Abstract Neural Networks

This package implements abstract and general data structures for the construction of neural networks, e.g., layers, chains, and architectures. It mainly serves as a common base package for GeometricMachineLearning.jl and SymbolicNetworks.jl.

Neural network parameters

The parameters of a network live in NeuralNetworkParameters.jl, as NetworkParameters, together with the tree walks, the flat form and the HDF5 path that go with them. params(nn) returns one:

using AbstractNeuralNetworks
using NeuralNetworkParameters: NetworkParameters

nn = NeuralNetwork(Chain(Dense(4, 3, tanh), Dense(3, 2, tanh)))
params(nn) isa NetworkParameters    # true

Migrating from 0.6

Up to 0.6 this package defined and exported a struct of its own called NeuralNetworkParameters. As of 0.7 that name is gone from here — it is not aliased either, so that one type has one name across the ecosystem. Replace

using AbstractNeuralNetworks               # NeuralNetworkParameters came along
import AbstractNeuralNetworks: NeuralNetworkParameters

with

using NeuralNetworkParameters: NetworkParameters

and add NeuralNetworkParameters to your Project.toml. The type object is the same one, so ::Type{} dispatch and <: bounds behave as they did. A set is built from keys and values with NetworkParameters(NamedTuple{keys}(vals)), since the braces of NetworkParameters{T} name its element type. params, h5save, h5load, save and load are still importable from AbstractNeuralNetworks.

Development

Git hooks

Two hooks live in .githooks. They are not active in a fresh clone — core.hooksPath is local configuration and does not travel with a push — so enable them once per clone:

git config core.hooksPath .githooks

pre-commit acts on staged .jl files only, and exits immediately when a commit stages none, so a documentation- or workflow-only commit is not slowed down by it:

• JuliaFormatter --check, honouring this repository's own .JuliaFormatter.toml — blocks the commit. Formatting is mechanical and always fixable.
• fatou lint, when fatou is installed — advisory only, and deliberately so: its unused-import rule does not follow include, so it flags the load-bearing imports of every module file.
• using <Package>, which catches a syntax error or a broken include — blocks.

pre-push runs the full test suite with --check-bounds=auto, but only when pushing to main or master; a topic branch is left to CI. It prints nothing for 10–30 minutes, which looks exactly like a network hang and is not one. If you do interrupt it, check for an orphaned Julia process that the killed hook left behind.

Either hook can be bypassed for a single command with --no-verify, for a change you know it does not apply to:

git commit --no-verify
git push --no-verify

The hooks are generated from one shared copy and are byte-identical across the related repositories, so edit them there rather than here — a local edit is silently undone by the next install.