5.2. Parameter Management¶ Open the notebook in SageMaker Studio Lab
Once we have chosen an architecture and set our hyperparameters, we proceed to the training loop, where our goal is to find parameter values that minimize our loss function. After training, we will need these parameters in order to make future predictions. Additionally, we will sometimes wish to extract the parameters either to reuse them in some other context, to save our model to disk so that it may be executed in other software, or for examination in the hope of gaining scientific understanding.
Most of the time, we will be able to ignore the nitty-gritty details of how parameters are declared and manipulated, relying on deep learning frameworks to do the heavy lifting. However, when we move away from stacked architectures with standard layers, we will sometimes need to get into the weeds of declaring and manipulating parameters. In this section, we cover the following:
Accessing parameters for debugging, diagnostics, and visualizations.
Parameter initialization.
Sharing parameters across different model components.
We start by focusing on an MLP with one hidden layer.
from mxnet import init, np, npx
from mxnet.gluon import nn
npx.set_np()
net = nn.Sequential()
net.add(nn.Dense(8, activation='relu'))
net.add(nn.Dense(1))
net.initialize() # Use the default initialization method
X = np.random.uniform(size=(2, 4))
net(X) # Forward computation
array([[0.0054572 ],
[0.00488594]])
import torch
from torch import nn
net = nn.Sequential(nn.Linear(4, 8), nn.ReLU(), nn.Linear(8, 1))
X = torch.rand(size=(2, 4))
net(X)
tensor([[0.0731],
[0.1613]], grad_fn=<AddmmBackward0>)
import tensorflow as tf
net = tf.keras.models.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(4, activation=tf.nn.relu),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(1),
])
X = tf.random.uniform((2, 4))
net(X)
<tf.Tensor: shape=(2, 1), dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[0.81504685],
[0.65342516]], dtype=float32)>
5.2.1. Parameter Access¶
Let us start with how to access parameters from the models that you
already know. When a model is defined via the Sequential class, we
can first access any layer by indexing into the model as though it were
a list. Each layer’s parameters are conveniently located in its
attribute. We can inspect the parameters of the second fully-connected
layer as follows.
print(net[1].params)
dense1_ (
Parameter dense1_weight (shape=(1, 8), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense1_bias (shape=(1,), dtype=float32)
)
print(net[2].state_dict())
OrderedDict([('weight', tensor([[-0.2665, 0.1665, -0.2725, -0.1111, 0.1236, -0.2030, 0.3430, 0.3423]])), ('bias', tensor([0.0211]))])
print(net.layers[2].weights)
[<tf.Variable 'dense_1/kernel:0' shape=(4, 1) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[ 0.6852075 ],
[-0.81062627],
[ 0.14000857],
[ 0.5764358 ]], dtype=float32)>, <tf.Variable 'dense_1/bias:0' shape=(1,) dtype=float32, numpy=array([0.], dtype=float32)>]
The output tells us a few important things. First, this fully-connected layer contains two parameters, corresponding to that layer’s weights and biases, respectively. Both are stored as single precision floats (float32). Note that the names of the parameters allow us to uniquely identify each layer’s parameters, even in a network containing hundreds of layers.
5.2.1.1. Targeted Parameters¶
Note that each parameter is represented as an instance of the parameter class. To do anything useful with the parameters, we first need to access the underlying numerical values. There are several ways to do this. Some are simpler while others are more general. The following code extracts the bias from the second neural network layer, which returns a parameter class instance, and further accesses that parameter’s value.
print(type(net[1].bias))
print(net[1].bias)
print(net[1].bias.data())
<class 'mxnet.gluon.parameter.Parameter'>
Parameter dense1_bias (shape=(1,), dtype=float32)
[0.]
Parameters are complex objects, containing values, gradients, and additional information. That’s why we need to request the value explicitly.
In addition to the value, each parameter also allows us to access the gradient. Because we have not invoked backpropagation for this network yet, it is in its initial state.
net[1].weight.grad()
array([[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.]])
print(type(net[2].bias))
print(net[2].bias)
print(net[2].bias.data)
<class 'torch.nn.parameter.Parameter'>
Parameter containing:
tensor([0.0211], requires_grad=True)
tensor([0.0211])
Parameters are complex objects, containing values, gradients, and additional information. That’s why we need to request the value explicitly.
In addition to the value, each parameter also allows us to access the gradient. Because we have not invoked backpropagation for this network yet, it is in its initial state.
net[2].weight.grad == None
True
print(type(net.layers[2].weights[1]))
print(net.layers[2].weights[1])
print(tf.convert_to_tensor(net.layers[2].weights[1]))
<class 'tensorflow.python.ops.resource_variable_ops.ResourceVariable'>
<tf.Variable 'dense_1/bias:0' shape=(1,) dtype=float32, numpy=array([0.], dtype=float32)>
tf.Tensor([0.], shape=(1,), dtype=float32)
5.2.1.2. All Parameters at Once¶
When we need to perform operations on all parameters, accessing them one-by-one can grow tedious. The situation can grow especially unwieldy when we work with more complex blocks (e.g., nested blocks), since we would need to recurse through the entire tree to extract each sub-block’s parameters. Below we demonstrate accessing the parameters of the first fully-connected layer vs. accessing all layers.
print(net[0].collect_params())
print(net.collect_params())
dense0_ (
Parameter dense0_weight (shape=(8, 4), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense0_bias (shape=(8,), dtype=float32)
)
sequential0_ (
Parameter dense0_weight (shape=(8, 4), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense0_bias (shape=(8,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense1_weight (shape=(1, 8), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense1_bias (shape=(1,), dtype=float32)
)
print(*[(name, param.shape) for name, param in net[0].named_parameters()])
print(*[(name, param.shape) for name, param in net.named_parameters()])
('weight', torch.Size([8, 4])) ('bias', torch.Size([8]))
('0.weight', torch.Size([8, 4])) ('0.bias', torch.Size([8])) ('2.weight', torch.Size([1, 8])) ('2.bias', torch.Size([1]))
print(net.layers[1].weights)
print(net.get_weights())
[<tf.Variable 'dense/kernel:0' shape=(4, 4) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[ 0.6733095 , -0.1968227 , 0.70611614, 0.42580146],
[ 0.8420772 , -0.05097824, -0.29724634, 0.7435817 ],
[-0.55750954, -0.36873615, 0.8461582 , -0.75422806],
[-0.09947252, -0.71967113, -0.06134313, -0.12178153]],
dtype=float32)>, <tf.Variable 'dense/bias:0' shape=(4,) dtype=float32, numpy=array([0., 0., 0., 0.], dtype=float32)>]
[array([[ 0.6733095 , -0.1968227 , 0.70611614, 0.42580146],
[ 0.8420772 , -0.05097824, -0.29724634, 0.7435817 ],
[-0.55750954, -0.36873615, 0.8461582 , -0.75422806],
[-0.09947252, -0.71967113, -0.06134313, -0.12178153]],
dtype=float32), array([0., 0., 0., 0.], dtype=float32), array([[ 0.6852075 ],
[-0.81062627],
[ 0.14000857],
[ 0.5764358 ]], dtype=float32), array([0.], dtype=float32)]
This provides us with another way of accessing the parameters of the network as follows.
net.collect_params()['dense1_bias'].data()
array([0.])
net.state_dict()['2.bias'].data
tensor([0.0211])
net.get_weights()[1]
array([0., 0., 0., 0.], dtype=float32)
5.2.1.3. Collecting Parameters from Nested Blocks¶
Let us see how the parameter naming conventions work if we nest multiple blocks inside each other. For that we first define a function that produces blocks (a block factory, so to speak) and then combine these inside yet larger blocks.
def block1():
net = nn.Sequential()
net.add(nn.Dense(32, activation='relu'))
net.add(nn.Dense(16, activation='relu'))
return net
def block2():
net = nn.Sequential()
for _ in range(4):
# Nested here
net.add(block1())
return net
rgnet = nn.Sequential()
rgnet.add(block2())
rgnet.add(nn.Dense(10))
rgnet.initialize()
rgnet(X)
array([[-6.3465846e-09, -1.1096752e-09, 6.4161787e-09, 6.6354140e-09,
-1.1265507e-09, 1.3284951e-10, 9.3619388e-09, 3.2229084e-09,
5.9429879e-09, 8.8181435e-09],
[-8.6219423e-09, -7.5150686e-10, 8.3133251e-09, 8.9321128e-09,
-1.6740003e-09, 3.2405989e-10, 1.2115976e-08, 4.4926449e-09,
8.0741742e-09, 1.2075874e-08]])
def block1():
return nn.Sequential(nn.Linear(4, 8), nn.ReLU(),
nn.Linear(8, 4), nn.ReLU())
def block2():
net = nn.Sequential()
for i in range(4):
# Nested here
net.add_module(f'block {i}', block1())
return net
rgnet = nn.Sequential(block2(), nn.Linear(4, 1))
rgnet(X)
tensor([[-0.3015],
[-0.3015]], grad_fn=<AddmmBackward0>)
def block1(name):
return tf.keras.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(4, activation=tf.nn.relu)],
name=name)
def block2():
net = tf.keras.Sequential()
for i in range(4):
# Nested here
net.add(block1(name=f'block-{i}'))
return net
rgnet = tf.keras.Sequential()
rgnet.add(block2())
rgnet.add(tf.keras.layers.Dense(1))
rgnet(X)
<tf.Tensor: shape=(2, 1), dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[0.04784542],
[0.00213027]], dtype=float32)>
Now that we have designed the network, let us see how it is organized.
print(rgnet.collect_params)
print(rgnet.collect_params())
<bound method Block.collect_params of Sequential(
(0): Sequential(
(0): Sequential(
(0): Dense(4 -> 32, Activation(relu))
(1): Dense(32 -> 16, Activation(relu))
)
(1): Sequential(
(0): Dense(16 -> 32, Activation(relu))
(1): Dense(32 -> 16, Activation(relu))
)
(2): Sequential(
(0): Dense(16 -> 32, Activation(relu))
(1): Dense(32 -> 16, Activation(relu))
)
(3): Sequential(
(0): Dense(16 -> 32, Activation(relu))
(1): Dense(32 -> 16, Activation(relu))
)
)
(1): Dense(16 -> 10, linear)
)>
sequential1_ (
Parameter dense2_weight (shape=(32, 4), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense2_bias (shape=(32,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense3_weight (shape=(16, 32), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense3_bias (shape=(16,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense4_weight (shape=(32, 16), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense4_bias (shape=(32,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense5_weight (shape=(16, 32), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense5_bias (shape=(16,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense6_weight (shape=(32, 16), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense6_bias (shape=(32,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense7_weight (shape=(16, 32), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense7_bias (shape=(16,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense8_weight (shape=(32, 16), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense8_bias (shape=(32,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense9_weight (shape=(16, 32), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense9_bias (shape=(16,), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense10_weight (shape=(10, 16), dtype=float32)
Parameter dense10_bias (shape=(10,), dtype=float32)
)
print(rgnet)
Sequential(
(0): Sequential(
(block 0): Sequential(
(0): Linear(in_features=4, out_features=8, bias=True)
(1): ReLU()
(2): Linear(in_features=8, out_features=4, bias=True)
(3): ReLU()
)
(block 1): Sequential(
(0): Linear(in_features=4, out_features=8, bias=True)
(1): ReLU()
(2): Linear(in_features=8, out_features=4, bias=True)
(3): ReLU()
)
(block 2): Sequential(
(0): Linear(in_features=4, out_features=8, bias=True)
(1): ReLU()
(2): Linear(in_features=8, out_features=4, bias=True)
(3): ReLU()
)
(block 3): Sequential(
(0): Linear(in_features=4, out_features=8, bias=True)
(1): ReLU()
(2): Linear(in_features=8, out_features=4, bias=True)
(3): ReLU()
)
)
(1): Linear(in_features=4, out_features=1, bias=True)
)
print(rgnet.summary())
Model: "sequential_1"
_________________________________________________________________
Layer (type) Output Shape Param #
=================================================================
sequential_2 (Sequential) (2, 4) 80
dense_6 (Dense) (2, 1) 5
=================================================================
Total params: 85
Trainable params: 85
Non-trainable params: 0
_________________________________________________________________
None
Since the layers are hierarchically nested, we can also access them as though indexing through nested lists. For instance, we can access the first major block, within it the second sub-block, and within that the bias of the first layer, with as follows.
rgnet[0][1][0].bias.data()
array([0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.])
rgnet[0][1][0].bias.data
tensor([-0.1396, 0.2621, -0.4331, -0.2222, -0.3755, -0.0421, -0.4612, -0.4498])
rgnet.layers[0].layers[1].layers[1].weights[1]
<tf.Variable 'dense_3/bias:0' shape=(4,) dtype=float32, numpy=array([0., 0., 0., 0.], dtype=float32)>
5.2.2. Parameter Initialization¶
Now that we know how to access the parameters, let us look at how to initialize them properly. We discussed the need for proper initialization in Section 4.8. The deep learning framework provides default random initializations to its layers. However, we often want to initialize our weights according to various other protocols. The framework provides most commonly used protocols, and also allows to create a custom initializer.
By default, MXNet initializes weight parameters by randomly drawing from
a uniform distribution \(U(-0.07, 0.07)\), clearing bias parameters
to zero. MXNet’s init module provides a variety of preset
initialization methods.
By default, PyTorch initializes weight and bias matrices uniformly by
drawing from a range that is computed according to the input and output
dimension. PyTorch’s nn.init module provides a variety of preset
initialization methods.
By default, Keras initializes weight matrices uniformly by drawing from
a range that is computed according to the input and output dimension,
and the bias parameters are all set to zero. TensorFlow provides a
variety of initialization methods both in the root module and the
keras.initializers module.
5.2.2.1. Built-in Initialization¶
Let us begin by calling on built-in initializers. The code below initializes all weight parameters as Gaussian random variables with standard deviation 0.01, while bias parameters cleared to zero.
# Here `force_reinit` ensures that parameters are freshly initialized even if
# they were already initialized previously
net.initialize(init=init.Normal(sigma=0.01), force_reinit=True)
net[0].weight.data()[0]
array([-0.00324057, -0.00895028, -0.00698632, 0.01030831])
def init_normal(m):
if type(m) == nn.Linear:
nn.init.normal_(m.weight, mean=0, std=0.01)
nn.init.zeros_(m.bias)
net.apply(init_normal)
net[0].weight.data[0], net[0].bias.data[0]
(tensor([ 0.0007, 0.0208, 0.0103, -0.0094]), tensor(0.))
net = tf.keras.models.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(
4, activation=tf.nn.relu,
kernel_initializer=tf.random_normal_initializer(mean=0, stddev=0.01),
bias_initializer=tf.zeros_initializer()),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(1)])
net(X)
net.weights[0], net.weights[1]
(<tf.Variable 'dense_7/kernel:0' shape=(4, 4) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[ 0.00019563, -0.00474673, 0.01208493, 0.0024233 ],
[-0.00668965, -0.00161744, -0.01878906, -0.00455874],
[-0.01679627, 0.02468152, -0.018683 , -0.00317097],
[-0.00250623, -0.00175714, -0.00553298, -0.00046493]],
dtype=float32)>,
<tf.Variable 'dense_7/bias:0' shape=(4,) dtype=float32, numpy=array([0., 0., 0., 0.], dtype=float32)>)
We can also initialize all the parameters to a given constant value (say, 1).
net.initialize(init=init.Constant(1), force_reinit=True)
net[0].weight.data()[0]
array([1., 1., 1., 1.])
def init_constant(m):
if type(m) == nn.Linear:
nn.init.constant_(m.weight, 1)
nn.init.zeros_(m.bias)
net.apply(init_constant)
net[0].weight.data[0], net[0].bias.data[0]
(tensor([1., 1., 1., 1.]), tensor(0.))
net = tf.keras.models.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(
4, activation=tf.nn.relu,
kernel_initializer=tf.keras.initializers.Constant(1),
bias_initializer=tf.zeros_initializer()),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(1),
])
net(X)
net.weights[0], net.weights[1]
(<tf.Variable 'dense_9/kernel:0' shape=(4, 4) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[1., 1., 1., 1.],
[1., 1., 1., 1.],
[1., 1., 1., 1.],
[1., 1., 1., 1.]], dtype=float32)>,
<tf.Variable 'dense_9/bias:0' shape=(4,) dtype=float32, numpy=array([0., 0., 0., 0.], dtype=float32)>)
We can also apply different initializers for certain blocks. For example, below we initialize the first layer with the Xavier initializer and initialize the second layer to a constant value of 42.
net[0].weight.initialize(init=init.Xavier(), force_reinit=True)
net[1].initialize(init=init.Constant(42), force_reinit=True)
print(net[0].weight.data()[0])
print(net[1].weight.data())
[-0.17594433 0.02314097 -0.1992535 0.09509248]
[[42. 42. 42. 42. 42. 42. 42. 42.]]
def xavier(m):
if type(m) == nn.Linear:
nn.init.xavier_uniform_(m.weight)
def init_42(m):
if type(m) == nn.Linear:
nn.init.constant_(m.weight, 42)
net[0].apply(xavier)
net[2].apply(init_42)
print(net[0].weight.data[0])
print(net[2].weight.data)
tensor([-0.2886, -0.6428, -0.2568, 0.0093])
tensor([[42., 42., 42., 42., 42., 42., 42., 42.]])
net = tf.keras.models.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(
4,
activation=tf.nn.relu,
kernel_initializer=tf.keras.initializers.GlorotUniform()),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(
1, kernel_initializer=tf.keras.initializers.Constant(42)),
])
net(X)
print(net.layers[1].weights[0])
print(net.layers[2].weights[0])
<tf.Variable 'dense_11/kernel:0' shape=(4, 4) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[-0.15515864, 0.49289685, -0.26731342, -0.23215562],
[ 0.5456628 , 0.81225437, -0.33642465, -0.69776434],
[-0.27743798, -0.6975143 , -0.62544036, -0.19062471],
[ 0.75709265, 0.19055122, 0.6559803 , 0.40509003]],
dtype=float32)>
<tf.Variable 'dense_12/kernel:0' shape=(4, 1) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[42.],
[42.],
[42.],
[42.]], dtype=float32)>
5.2.2.2. Custom Initialization¶
Sometimes, the initialization methods we need are not provided by the deep learning framework. In the example below, we define an initializer for any weight parameter \(w\) using the following strange distribution:
Here we define a subclass of the Initializer class. Usually, we only
need to implement the _init_weight function which takes a tensor
argument (data) and assigns to it the desired initialized values.
class MyInit(init.Initializer):
def _init_weight(self, name, data):
print('Init', name, data.shape)
data[:] = np.random.uniform(-10, 10, data.shape)
data *= np.abs(data) >= 5
net.initialize(MyInit(), force_reinit=True)
net[0].weight.data()[:2]
Init dense0_weight (8, 4)
Init dense1_weight (1, 8)
array([[ 0. , -0. , -0. , 8.522827 ],
[ 0. , -8.828651 , -0. , -5.6012006]])
Again, we implement a my_init function to apply to net.
def my_init(m):
if type(m) == nn.Linear:
print("Init", *[(name, param.shape)
for name, param in m.named_parameters()][0])
nn.init.uniform_(m.weight, -10, 10)
m.weight.data *= m.weight.data.abs() >= 5
net.apply(my_init)
net[0].weight[:2]
Init weight torch.Size([8, 4])
Init weight torch.Size([1, 8])
tensor([[ 0.0000, -7.4797, -8.2019, 9.8475],
[ 5.0957, 7.4569, -0.0000, -0.0000]], grad_fn=<SliceBackward0>)
Here we define a subclass of Initializer and implement the
__call__ function that return a desired tensor given the shape and
data type.
class MyInit(tf.keras.initializers.Initializer):
def __call__(self, shape, dtype=None):
data=tf.random.uniform(shape, -10, 10, dtype=dtype)
factor=(tf.abs(data) >= 5)
factor=tf.cast(factor, tf.float32)
return data * factor
net = tf.keras.models.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(
4,
activation=tf.nn.relu,
kernel_initializer=MyInit()),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(1),
])
net(X)
print(net.layers[1].weights[0])
<tf.Variable 'dense_13/kernel:0' shape=(4, 4) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[-0. , -0. , 7.3825836, 0. ],
[ 0. , -5.3057933, -5.244627 , 8.819817 ],
[-9.958012 , 0. , -6.401739 , -0. ],
[ 0. , -6.9099426, 6.807623 , 0. ]], dtype=float32)>
Note that we always have the option of setting parameters directly.
net[0].weight.data()[:] += 1
net[0].weight.data()[0, 0] = 42
net[0].weight.data()[0]
array([42. , 1. , 1. , 9.522827])
A note for advanced users: if you want to adjust parameters within an
autograd scope, you need to use set_data to avoid confusing the
automatic differentiation mechanics.
net[0].weight.data[:] += 1
net[0].weight.data[0, 0] = 42
net[0].weight.data[0]
tensor([42.0000, -6.4797, -7.2019, 10.8475])
net.layers[1].weights[0][:].assign(net.layers[1].weights[0] + 1)
net.layers[1].weights[0][0, 0].assign(42)
net.layers[1].weights[0]
<tf.Variable 'dense_13/kernel:0' shape=(4, 4) dtype=float32, numpy=
array([[42. , 1. , 8.382584 , 1. ],
[ 1. , -4.3057933, -4.244627 , 9.819817 ],
[-8.958012 , 1. , -5.401739 , 1. ],
[ 1. , -5.9099426, 7.807623 , 1. ]], dtype=float32)>
5.2.3. Tied Parameters¶
Often, we want to share parameters across multiple layers. Let us see how to do this elegantly. In the following we allocate a dense layer and then use its parameters specifically to set those of another layer.
net = nn.Sequential()
# We need to give the shared layer a name so that we can refer to its
# parameters
shared = nn.Dense(8, activation='relu')
net.add(nn.Dense(8, activation='relu'),
shared,
nn.Dense(8, activation='relu', params=shared.params),
nn.Dense(10))
net.initialize()
X = np.random.uniform(size=(2, 20))
net(X)
# Check whether the parameters are the same
print(net[1].weight.data()[0] == net[2].weight.data()[0])
net[1].weight.data()[0, 0] = 100
# Make sure that they are actually the same object rather than just having the
# same value
print(net[1].weight.data()[0] == net[2].weight.data()[0])
[ True True True True True True True True]
[ True True True True True True True True]
This example shows that the parameters of the second and third layer are tied. They are not just equal, they are represented by the same exact tensor. Thus, if we change one of the parameters, the other one changes, too. You might wonder, when parameters are tied what happens to the gradients? Since the model parameters contain gradients, the gradients of the second hidden layer and the third hidden layer are added together during backpropagation.
# We need to give the shared layer a name so that we can refer to its
# parameters
shared = nn.Linear(8, 8)
net = nn.Sequential(nn.Linear(4, 8), nn.ReLU(),
shared, nn.ReLU(),
shared, nn.ReLU(),
nn.Linear(8, 1))
net(X)
# Check whether the parameters are the same
print(net[2].weight.data[0] == net[4].weight.data[0])
net[2].weight.data[0, 0] = 100
# Make sure that they are actually the same object rather than just having the
# same value
print(net[2].weight.data[0] == net[4].weight.data[0])
tensor([True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True])
tensor([True, True, True, True, True, True, True, True])
This example shows that the parameters of the second and third layer are tied. They are not just equal, they are represented by the same exact tensor. Thus, if we change one of the parameters, the other one changes, too. You might wonder, when parameters are tied what happens to the gradients? Since the model parameters contain gradients, the gradients of the second hidden layer and the third hidden layer are added together during backpropagation.
# tf.keras behaves a bit differently. It removes the duplicate layer
# automatically
shared = tf.keras.layers.Dense(4, activation=tf.nn.relu)
net = tf.keras.models.Sequential([
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
shared,
shared,
tf.keras.layers.Dense(1),
])
net(X)
# Check whether the parameters are different
print(len(net.layers) == 3)
True
5.2.4. Summary¶
We have several ways to access, initialize, and tie model parameters.
We can use custom initialization.
5.2.5. Exercises¶
Use the
FancyMLPmodel defined in Section 5.1 and access the parameters of the various layers.Look at the initialization module document to explore different initializers.
Construct an MLP containing a shared parameter layer and train it. During the training process, observe the model parameters and gradients of each layer.
Why is sharing parameters a good idea?