Today I completed the Andrew Ng open course on Machine Learning

Every morning for the past two months I have awaken (woke? waked? woke up?) at 6 am, on the beach by 6:30, then run, surfed, practised yoga or a combination for an hour. Back to my flat for breakfast and 1-2 Andrew Ng videos until 10 am. Down to AIMS for tea and into the office (where I am distracted by the view of the waves and beach).

Had to watch some of the lectures more than once, to absorb all that was presented. I paused at every formula in order to copy it into my small, spiral notebook. Over 50 pages in all. The first two chapters were hard to get through, but then I gained a kind of momentum–I even looked forward to the videos.

If you desire a crash course to Machine Learning, this is the way to go.

However, I hope to never hear the word “concretely” again.

Today I engaged Emmanuel in a Skype call to review my first Python translation of his Java code. I then sketched a workflow diagram (in gedit), which I delivered to Emmanuel for his review. Feels good to have made progress, even if just a few lines of code.

Given that I don’t know Java, this is going to be an arduous process.

Epilogue
“Well, this is where it all started. A few lines of Java loosely translated to Python, the first three chapters of the “Field Guide to Genetic Programming“, and guidance from fellow researcher Emmanuel and officemate Arun, when I took wrong turns.

Either way, I look back and recognise how far I have come as a programmer, how much I have gained in training as a researcher, and how good it feels to have dedicated myself to a substantial task and followed through.” –kai, 26 September 2015

public Node createTree(int maxDepth, String type){

int random = gen.nextInt(4);
Node root;

if(random == 0){
root = new And();
}
else if(random == 1){
root = new Or();
}
else if(random == 2){
root = new If();
}
else{
root = new Not();
}

treeSize = 1;

populateTree(root, root.getLabel(), type, 1, maxDepth);

return root;
}

To read only essays and entries about my work in genetic programming and machine learning, select the category Ramblings of a Researcher.

A photo of the supernovae in the galaxy M82, taken my last night at MDRS, Musk Observatory. Three hours setup, alignment, hunting, and experimentation with the camera. If the scope was tracking properly, I would have preferred a 5-10 minute exposure at a lower ISO. This is 1600 ISO and 1 minute. Not bad, for 3:30 am.