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PyTorch vs Theano: What are the differences?
Introduction:
In this Markdown code, we will present the key differences between PyTorch and Theano, two popular deep learning frameworks. These frameworks are used for creating and training neural networks, but they have some distinct features that set them apart. In the following sections, we will discuss the six major differences between PyTorch and Theano.
Ease of use: PyTorch is known for its simplicity and easy-to-understand syntax, making it more suitable for beginners in deep learning. On the other hand, Theano has a steeper learning curve and often requires more time and effort to grasp its concepts.
Dynamic vs static graph computation: PyTorch uses dynamic computation graphs, which allows for easier debugging and greater flexibility during model development. Theano, on the other hand, relies on static computation graphs, which offer better optimization opportunities but may be more challenging to work with.
Hardware acceleration: PyTorch supports seamless integration with graphics processing units (GPUs) and provides built-in CUDA support, allowing for faster training and inference on parallel hardware. Theano also supports GPU acceleration but requires additional configuration and setup.
Community and ecosystem: PyTorch has gained significant popularity and has a large, active community of developers, which results in a wider range of libraries, tutorials, and resources available. Although Theano also has a dedicated user base, it is not as extensive as PyTorch's community.
Dynamic tensor manipulation: PyTorch allows for dynamic tensor manipulation, meaning that tensor shapes and sizes can change during runtime, enhancing flexibility in model design. Theano, in contrast, requires defining static tensor sizes upfront, making dynamic tensor manipulation more complex.
Model deployment: PyTorch provides torchscript, which enables easy model deployment to production environments and mobile devices. Theano, on the other hand, does not offer a direct equivalent for model deployment, requiring additional steps and tools.
In summary, PyTorch and Theano differ in terms of ease of use, graph computation strategy, hardware acceleration, community support, tensor manipulation capabilities, and model deployment options.
Pytorch is a famous tool in the realm of machine learning and it has already set up its own ecosystem. Tutorial documentation is really detailed on the official website. It can help us to create our deep learning model and allowed us to use GPU as the hardware support.
I have plenty of projects based on Pytorch and I am familiar with building deep learning models with this tool. I have used TensorFlow too but it is not dynamic. Tensorflow works on a static graph concept that means the user first has to define the computation graph of the model and then run the ML model, whereas PyTorch believes in a dynamic graph that allows defining/manipulating the graph on the go. PyTorch offers an advantage with its dynamic nature of creating graphs.
For my company, we may need to classify image data. Keras provides a high-level Machine Learning framework to achieve this. Specifically, CNN models can be compactly created with little code. Furthermore, already well-proven classifiers are available in Keras, which could be used as Transfer Learning for our use case.
We chose Keras over PyTorch, another Machine Learning framework, as our preliminary research showed that Keras is more compatible with .js. You can also convert a PyTorch model into TensorFlow.js, but it seems that Keras needs to be a middle step in between, which makes Keras a better choice.
For data analysis, we choose a Python-based framework because of Python's simplicity as well as its large community and available supporting tools. We choose PyTorch over TensorFlow for our machine learning library because it has a flatter learning curve and it is easy to debug, in addition to the fact that our team has some existing experience with PyTorch. Numpy is used for data processing because of its user-friendliness, efficiency, and integration with other tools we have chosen. Finally, we decide to include Anaconda in our dev process because of its simple setup process to provide sufficient data science environment for our purposes. The trained model then gets deployed to the back end as a pickle.
A large part of our product is training and using a machine learning model. As such, we chose one of the best coding languages, Python, for machine learning. This coding language has many packages which help build and integrate ML models. For the main portion of the machine learning, we chose PyTorch as it is one of the highest quality ML packages for Python. PyTorch allows for extreme creativity with your models while not being too complex. Also, we chose to include scikit-learn as it contains many useful functions and models which can be quickly deployed. Scikit-learn is perfect for testing models, but it does not have as much flexibility as PyTorch. We also include NumPy and Pandas as these are wonderful Python packages for data manipulation. Also for testing models and depicting data, we have chosen to use Matplotlib and seaborn, a package which creates very good looking plots. Matplotlib is the standard for displaying data in Python and ML. Whereas, seaborn is a package built on top of Matplotlib which creates very visually pleasing plots.
Pros of PyTorch
- Easy to use15
- Developer Friendly11
- Easy to debug10
- Sometimes faster than TensorFlow7
Pros of Theano
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Cons of PyTorch
- Lots of code3
- It eats poop1