remove tracker docs

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Mike Innes 2019-09-10 15:03:08 +01:00
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@ -21,8 +21,6 @@ makedocs(modules=[Flux, NNlib],
"GPU Support" => "gpu.md",
"Saving & Loading" => "saving.md",
"Performance Tips" => "performance.md",
"Internals" =>
["Backpropagation" => "internals/tracker.md"],
"Community" => "community.md"],
format = Documenter.HTML(assets = ["assets/flux.css"],
analytics = "UA-36890222-9",

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# Flux.Tracker
Backpropagation, or reverse-mode automatic differentiation, is handled by the `Flux.Tracker` module.
```julia
julia> using Flux.Tracker
```
Here we discuss some more advanced uses of this module, as well as covering its internals.
## Taking Gradients
In the [basics section](../models/basics.md) we covered basic usage of the `gradient` function.
```julia
using Flux.Tracker
Tracker.gradient((a, b) -> a*b, 2, 3) # (3.0 (tracked), 2.0 (tracked))
```
`gradient` is actually just a thin wrapper around the backpropagator-based interface, `forward`.
```julia
using Flux.Tracker: forward
y, back = forward((a, b) -> a*b, 2, 3) # (6.0 (tracked), Flux.Tracker.#9)
back(1) # (3.0 (tracked), 2.0 (tracked))
```
The `forward` function returns two results. The first, `y`, is the original value of the function (perhaps with tracking applied). The second, `back`, is a new function which, given a sensitivity, returns the sensitivity of the inputs to `forward` (we call this a "backpropagator"). One use of this interface is to provide custom sensitivities when outputs are not scalar.
```julia
julia> y, back = forward((a, b) -> a.*b, [1,2,3],[4,5,6])
(param([4.0, 10.0, 18.0]), Flux.Tracker.#9)
julia> back([1,1,1])
(param([4.0, 5.0, 6.0]), param([1.0, 2.0, 3.0]))
```
We can also take gradients in-place. This can be useful if you only care about first-order gradients.
```julia
a, b = param(2), param(3)
c = a*b # 6.0 (tracked)
Tracker.back!(c)
Tracker.grad(a), Tracker.grad(b) # (3.0, 2.0)
```
## Tracked Arrays
The `param` function converts a normal Julia array into a new object that, while behaving like an array, tracks extra information that allows us to calculate derivatives. For example, say we multiply two parameters:
```julia
julia> W = param([1 2; 3 4])
Tracked 2×2 Array{Float64,2}:
1.0 2.0
3.0 4.0
julia> x = param([5, 6])
Tracked 2-element Array{Float64,1}:
5.0
6.0
julia> y = W*x
Tracked 2-element Array{Float64,1}:
17.0
39.0
```
The output `y` is also a `TrackedArray` object. We can now backpropagate sensitivities to `W` and `x` via the `back!` function, and see the gradients accumulated in the `W` and `x` tracked arrays:
```julia
julia> Tracker.back!(y, [1, -1])
julia> W.grad
2×2 Array{Float64,2}:
5.0 6.0
-5.0 -6.0
julia> x.grad
2-element Array{Float64,1}:
-2.0
-2.0
```
You may sometimes want to drop derivative information and just get the plain value back. You can do this by calling `Tracker.data(W)`.
## Custom Gradients
We can hook in to the processes above to implement custom gradients for a function or kernel. For a toy example, imagine a custom implementation of `minus`:
```julia
minus(a, b) = a - b
```
Firstly, we must tell the tracker system to stop when it sees a call to `minus`, and record it. We can do this using dispatch:
```julia
using Flux.Tracker: TrackedArray, track, @grad
minus(a::TrackedArray, b::TrackedArray) = track(minus, a, b)
```
`track` takes care of building a new `Tracked` object and recording the operation on the tape. We just need to provide a gradient definition.
```julia
@grad function minus(a, b)
return minus(data(a), data(b)), Δ -> (Δ, -Δ)
end
```
This is essentially just a way of overloading the `forward` function we saw above. We strip tracking from `a` and `b` so that we are calling the original definition of `minus` (otherwise, we'd just try to track the call again and hit an infinite regress).
Note that in the backpropagator we don't call `data(a)`; we *do* in fact want to track this, since nest AD will take a derivative through the backpropagator itself. For example, the gradient of `*` might look like this.
```julia
@grad a * b = data(a)*data(b), Δ -> (Δ*b, a*Δ)
```
We can then calculate the first derivative of `minus` as follows:
```julia
a = param([1,2,3])
b = param([3,2,1])
c = minus(a, b) # [-2.0 (tracked), 0.0 (tracked), 2.0 (tracked)]
Tracker.back!(c, 1)
Tracker.grad(a) # [1.00, 1.00, 1.00]
Tracker.grad(b) # [-1.00, -1.00, -1.00]
```
For multi-argument functions with custom gradients, you likely want to catch not just `minus(::TrackedArray, ::TrackedArray)` but also `minus(::Array, TrackedArray)` and so on. To do so, just define those extra signatures as needed:
```julia
minus(a::AbstractArray, b::TrackedArray) = Tracker.track(minus, a, b)
minus(a::TrackedArray, b::AbstractArray) = Tracker.track(minus, a, b)
```
## Tracked Internals
All `Tracked*` objects (`TrackedArray`, `TrackedReal`) are light wrappers around the `Tracked` type, which you can access via the `.tracker` field.
```julia
julia> x.tracker
Flux.Tracker.Tracked{Array{Float64,1}}(0x00000000, Flux.Tracker.Call{Nothing,Tuple{}}(nothing, ()), true, [5.0, 6.0], [-2.0, -2.0])
```
The `Tracker` stores the gradient of a given object, which we've seen before.
```julia
julia> x.tracker.grad
2-element Array{Float64,1}:
-2.0
-2.0
```
The tracker also contains a `Call` object, which simply represents a function call that was made at some point during the forward pass. For example, the `+` call would look like this:
```julia
julia> Tracker.Call(+, 1, 2)
Flux.Tracker.Call{Base.#+,Tuple{Int64,Int64}}(+, (1, 2))
```
In the case of the `y` we produced above, we can see that it stores the call that produced it -- that is, `W*x`.
```julia
julia> y.tracker.f
Flux.Tracker.Call{...}(*, (param([1.0 2.0; 3.0 4.0]), param([5.0, 6.0])))
```
Notice that because the arguments to the call may also be tracked arrays, storing their own calls, this means that `Tracker` ends up forming a data structure that records everything that happened during the forward pass (often known as a *tape*).
When we call `back!(y, [1, -1])`, the sensitivities `[1, -1]` simply get forwarded to `y`'s call (`*`), effectively calling
```julia
Tracker.back(*, [1, -1], W, x)
```
which in turn calculates the sensitivities of the arguments (`W` and `x`) and back-propagates through their calls. This is recursive, so it will walk the entire program graph and propagate gradients to the original model parameters.