[tyrael71]

Can someone explain how this repo is so popular/ why it's so popular here? This is a basic implementation of a relatively simple algorithm that you learn when initially starting with ML/DL.

I do not want in any way to sound critical and am genuinely curious about the dynamics of why people would find this interesting given it's reduced complexity.

[thibaut_barrere]

One hypothesis is that there is a trend of non ML-familiar developers currently working on getting more grasp on ML. Such repositories provide something that e.g. web developers can take a look at, with reduced friction.

Disclaimer: I'm such a developer! (currently going through the last bits of https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning) - but I've noticed other around me recently.

[netvarun]

I up-voted this since I found it really helpful while working through Michael Nielsen's book on neural networks[1]. (I had chanced upon this repo a couple of months ago)

The code is actually based on the original code from the book (e.g.: can be seen from the variable names like 'nabla') , but written in a more succinct manner. Since I am relatively new to Python, I found it easier to follow this repo's code than the code in the book and used it as my reference implementation.

It's missing quite a few things like calculating accuracy, regularization, etc. but they are quite straightforward to implement.

[1] Neural Networks and Deep Learning by Michael Nielsen - http://neuralnetworksanddeeplearning.com

[huskyr]

You said it yourself: when you want to learn something complex (like ML), it's usually easy to start with something with reduced complexity.

At least, that's why i clicked the link.

[superuser2]

We aren't all working on machine learning. There will always be some people who are getting into it for the first time.

[mlquestions]

Hehe, you're probably of similar mind to PaulHoule who commented on my Ask HN thread - https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=12198327

[rch]

https://xkcd.com/1053/

[d4rth_s1d10us]

Haha nice comic ! :-D