ml-lab / mind

A flexible neural network library

A flexible neural network library for Node.js and the browser. Check out a live demo of a movie recommendation engine built with Mind.

Features

• Vectorized - uses a matrix implementation to efficiently process training data
• Transformable - apply transforms so you can pass in diverse datasets
• Configurable - allows you to customize the network topology
• Pluggable - download/upload minds that have already learned

Installation

$ npm install node-mind

Usage

var Mind = require('node-mind');
var mind = Mind();

/**
 * Letters.
 *
 * - Imagine these # and . represent black and white pixels.
 */

var a = character(
  '.####.' +
  '#....#' +
  '#....#' +
  '######' +
  '#....#' +
  '#....#' +
  '#....#'
);

var b = character(
  '#####.' +
  '#....#' +
  '#....#' +
  '#####.' +
  '#....#' +
  '#....#' +
  '#####.'
);

var c = character(
  '######' +
  '#.....' +
  '#.....' +
  '#.....' +
  '#.....' +
  '#.....' +
  '######'
);

/**
 * Learn the letters A through C.
 */

var mind = Mind()
  .learn([
    { input: a, output: [ 0.1 ] },
    { input: b, output: [ 0.2 ] },
    { input: c, output: [ 0.3 ] }
  ]);

/**
 * Predict the letter C, even with a pixel off.
 */

var result = mind.predict(character(
  '######' +
  '#.....' +
  '#.....' +
  '#.....' +
  '#.....' +
  '##....' +
  '######'
));

console.log(result); // ~ 0.3

/**
 * Turn the # into 1s and . into 0s.
 */

function character(string) {
  return string
    .trim()
    .split('')
    .map(integer);

  function integer(symbol) {
    if ('#' === symbol) return 1;
    if ('.' === symbol) return 0;
  }
};

You can use Mind in the browser by requiring it with Duo or Browserify. Or you can simply use the prebuilt root index.js file directly, which will expose Mind on the window object.

Plugins

Use plugins created by the Mind community to configure pre-trained networks that can go straight to making predictions.

Here's a cool example of the way you could use a hypothetical mind-ocr plugin:

var Mind = require('node-mind');
var ocr = require('mind-ocr');

var mind = Mind()
  .upload(ocr)
  .predict(
    '.####.' +
    '#....#' +
    '#....#' +
    '######' +
    '#....#' +
    '#....#' +
    '#....#'
  );

To create a plugin, simply call download on your trained mind:

var Mind = require('node-mind');

var mind = Mind()
  .learn([
    { input: [0, 0], output: [ 0 ] },
    { input: [0, 1], output: [ 1 ] },
    { input: [1, 0], output: [ 1 ] },
    { input: [1, 1], output: [ 0 ] }
  ]);

var xor = mind.download();

Here's a list of available plugins:

• xor

Transforms

Use transforms so you can perform analysis on any dataset. A transform is just an object with a before function and an after function, which will be applied to each data point before and after analysis. Here's an example currency transform:

var currency = {
  before: function(value) {
    return Number(value.slice(1));
  },
  after: function(value) {
    return '$' + value;
  }
};

You can apply this transform to the dataset in the following way:

var currency = require('mind-currency');
var Mind = require('node-mind');

var mind = Mind()
  .transform(currency)
  .learn([
    { input: ["$1500", "$870"], output: [ "$1010" ] },
    { input: ["$1400", "$700"], output: [ "$1140" ] },
    { input: ["$2000", "$1100"], output: [ "$1432" ] },
    { input: ["$1800", "$1000"], output: [ "$910" ] }
  ])
  .predict([ "$3288", "$170" ]);

Here's a list of available transforms:

• currency

API

Mind(options)

Create a new instance of Mind that can learn to make predictions.

The available options are:

• learningRate: how quickly the network should learn.
• hiddenNeurons: how many neurons are in the hidden layer.
• activator: which activation function to use, sigmoid or htan.
• iterations: the number of iterations to run.

.learn()

Learn from training data:

mind.learn([
  { input: [0, 0], output: [ 0 ] },
  { input: [0, 1], output: [ 1 ] },
  { input: [1, 0], output: [ 1 ] },
  { input: [1, 1], output: [ 0 ] }
]);

.predict()

Make a new prediction:

mind.predict([0, 1]);

.download()

Download the mind:

var xor = mind.download();

.upload()

Upload a mind:

mind.upload(xor);

Note

This is a very simple library and there are far more sophisticated neural network libraries out there. Why did I build Mind then? Because I love figuring out how things work and sometimes you just need to build shit in order to understand how they work. Also, I wanted to write a library with clear, readable code that wouldn't scare newcomers away from the wonderful world of machine learning :)

If you're interested in learning more about neural networks, you'll definitely want to check out these fantastic libraries:

• convnetjs
• synaptic
• brain

License

MIT