[Noisebridge-discuss] I am interested in starting an optimization group at noisebridge (BetterBridge? TrollSearch?)

[Mike Schachter]

Hi Crutcher,

I'd be interested in black box optimization. The machine learning
group meets up on Wednesdays at 7:30pm in the Church classroom:

https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Machine_Learning

Just speaking for myself, I'd be happy to see you share time/space
with the ML group to talk about optimization, as it's a core part of
machine learning.

We don't have anything going on next week, and you're welcome to
come in to talk about stuff, I'd be happy to discuss optimization with
you!

  mike



On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am very interested in starting a black box optimization search group at
> noisebridge. This field is called "metaheauristics"; but the name is a
> stupid historical artifact (so says everyone in the field).
> Optimization is, given a function f(x), searching for the x which yields the
> best f(x). Black box optimization is a sub-field of optimization where you
> can't analyize the function f to determine what values of x are likely to be
> good; so you have to search the space for them.
> The following algorithms are ALL metaheuristic optimization:
> Hill Climbing (aka. Gradient Assent/Descent)
> Genetic Search
> Genetic Programming
> Ant Colony Systems
> Particle Swarm Optimization
> I've recently read a fabulous undergraduate text on the subject, very
> approachable, called "Essentials of Metaheuristics".
> The book in question is available from Lulu and Amazaon:
> http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~sean/book/metaheuristics/
> or you can just download the PDF.
> http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~sean/book/metaheuristics/Essentials.pdf
>
> If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, read the first chapter or two. If
> you have a background in programming, you should be able to follow it
> trivially.
> What I want TrollSearch to do: Build Shit
> Let's find interesting problems; and build search algorithms over them. This
> can apply to evolving good fit 3d models for the printer; making techno; or
> identifying penii.
> I'd like TrollSearch to look much more like SpaceBridge than like the Python
> Class.
> Please comment in-thread if you are interested.
> --
> Crutcher Dunnavant <crutcher at gmail.com>
>
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