
Paddle: Baidu's open source deep learning framework - thinxer
https://github.com/baidu/paddle
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blackkettle
Looks well put together, well documented. Quickstart tutorial was easy to
follow.

Why should I think about using this instead of (or in combination with?) the
plethora of other similar offerings out there?

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mhuffman
Well, if you are a "Internet celebrity hound", Andrew Ng (of Stanford, machine
learning online course, and general HN fame ) is Chief Scientist at Baidu now.

Otherwise, I agree that it has an uphill battle with some other entrenched
frameworks.

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ya3r
One thing which is missing is a "model zoo", a place where people share models
(usually well-known) pre-trained, which is very useful for starting to use a
framework.

Although this repo
[https://github.com/baidu/paddle_paddle_model_zoo](https://github.com/baidu/paddle_paddle_model_zoo),
suggests they might be working on one.

~~~
wodenokoto
There is a model zoo here: [http://www.paddlepaddle.org/doc/demo/#model-
zoo](http://www.paddlepaddle.org/doc/demo/#model-zoo)

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cs702
Another deep learning framework, this time from Baidu.

Given TensorFlow's rising dominance with AI researchers and practitioners and
the existence of other frameworks with large installed bases like Theano,
Torch, and Caffe, I don't think this new framework has much chance of gaining
wide adoption in the US or other markets in the West. In my opinion,
TensorFlow's network effects are too large to overcome at this point.

However, Paddle could gain significant adoption in China, Baidu's home market.

EDIT: My opinion could be wrong. To find out, I've created an HN POLL so we
can all see which deep learning frameworks the HN community would use to build
new products and services today. Link to HN POLL:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12391744](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12391744)

~~~
vonnik
The vast majority of Tensorflow users are students from the Udacity course. So
the "rising dominance" of Tensorflow is actually disputable. 95% of those
users have little experience, let alone the opportunity of deploying to
production.

As a technology, Tensorflow is not better than other frameworks in many ways.
It has a nice website and a few tutorials, but it doesn't do well, for
example, in large production environments.

The field of DL libraries is actually wide and changing quickly. TF, CNTK,
DSSTNE and other libs all came out in the last 10 months or so.

So Paddle has a chance, especially in China, where Tensorflow is handicapped
because people can't use the Google Cloud on which it is optimized.

~~~
cs702
vonnik: I agree Paddle has a chance in China. That's what I wrote above :-)

As to TensorFlow's dominance, maybe you're right, I could be wrong. That's why
I created the poll, to find out which framework the HN community actually
wants to use:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12391744](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12391744)

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leozou
Easy to use.

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yalogin
aa

~~~
gumby
If you want to be cynical about it, consider that you already have it embedded
in your infrastructure. Your real value is the stuff you've built _on top_ of
it. If it's open and widely used you'll have an easier time hiring experienced
people; you might even acquire a company with something new and useful to you
that's built on the stack you already use; and, you know, someone might even
fix a bug or add some great new functionality that you can take advantage of.

Plus if your stack becomes dominant, it's the _other_ guys' (your competitors)
problem to change _their_ stack instead.

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hansjorg
Interesting project name. The authors seem to be telling us something about
their philosophy of education :)

