GeekGuide

Geek Guide: Machine Learning with Python

Reuven M. Lerner — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 17:16:51 +0000

I first heard the term “machine learning” a few years ago, and to be honest, I basically ignored it that time. I knew that it was a powerful technique, and I knew that it was in vogue, but I didn’t know what it really was— what problems it was designed to solve, how it solved them and how it related to the other sorts of issues I was working on in my professional (consulting) life and in my graduate-school research.

But in the past few years, machine learning has become a topic that most will avoid at their professional peril. Despite the scary-sounding name, the ideas behind machine learning aren’t that difficult to understand. Moreover, a great deal of open-source software makes it possible for anyone to use machine learning in their own work or research. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that machine learning already is having a huge impact on the computer industry and on our day-to-day lives.

In this ebook, I introduce the basic ideas behind machine learning and show how you can use Python to apply machine learning ideas to a number of different problems. I hope by the time you finish reading this guide, you’ll not only understand what machine learning aims to do, but also how to apply it to your own work and research.

What Is Machine Learning?

Before doing anything else, let’s define the terms: “machine learning” sounds somewhat ominous, leading to a Matrix-like world in which the machines have taken over. But machine learning, at least as our current world sees it, is a mechanism by which computers can put inputs into categories.

Wait, that’s it? No, but that’s a very good starting point for thinking about machine learning.

Human minds basically are pattern-matching machines and excel at finding commonalities among different types of inputs; getting a computer to perform such categorization tasks is more than just an impressive trick. It means that computers can look through a large number of inputs and try to categorize those inputs.

And, of course, if there’s something that computers do better than people, it’s look through large quantities of data.

A related use of machine learning is to predict outputs based on inputs with some degree of certainty. So if I present you with an input value—a child’s age, for example—then you can predict that child’s height. Will your prediction be exact? No, but that’s okay; machine learning uses statistical reasoning. Thus, you’re looking for likely outcomes, not definite outcomes.

Go to Full Article

New GeekGuides: DIY Commerce Site and Combating Infrastructure Sprawl

Carlie Fairchild — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 15:45:53 +0000

by Carlie Fairchild

GeekGuides are practical (and free!) books for the most technical people on the planet. Newly available books include:

DIY Commerce Site by Reuven Lerner
If you have been living in a cave for the last 15 years, I have some exciting news for you: the Internet is hopping with e-commerce opportunities. If you have a product and you’re willing to put in the time to market it, you can sell that product on-line. If your product is good and you market it well, you even can make a lot of money.

For those of you who haven’t been living in a cave for some time and have been using the Internet in your personal and professional lives, the notion of making money from e-commerce may seem like something you’ll eventually get around to doing in the future, or that you might do if it weren’t a pain. After all, starting to sell on-line must be difficult, right? The answer, as you’ll see in this ebook, is a resounding “No.” Download this free DIY Commerce Site GeekGuide now.

Combating Infrastructure Sprawl by Bill Childers
Do you have an environment in your company that seems to be a time sink and management headache for you? Does this environment have many machines, each running a slightly different patch level or completely different operating system? Do you find yourself and your team stuck in a quagmire of varying point releases, RPM conflicts and dependency hell? Your environment may be suffering from infrastructure sprawl, but relief is on the way. This guide will help you understand infrastructure sprawl, how it occurs and steps you can follow to eliminate (and ultimately prevent) it. Download this free Combating Infrastructure Sprawl GeekGuide now.

Go to Full Article

Practical Books for the Most Technical People on the Planet

LJ Staff — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 16:25:30 +0000

by LJ Staff

Linux Journal editors are proud to introduce GeekGuides-- practical ebooks for the most technical people on the planet. With a quick and easy one-time registration you'll have access to download any and all current and future GeekGuide books.

Books includes:

Beyond Cron: How to Know When You've Outgrown Cron Scheduling--and What to Do Next

The DevOps Toolbox: Tools and Technologies for Scale and Reliability

Have a topic idea for another potential GeekGuide? Let us know!

Go to Full Article