Neural Networks
In this chapter, we will introduce neural networks and how to implement them in TensorFlow. Most of the subsequent chapters will be based on neural networks, so learning how to use them in TensorFlow is very important.
Neural networks are currently breaking records in tasks such as image and speech recognition, reading handwriting, understanding text, image segmentation, dialog systems, autonomous car driving, and so much more. While some of these tasks will be covered in later chapters, it is important to introduce neural networks as a general-purpose, easy-to-implement machine learning algorithm, so that we can expand on it later.
The concept of a neural network has been around for decades. However, it only recently gained traction because we now have the computational power to train large networks because of advances in processing power, algorithm efficiency, and data sizes.
A neural network is, fundamentally, a sequence of operations applied to a matrix...