, this is essentially an imitation of the human brain.

> Neural Networks are a digital imitation of the neurons you see in the human brain.

(3 / 11)

In these neural networks, data flows through them and each neuron (the circle) has a numerical value which will change.

> The value of a neuron gets changes to something which is close to what we want each time the data passes through the neural network.

(4 / 11)

Think of the neurons as dials on a lock, you have to tune every dial to open the lock.

It is almost impossible for a human to tune thousands of dials like these, but a computer certainly can.

(5 / 11)

1 There's a chasm between an NLP technology that works well in the research lab and something that works for applications that real people use. This was eye-opening when I started my career, and every time I talk to an NLP engineer at @textio, it continues to strike me even now.

2 Research conditions are theoretical and/or idealized. A huge problem for so-called NLP or AI startups with highly credentialed academic founders is that they bring limited knowledge of what it takes to build real products outside the lab.

3 A product is ultimately a thing that people pay for - not just cool technology or user experience. But I’m not even talking about knowledge gaps in go-to-market work. I'm talking purely technical gaps: how you go from science project to performant + delightful user experience.

4 Most commoditized NLP packages solve well-understood problems in standard ways that sacrifice either precision or performance. In a research lab, this is not usually a hard trade-off; in general, no one is using what you make, so performance is less important than precision.

5 In software, when you’re making something for real people to use, these tradeoffs are a big deal. Especially if you’re asking those people to pay for what you’ve made (can’t get away from that pesky GTM thinking). They expect quality, which includes precision AND performance.

1/ @werat asked about whether the debugger was using the C# compiler or language service in VS 2002. It was not. The debugger has a component called an ‘expression evaluator’ that is provided per language and is responsible for parsing and evaluating expressions when stopped at a

2/ breakpoint. For example, if you type into the immediate window, hover over a variable, type into the watch window, etc. the expression evaluator is involved. The debugger and the language service are actually deeply integrated in a number of scenarios in VS, which may

3/ initially seem surprising. I may talk about more of these scenarios in the future, but to give a flavor, when you set a breakpoint at design time the language service is involved, when you are using Edit and Continue the LS is involved, the range of what is being evaluated

4/ when you get a debugger data tip, completion lists when typing in the data windows or immediate window, etc. Prior to VS 2002, there were distinct debug environments tailored to each target customer (VB/VBA, C++, VJ, VBScript, TSQL, FoxPro, Fortran, etc.). The goals of the

5/ VS 2002 debugger included unifying the debugger backend components and providing a single UI stack that would enable new scenarios (for example, a callstack across languages). Expression evaluators are the architecture that separate the language specific pieces from the

The 8-step quick-start guide to learn Machine Learning.

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1⃣ Start with Python 🐍

Yes, you can do other languages, but Python is by far the most straightforward option.

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2⃣ Get familiar with numpy, pandas, and matplotlib

These three libraries are probably the most common Python libraries you'll have to use every day.

(Even if you don't end up doing machine learning, these libraries are awesome and useful.)

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3⃣ Start using notebooks

Look into Jupyter or Google Colab.

Notebooks are essential for data scientists and machine learning practitioners. Most of the code you'll read and write will be in notebooks.

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4⃣ Find a problem (already solved)

In my opinion, the best way to start is by working through a problem —especially when you can learn from its solution.

Start with something simple. I usually recommend "Titanic" from Kaggle.

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