A biased introduction to neural networks and old school machine learning

The Shallow and the Deep is a collection of lecture notes that offers an accessible introduction to neural networks and machine learning in general. However, it was clear from the beginning that these notes would not be able to cover this rapidly changing and growing field in its entirety. The focus lies on classical machine learning techniques, with a bias towards classification and regression. Other learning paradigms and many recent developments in, for instance, Deep Learning are not addressed or only briefly touched upon.
Biehl argues that having a solid knowledge of the foundations of the field is essential, especially for anyone who wants to explore the world of machine learning with an ambition that goes beyond the application of some software package to some data set. Therefore, The Shallow and the Deep places emphasis on fundamental concepts and theoretical background. This also involves delving into the history and pre-history of neural networks, where the foundations for most of the recent developments were laid.
These notes aim to demystify machine learning and neural networks without losing the appreciation for their impressive power and versatility.

Michael Biehl is Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence of the University of Groningen, where he joined the Intelligent Systems group in 2003. He also holds an honorary Professorship of Machine Learning at the Center for Systems Modelling and Quantitative Biomedicine of the University of Birmingham, UK.

UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN PRESS | UGP

The physical books of the University of Groningen Press are distributed in collaboration with Uitgeverij kleine Uil.

The Open Access editions are available University of Groningen Press

ISBN (ePDF): 9789403430270
DOI 10.21827/648c59c1a467e