[boost] [OT] Re: FW: Proposal for a Differential Evolution C++ library

Subject: [boost] [OT] Re: FW: Proposal for a Differential Evolution C++ library
From: Brian Schrom (brian.schrom_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-01-09 12:41:00

On 01/09/2012 09:11 AM, Paul A. Bristow wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>>
>> I, for one, think this looks a very useful library.  
>> [...]
>> So you may need to find and drum up support from some potential (or better still, actual) users ?
>>
I will provide a review if this library gets to review, so
far, I've not looked much at this submission.

I think that machine learning is an area where there is enough maturity
that implementations in Boost are desirable.

A couple of things to consider.

It would be desirable that the machine learning topic area be
designed a bit more comprehensively than a single library.  For example, I
should be able to run a GA on the same data as the DE.  I would hope
that they have the same API.  This somewhat implies to me that DE/GA are
instances of training algorithms, for which, many are possible.

There are many things that go into a ML solution.  Data conditioning,
model training, model validation, model evaluation.  Training in
batch modes, instance based, etc.  Just to name a couple issues...

Then the normal list of library desires...completely generic, optimized
for every conceivable configuration (embedded processor, server farm,
etc i.e. single process, multi-threaded, mpi, etc) 

My advice is to be prepared for the big can of worms that this topic could
potentially bring up.

I think the topic area will be a very hard sell, but would be very
useful.