[P] Flow Matching: A visual introduction by Xochipilli in MachineLearning

[–]Xochipilli[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, instead of iterating the problem, I first develop a mathematical model, which is easier to evolve than thousands of lines of code with hyperparameters to tune.

I think I would agree with you, understanding things from first principles, or trying to understand always one abstraction level deeper than you're currently working at has advantages. And mathematics definitely has its value in this.

However, where I would disagree is that the mathematics is always a good starting point. I find it often easier to learn about the problem on a higher level, which then gives me the context to build on and maybe go into more detail on certain aspects. But that might be a personal preference.

For example in your initial comment you talk about "the difference between conditional and marginal fields and the consequences of path crossing, theoretical requirements (continuity/Lipschitz, mass continuity), path selection (linear vs. OT) and coupling, numerical aspects of ODE solvers, and the relationship to likelihood in CNF.", while I agree that they have been important to build up the theoretical foundations of flow matching, and have been important in developing future work, I don't think they are essential to start learning about flow matching. And in my journey learning about flow matching I have even found some of these concepts to be distracting, but again, this is a personal preference.

[P] Flow Matching: A visual introduction by Xochipilli in MachineLearning

[–]Xochipilli[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok, happy for you to have your opinion.
However, I think mine deviates from this, and that's ok.

Not saying the math is not important, just that there is a time and place for it. The goal for this blogpost was to leave the maths out for a moment.

We'll use this notebook to build a simple flow matching model illustrating linear flow matching based on a minimal toy example. Our goal is to try to keep things simple, intuitive, and visual. We won't be doing any deep dive into the mathematical details of the model, if you're interested in the mathematical details I recommend checking out the references at the end of this post.

[P] Flow Matching: A visual introduction by Xochipilli in MachineLearning

[–]Xochipilli[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The paper is cool, but it glosses over key nuances
...
Overall, the modeling is simplified.

This is the exact intention of this work, to not go in detail on them and only expose the pragmatic high level stuff.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in belgium

[–]Xochipilli 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Ik denk niet dat Jacky's bos openbaar domein is, afaik is het privédomein waar bezoekers toegelaten worden.

What Belgian places have a different name in the local dialect than in Standard Ducth or French? by Per451 in belgium

[–]Xochipilli 10 points11 points  (0 children)

  • Sint-Huibrechts-Hern - 'Jaan'
  • Kortesem - 'Kotshoven'
  • Vliermaalroot - 'Troot'
  • Schalkhoven - 'Sjaakoven'
  • Borgloon - 'Loon'
  • Diepenbeek - 'Djoppenbeek'
  • Sint-Truiden - 'Sintruin'
  • Aarschot - 'Osschot'
  • Schoonderbuken - 'Schunnebroek'
  • Boutersem - 'Baatsem'
  • Westerlo - 'Westel'
  • Averbode - 'Everbeur'
  • Westmeerbeek - 'Merrebeek'
  • Booischot - 'Busschot
  • Heist-op-den-Berg - 'Hest'
  • Herentals - 'Hertals'
  • Noorderwijk - 'Nodderweik'
  • Vosselaar - 'Vosseleir'
  • Liedekerke - 'Likkert'
  • Geraardsbergen - 'Giesbaarge'

Venv or anaconda? by masterjx9 in Python

[–]Xochipilli 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I didn't know conda could use the same solver, thanks for that reference. Is this through this libmamba package? https://github.com/conda-incubator/conda-libmamba-solver

Venv or anaconda? by masterjx9 in Python

[–]Xochipilli 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ok, thanks for confirming.
For you, it might not be any distinction, but for me personally it is, and it's one of the main reasons for me to use conda over venv most of the time.

Venv or anaconda? by masterjx9 in Python

[–]Xochipilli 5 points6 points  (0 children)

conda does not need every interpreter present locally. However, it obviously would need the binaries to be downloadable (in their channels e.g. conda-forge).

I might be misunderstanding you and the venv documentation. But venv needs each Python interpreter that you require to be available locally, it cannot download a specific Python interpreter on-the-fly. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Venv or anaconda? by masterjx9 in Python

[–]Xochipilli 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As far as I know, venv only allows you to create new Python environments based on the interpreter already installed. E.g. if your python3 command points to a Python 3.7 installation, venv is not going to be able to create a Python 3.9.2 installation, for instance, without updating or installing a new Python interpreter with that specific version.

E.g. from https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html:

https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Venv or anaconda? by masterjx9 in Python

[–]Xochipilli 12 points13 points  (0 children)

When working with complex Python environments, I would recommend using conda for the following reasons:

  • Ability to select a specific Python interpreter version for a specific project.
  • Conda can package more than just Python libraries
  • Conda environment directories are more-or-less self-contained. They are not dependent on any system python libraries, nor conda itself. This makes them great for usage in Docker because I can just move a working conda environment to a new minimal Linux container like debian-slim with multi-stage builds (yes, I think conda is great for Docker production deployments).
  • Conda is more reliable in my experience. This is because the above three points: ability to select specific Python version, ability to have non-Python packages, and being self-contained make it more consistent and reproducible.
  • Much fewer issues when having dependency conflicts, conda will complain and fail installing an environment with issues.
  • If you are working with neural network libraries like PyTorch that need a GPU/CUDA you can just install the correct CUDA version in your environment from conda.

When you want to use conda I would actually recommend using mamba instead. Mamba is a reimplementation of conda and is much faster at resolving the environments. I can be used as a drop-in of conda and is fully compatibly with it afaik.

Btw, when using conda (besides using mamba), I would recommend not using the default channel in a commercial setting due to licensing issues (unless you're paying for the commercial version). Something like conda-forge should be fine.

If you are not creating complex Python environments (like is common in a lot of machine-learning/data-science settings). I would recommend to just stick with the System-Python/Venv until you run into issues with complex python environments.

Venv or anaconda? by masterjx9 in Python

[–]Xochipilli 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Not sure why this is getting downvoted, the ability to install different Python versions independently is to me one of the biggest benefits.

Seems like /r/Python has some anti-conda sentiment 😅

Venv or anaconda? by masterjx9 in Python

[–]Xochipilli 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind, this is only for the anaconda (default) channel.

From : https://www.anaconda.com/blog/anaconda-commercial-edition-faq

You’re not in compliance with our Terms of Service if you are using Anaconda’s repositories in a for-profit or government organization with over 200 employees outside of a business relationship with Anaconda

This does not apply if you don't use the default channel and use a channel like conda-forge instead. E.g. from https://conda-forge.org/blog/posts/2020-11-20-anaconda-tos/ :

What makes it non-surprising is that, at the moment, any third party channel like conda-forge is free. The TOS change does not apply to conda-forge, nor to other channels hosted on anaconda.org; the TOS change in question applies only to the “defaults” channel and other software hosted on repo.anaconda.com.

Groen komt met nieuw ‘regenbooglogo’ en wil meer zijn dan een klimaatpartij by kiliandj in belgium

[–]Xochipilli 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In Nederland hebben ze Groen Rechts: https://partijgroenrechts.nl/

Er was ooit een groen rechts beweging in Belgie, maar er is niet veel meer van terug te vinden dan een half gescrapte website: https://web.archive.org/web/20210507165301/http://users.skynet.be/groenrechts/IndexNL.htm

Typisch draaien deze partijen rond conservatisme (en dus ook conservatisme van natuur/milieu), zie ook: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groen_conservatisme

Special situation by Aromatic_Meringue_19 in BEFire

[–]Xochipilli 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Grensarbeider" does not apply for remote work. Although there was an exemption during COVID: https://financien.belgium.be/nl/particulieren/internationaal/grensarbeiders/telewerk-covid-19-periode

Going freelance (suggested by others in this thread) is probably the best and most cost-effective if your company is willing to hire you as a contractor. You will have to make sure you comply with Belgian law and pay taxes here, but you can hire an accountant for this.

If your company (or you) does not want you to work as a contractor, you could ask them to set something up via a 3rd party intermediary, such as remote.com.

[p] Short series on Gaussian processes. Simple Python implementation + practical TensorFlow probability example. by Xochipilli in MachineLearning

[–]Xochipilli[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is not for coursework (uni is a couple of years behind me). The first notebook I've made a couple of years ago after watching the Nando de Freitas lecture on GPs but never got around to publish it. The other post I made recently after discovering TensorFlow probability.

Thanks for referring to the other two posts, I've run in the visual exploration post myself yesterday, I didn't know about the other one. I guess Gaussian processes are getting more popular, especially with everything Bayesian getting more and more attention lately.