Introduction to Tensorflow

Introduction to Tensorflow

TensorFlow is one of the most popularly used open source library originally developed by Google which performs numerical computation using data flow graphs. In the era of Artificial Intelligence, TensorFlow comes with strong support for both machine and deep learning. It is Python-based which can run deep neural networks for image recognition, word embedding, handwritten digit classification and creation of various sequence models. Its flexible architecture allows easy deployment of computation across a variety of platforms like CPUs, GPUs(Graphics Processing Unit), and clusters of servers. TensorFlow can be used to create algorithms in order to visualize objects, also to train a machine to recognize the object. Also, it can use the data to understand the patterns and behavior from large datasets, deploy sentiment analysis model. As Machine Learning has a wide use nowadays, many organizations are using Tensorflow.

Main components

In the above section we have studied about Introduction to tensorflow, Now we are going ahead with the main components of tensorflow. Tensors are the main components in TensorFlow. They are defined as multidimensional array or list, which are the basic data structures in TensorFlow language. The connecting edges in any flow diagram called the Data Flow Graph, are Tensors. These are multi-linear maps which can be anything from vector spaces to the real numbers. So a tensor can be a scalar or vector or matrix.TensorFlow programs are usually structured into a construction phase, that assembles a graph, and an execution phase that uses a session to execute.

Tensors are identified by the following three parameters:

1. Rank:

Unit of dimensionality described within tensor is called rank. It identifies the number of dimensions of the tensor.

2. Shape:

The number of rows and columns together define the shape of Tensor.

3. Type:

The type describes the data type assigned to Tensor’s elements.

For building a Tensor, we need to consider building an n-dimensional array and converting the n-dimensional array. The various dimensions in the introduction to tensorflow are as follows.

• One Dimensional Tensor:

It is a normal array structure which includes one set of values of the same data type.

• Two Dimensional Tensor:

For creating two-dimensional Tensor, the sequence of arrays is used.

It is important to understand that the graph and sessions get created, which manage the Tensors and generate the appropriate output. With the help of the graph, we have the output specifying the mathematical calculations between Tensors. Graphs save computation by only fetching the values we require by running the specific subgraphs, facilitate distributed computation, dividing the work across multiple devices. Also, many common machine learning models are visualized as graphs.

Characteristics Of Tensorflow

As we discussed the introduction to Tensorflow, Now we are going to learn about the characteristics of Tensorflow which are as below:

• With TensorFlow, the visualization of the graph becomes easier as compared to other libraries like Numpy etc.
• TensorFlow is an open source library which offers flexibility in terms of modularity in operation.
• Easily trainable on CPU as well as GPU for distributed computing.
• TensorFlow provides Parallel Neural Network Training, which makes the models efficient on large-scale systems
• Has a feature column that helps in bridging input data with the model.
• Provides an extensive suite of functions and classes that allow users to define models from scratch.
• With TensorBoard a different representation of a model can be evaluated and the changes necessary can be made while debugging it.
• TensorFlow separates the definition of computations from their execution.

Applications Of Tensorflow

TensorFlow can be used to build any type of Deep Learning algorithms like CNN, RNN, DBN, FeedForward Neural Network, for Natural Language Processing, etc. There are several programming elements in the introduction to TensorFlow like Constants, Variables, Placeholders, Sessions, etc. It has a wide range of applications some of which are mentioned below.

• Speech Recognition Systems
• Image/Video Recognition
• Self Driving Cars
• Text Summarization
• Sentiment Analysis
• Deep neural network for search ranking
• Mobile image and video processing
• Massive multitask networks for drug discovery
• Optical character recognition for real-time translation

Advantages And Disadvantages

As we have studied the characteristics and introduction to TensorFlow now we are going to understand the advantages and disadvantages of TensorFlow are as follows :

Advantages

• The TensorFlow library comes with a suite of visualization tools – TensorBoard, for better computational graph visualizations.
• Open source library for complex analysis.
• TensorFlow supports multiple client languages: JavaScript, Python,  C++, Go, Java and Swift.
• The advantage of the seamless performance, quick updates and frequent new releases with new features.
• Provides a good debugging method as it executes subparts of a graph which facilitates introducing and retrieving discrete data onto an edge.
• Libraries can be deployed on a range of hardware (cellular devices, computers with complex setups)
• Highly parallel neural network which ensembles large distributed systems.
• With TensorFlow allows sharing a trained model easily.

Disadvantages

• TensorFlow does not offer symbolic loops, but there is a workaround using finite unfolding (bucketing).
• Windows users need to install TensorFlow using python package library, pip as it is more suitable for Linux users.
• Lacks in both speed and usage when compared to its competitors.
• Currently, the only supported GPUs are of NVIDIA.
• The only full language support is of Python which is a drawback as there is an increase in the number of other languages in deep learning.
• Though TensorFlow is more powerful and better for Deep Learning but is not suitable for simpler tasks.

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