Multi-layer Perceptron in TensorFlow

Multi-Layer perceptron defines the most complex architecture of artificial neural networks. It is substantially formed from multiple layers of the perceptron. TensorFlow is a very popular deep learning framework released by, and this notebook will guide to build a neural network with this library. If we want to understand what is a Multi-layer perceptron, we have to develop a multi-layer perceptron from scratch using Numpy.

The pictorial representation of multi-layer perceptron learning is as shown below-

MLP networks are used for supervised learning format. A typical learning algorithm for MLP networks is also called back propagation's algorithm.

A multilayer perceptron (MLP) is a feed forward artificial neural network that generates a set of outputs from a set of inputs. An MLP is characterized by several layers of input nodes connected as a directed graph between the input nodes connected as a directed graph between the input and output layers. MLP uses backpropagation for training the network. MLP is a deep learning method.

Now, we are focusing on the implementation with MLP for an image classification problem.

# Import MINST data 
from tensorflow.examples.tutorials.mnist import input_data 
mnist = input_data.read_data_sets("/tmp/data/", one_hot = True) 

import tensorflow as tf 
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

# Parameters 
learning_rate = 0.001 
training_epochs = 20 
batch_size = 100 
display_step = 1 

# Network Parameters 
n_hidden_1 = 256 

# 1st layer num features
n_hidden_2 = 256 # 2nd layer num features 
n_input = 784 # MNIST data input (img shape: 28*28) n_classes = 10 
# MNIST total classes (0-9 digits) 

# tf Graph input 
x = tf.placeholder("float", [None, n_input]) 
y = tf.placeholder("float", [None, n_classes]) 

# weights layer 1 
h = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_input, n_hidden_1])) # bias layer 1 
bias_layer_1 = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_hidden_1])) 
# layer 1 layer_1 = tf.nn.sigmoid(tf.add(tf.matmul(x, h), bias_layer_1)) 

# weights layer 2 
w = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_hidden_1, n_hidden_2])) 

# bias layer 2 
bias_layer_2 = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_hidden_2])) 

# layer 2 
layer_2 = tf.nn.sigmoid(tf.add(tf.matmul(layer_1, w), bias_layer_2)) 

# weights output layer 
output = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_hidden_2, n_classes])) 

# biar output layer 
bias_output = tf.Variable(tf.random_normal([n_classes])) # output layer 
output_layer = tf.matmul(layer_2, output) + bias_output

# cost function 
cost = tf.reduce_mean(tf.nn.sigmoid_cross_entropy_with_logits(
   logits = output_layer, labels = y)) 

#cost = tf.reduce_mean(tf.nn.sigmoid_cross_entropy_with_logits(output_layer, y)) 
# optimizer 
optimizer = tf.train.AdamOptimizer(learning_rate = learning_rate).minimize(cost) 

# optimizer = tf.train.GradientDescentOptimizer(
   learning_rate = learning_rate).minimize(cost) 

# Plot settings 
avg_set = [] 
epoch_set = [] 

# Initializing the variables 
init = tf.global_variables_initializer() 

# Launch the graph 
with tf.Session() as sess: 
   sess.run(init) 
   
   # Training cycle
   for epoch in range(training_epochs): 
      avg_cost = 0. 
      total_batch = int(mnist.train.num_examples / batch_size) 
      
      # Loop over all batches 
      for i in range(total_batch): 
         batch_xs, batch_ys = mnist.train.next_batch(batch_size) 
         # Fit training using batch data sess.run(optimizer, feed_dict = {
            x: batch_xs, y: batch_ys}) 
         # Compute average loss 
         avg_cost += sess.run(cost, feed_dict = {x: batch_xs, y: batch_ys}) / total_batch
      # Display logs per epoch step 
      if epoch % display_step == 0: 
         print 
         Epoch:", '%04d' % (epoch + 1), "cost=", "{:.9f}".format(avg_cost)
      avg_set.append(avg_cost) 
      epoch_set.append(epoch + 1)
   print 
   "Training phase finished" 
   
   plt.plot(epoch_set, avg_set, 'o', label = 'MLP Training phase') 
   plt.ylabel('cost') 
   plt.xlabel('epoch') 
   plt.legend() 
   plt.show() 
   
   # Test model 
   correct_prediction = tf.equal(tf.argmax(output_layer, 1), tf.argmax(y, 1)) 
   
   # Calculate accuracy 
   accuracy = tf.reduce_mean(tf.cast(correct_prediction, "float")) 
   print 
   "Model Accuracy:", accuracy.eval({x: mnist.test.images, y: mnist.test.labels})

The above line of codes generating the following output-

Creating an interactive section

We have two basic options when using TensorFlow to run our code:

Build graphs and run sessions [Do all the set-up and then execute a session to implement a session to evaluate tensors and run operations].
Create our coding and run on the fly.

For this first part, we will use the interactive session that is more suitable for an environment like Jupiter notebook.

Creating placeholders

It's a best practice to create placeholder before variable assignments when using TensorFlow. Here we'll create placeholders to inputs ("Xs") and outputs ("Ys").

Placeholder "X": Represent the 'space' allocated input or the images.