All Eyes on Keras - Layer = IO TRANSFORMATION

What is it and Why Use it

Keras is the high-level API for TensorFlow, covering all aspect of workflow, from data processing to (hyperparameter) tuning to deployment.  It is the API to be used by default.

 

Layers and Models, Layers and Models

The core data structs of Keras are layers and models.

• A layer is a simple input/output transformation
• A model is a directed acyclic graph (DAG) of layers (production flow of layers, and thus a production flow of transformations)

A model is thus a "special" series of input-output transformations i.e. a "series" of layers.

Sidebar: what are hyperparameters

Hyperparameters are parameters you set before training a model. They can be set by a user or by a tuning algorithm. Example parameters could include learning rate (how fast the model learns), or number of layers in the neural network (more layers the more complex patterns the neural net can learn).