Advanced Theano¶
Conditions¶
IfElse
- Build condition over symbolic variables.
- IfElse Op takes a boolean condition and two variables to compute as input.
- While Switch Op evaluates both ‘output’ variables, IfElse Op is lazy and only evaluates one variable respect to the condition.
IfElse Example: Comparison with Switch
from theano import tensor as T
from theano.ifelse import ifelse
import theano, time, numpy
a,b = T.scalars('a','b')
x,y = T.matrices('x','y')
z_switch = T.switch(T.lt(a,b), T.mean(x), T.mean(y))
z_lazy = ifelse(T.lt(a,b), T.mean(x), T.mean(y))
f_switch = theano.function([a,b,x,y], z_switch,
mode=theano.Mode(linker='vm'))
f_lazyifelse = theano.function([a,b,x,y], z_lazy,
mode=theano.Mode(linker='vm'))
val1 = 0.
val2 = 1.
big_mat1 = numpy.ones((10000,1000))
big_mat2 = numpy.ones((10000,1000))
n_times = 10
tic = time.clock()
for i in xrange(n_times):
f_switch(val1, val2, big_mat1, big_mat2)
print 'time spent evaluating both values %f sec'%(time.clock()-tic)
tic = time.clock()
for i in xrange(n_times):
f_lazyifelse(val1, val2, big_mat1, big_mat2)
print 'time spent evaluating one value %f sec'%(time.clock()-tic)
IfElse Op spend less time (about an half) than Switch since it computes only one variable instead of both.
$ python ifelse_switch.py
time spent evaluating both values 0.6700 sec
time spent evaluating one value 0.3500 sec
Note that IfElse condition is a boolean while Switch condition is a tensor, so Switch is more general.
It is actually important to use linker='vm'
or linker='cvm'
,
otherwise IfElse will compute both variables and take the same computation
time as the Switch Op. The linker is not currently set by default to ‘cvm’ but
it will be in a near future.
Loops¶
Scan
- General form of recurrence, which can be used for looping.
- Reduction and map (loop over the leading dimensions) are special cases of Scan
- You ‘scan’ a function along some input sequence, producing an output at each time-step
- The function can see the previous K time-steps of your function
sum()
could be computed by scanning the z + x(i) function over a list, given an initial state ofz=0
.- Often a for-loop can be expressed as a
scan()
operation, andscan
is the closest that Theano comes to looping. - The advantage of using
scan
over for loops- The number of iterations to be part of the symbolic graph
- Minimizes GPU transfers if GPU is involved
- Compute gradients through sequential steps
- Slightly faster then using a for loop in Python with a compiled Theano function
- Can lower the overall memory usage by detecting the actual amount of memory needed
Scan Example: Computing pow(A,k)
import theano
import theano.tensor as T
k = T.iscalar("k"); A = T.vector("A")
def inner_fct(prior_result, A): return prior_result * A
# Symbolic description of the result
result, updates = theano.scan(fn=inner_fct,
outputs_info=T.ones_like(A),
non_sequences=A, n_steps=k)
# Scan has provided us with A**1 through A**k. Keep only the last
# value. Scan notices this and does not waste memory saving them.
final_result = result[-1]
power = theano.function(inputs=[A,k], outputs=final_result,
updates=updates)
print power(range(10),2)
#[ 0. 1. 4. 9. 16. 25. 36. 49. 64. 81.]
Scan Example: Calculating a Polynomial
import theano
import theano.tensor as T
coefficients = theano.tensor.vector("coefficients")
x = T.scalar("x"); max_coefficients_supported = 10000
# Generate the components of the polynomial
full_range=theano.tensor.arange(max_coefficients_supported)
components, updates = theano.scan(fn=lambda coeff, power, free_var:
coeff * (free_var ** power),
outputs_info=None,
sequences=[coefficients, full_range],
non_sequences=x)
polynomial = components.sum()
calculate_polynomial = theano.function(inputs=[coefficients, x],
outputs=polynomial)
test_coeff = numpy.asarray([1, 0, 2], dtype=numpy.float32)
print calculate_polynomial(test_coeff, 3)
19.0
Exercise 4¶
- Run both examples
- Modify and execute the polynomial example to have the reduction done by scan
Compilation pipeline¶

Inplace optimization¶
- 2 type of inplace operations:
- An op that return a view on its inputs (e.g. reshape, inplace transpose)
- An op that write the output on the inputs memory space
- This allows some memory optimization
- The Op must tell Theano if they work inplace
- Inplace Op add constraints to the order of execution
Profiling¶
- To replace the default mode with this mode, use the Theano flags
mode=ProfileMode
- To enable the memory profiling use the flags
ProfileMode.profile_memory=True
Theano output:
"""
Time since import 33.456s
Theano compile time: 1.023s (3.1% since import)
Optimization time: 0.789s
Linker time: 0.221s
Theano fct call 30.878s (92.3% since import)
Theano Op time 29.411s 87.9%(since import) 95.3%(of fct call)
Theano function overhead in ProfileMode 1.466s 4.4%(since import)
4.7%(of fct call)
10001 Theano fct call, 0.003s per call
Rest of the time since import 1.555s 4.6%
Theano fct summary:
<% total fct time> <total time> <time per call> <nb call> <fct name>
100.0% 30.877s 3.09e-03s 10000 train
0.0% 0.000s 4.06e-04s 1 predict
Single Op-wise summary:
<% of local_time spent on this kind of Op> <cumulative %>
<self seconds> <cumulative seconds> <time per call> <nb_call>
<nb_op> <nb_apply> <Op name>
87.3% 87.3% 25.672s 25.672s 2.57e-03s 10000 1 1 <Gemv>
9.7% s 97.0% 2.843s 28.515s 2.84e-04s 10001 1 2 <Dot>
2.4% 99.3% 0.691s 29.206s 7.68e-06s * 90001 10 10 <Elemwise>
0.4% 99.7% 0.127s 29.334s 1.27e-05s 10000 1 1 <Alloc>
0.2% 99.9% 0.053s 29.386s 1.75e-06s * 30001 2 4 <DimShuffle>
0.0% 100.0% 0.014s 29.400s 1.40e-06s * 10000 1 1 <Sum>
0.0% 100.0% 0.011s 29.411s 1.10e-06s * 10000 1 1 <Shape_i>
(*) Op is running a c implementation
Op-wise summary:
<% of local_time spent on this kind of Op> <cumulative %>
<self seconds> <cumulative seconds> <time per call>
<nb_call> <nb apply> <Op name>
87.3% 87.3% 25.672s 25.672s 2.57e-03s 10000 1 Gemv{inplace}
9.7% 97.0% 2.843s 28.515s 2.84e-04s 10001 2 dot
1.3% 98.2% 0.378s 28.893s 3.78e-05s * 10000 1 Elemwise{Composite{scalar_softplus,{mul,scalar_softplus,{neg,mul,sub}}}}
0.4% 98.7% 0.127s 29.021s 1.27e-05s 10000 1 Alloc
0.3% 99.0% 0.092s 29.112s 9.16e-06s * 10000 1 Elemwise{Composite{exp,{mul,{true_div,neg,{add,mul}}}}}[(0, 0)]
0.1% 99.3% 0.033s 29.265s 1.66e-06s * 20001 3 InplaceDimShuffle{x}
... (remaining 11 Apply account for 0.7%(0.00s) of the runtime)
(*) Op is running a c implementation
Apply-wise summary:
<% of local_time spent at this position> <cumulative %%>
<apply time> <cumulative seconds> <time per call>
<nb_call> <Apply position> <Apply Op name>
87.3% 87.3% 25.672s 25.672s 2.57e-03s 10000 15 Gemv{inplace}(w, TensorConstant{-0.01}, InplaceDimShuffle{1,0}.0, Elemwise{Composite{exp,{mul,{true_div,neg,{add,mul}}}}}[(0, 0)].0, TensorConstant{0.9998})
9.7% 97.0% 2.843s 28.515s 2.84e-04s 10000 1 dot(x, w)
1.3% 98.2% 0.378s 28.893s 3.78e-05s 10000 9 Elemwise{Composite{scalar_softplus,{mul,scalar_softplus,{neg,mul,sub}}}}(y, Elemwise{Composite{neg,sub}}[(0, 0)].0, Elemwise{sub,no_inplace}.0, Elemwise{neg,no_inplace}.0)
0.4% 98.7% 0.127s 29.020s 1.27e-05s 10000 10 Alloc(Elemwise{inv,no_inplace}.0, Shape_i{0}.0)
0.3% 99.0% 0.092s 29.112s 9.16e-06s 10000 13 Elemwise{Composite{exp,{mul,{true_div,neg,{add,mul}}}}}[(0,0)](Elemwise{ScalarSigmoid{output_types_preference=transfer_type{0}, _op_use_c_code=True}}[(0, 0)].0, Alloc.0, y, Elemwise{Composite{neg,sub}}[(0,0)].0, Elemwise{sub,no_inplace}.0, InplaceDimShuffle{x}.0)
0.3% 99.3% 0.080s 29.192s 7.99e-06s 10000 11 Elemwise{ScalarSigmoid{output_types_preference=transfer_type{0}, _op_use_c_code=True}}[(0, 0)](Elemwise{neg,no_inplace}.0)
... (remaining 14 Apply instances account for
0.7%(0.00s) of the runtime)
Profile of Theano functions memory:
(This check only the output of each apply node. It don't check the temporary memory used by the op in the apply node.)
Theano fct: train
Max without gc, inplace and view (KB) 2481
Max FAST_RUN_NO_GC (KB) 16
Max FAST_RUN (KB) 16
Memory saved by view (KB) 2450
Memory saved by inplace (KB) 15
Memory saved by GC (KB) 0
<Sum apply outputs (bytes)> <Apply outputs memory size(bytes)>
<created/inplace/view> <Apply node>
<created/inplace/view> is taked from the op declaration, not ...
2508800B [2508800] v InplaceDimShuffle{1,0}(x)
6272B [6272] i Gemv{inplace}(w, ...)
3200B [3200] c Elemwise{Composite{...}}(y, ...)
Here are tips to potentially make your code run faster (if you think of new ones, suggest them on the mailing list).
Test them first, as they are not guaranteed to always provide a speedup.
- Try the Theano flag floatX=float32
"""
Exercise 5¶
- In the last exercises, do you see a speed up with the GPU?
- Where does it come from? (Use ProfileMode)
- Is there something we can do to speed up the GPU version?
Printing/Drawing Theano graphs¶
- Pretty Printing
theano.printing.pprint(variable)
>>> theano.printing.pprint(prediction)
gt((TensorConstant{1} / (TensorConstant{1} + exp(((-(x \\dot w)) - b)))),TensorConstant{0.5})
- Debug Print
theano.printing.debugprint({fct, variable, list of variables})
>>> theano.printing.debugprint(prediction)
Elemwise{gt,no_inplace} [@181772236] ''
|Elemwise{true_div,no_inplace} [@181746668] ''
| |InplaceDimShuffle{x} [@181746412] ''
| | |TensorConstant{1} [@181745836]
| |Elemwise{add,no_inplace} [@181745644] ''
| | |InplaceDimShuffle{x} [@181745420] ''
| | | |TensorConstant{1} [@181744844]
| | |Elemwise{exp,no_inplace} [@181744652] ''
| | | |Elemwise{sub,no_inplace} [@181744012] ''
| | | | |Elemwise{neg,no_inplace} [@181730764] ''
| | | | | |dot [@181729676] ''
| | | | | | |x [@181563948]
| | | | | | |w [@181729964]
| | | | |InplaceDimShuffle{x} [@181743788] ''
| | | | | |b [@181730156]
|InplaceDimShuffle{x} [@181771788] ''
| |TensorConstant{0.5} [@181771148]
>>> theano.printing.debugprint(predict)
Elemwise{Composite{neg,{sub,{{scalar_sigmoid,GT},neg}}}} [@183160204] '' 2
|dot [@183018796] '' 1
| |x [@183000780]
| |w [@183000812]
|InplaceDimShuffle{x} [@183133580] '' 0
| |b [@183000876]
|TensorConstant{[ 0.5]} [@183084108]
- Picture Printing of Graphs
>>> theano.printing.pydotprint_variables(prediction)

All pydotprint* requires graphviz and pydot
>>> theano.printing.pydotprint(predict)

>>> theano.printing.pydotprint(train) # This is a small train example!

Debugging¶
- Run with the flag
mode=DebugMode
- 100-1000x slower
- Test all optimization steps from the original graph to the final graph
- Checks many things that Op should/shouldn’t do
- Executes both the Python and C code versions
- Run with the Theano flag
compute_test_value = {``off'',``ignore'', ``warn'', ``raise''}
- Run the code as we create the graph
- Allows you to find the bug earlier (ex: shape mismatch)
- Makes it easier to identify where the problem is in your code
- Use the value of constants and shared variables directly
- For pure symbolic variables uses
x.tag.test_value = numpy.random.rand(5,10)
- Run with the flag
mode=FAST_COMPILE
- Few optimizations
- Run Python code (better error messages and can be debugged interactively in the Python debugger)
Known limitations¶
- Compilation phase distinct from execution phase
- Compilation time can be significant
- Amortize it with functions over big input or reuse functions
- Execution overhead
- Needs a certain number of operations to be useful
- We have started working on this in a branch
- Compilation time superlinear in the size of the graph.
- A few hundreds nodes is fine
- Disabling a few optimizations can speed up compilation
- Usually too many nodes indicates a problem with the graph