I've never used Jax, but it keeps popping up as an interesting library. How does it fit in and compare to pytorch, numba, and numpy?
More of a meta-question; I'd love to know if people do self-directed learning more frequently, or if they follow through full (or partial) textbooks to learn concepts they're interested in. I have a hard time going through full books, but I have no doubt this leads to gaps in knowledge that someone following a textbook would not have.
I do both. In my case textbooks are to fill theoretical needs/gaps. I go through full books in some cases and in others it is not feasible based on various factors (difficulty of subject, need, content, 500+ pages etc.) I find that some of the newer textbooks give a helpful flowchart of chapters so one can choose their "adventure" based on interest or the curriculum needs (of an instructor).
On occasions I abandon reading after a chapter or two if I don't think it serves my needs or the subject matter is too difficult for me. In the latter case I may try to look for an alternative or come back to it once I have gained pre-requisite knowledge.
I look for code-available seminal papers so I can read the code as I understand code better than written text or mathematical expressions.
In order to understand it I'll try extend it, repurpose it, 'use it in anger', or re-write to a new framework or language.
Jupyter notebooks for every chapter available here: https://github.com/che-shr-cat/JAX-in-Action
i bought early preview of this book like a year ago (through https://www.manning.com/meap-program), only when the first two chapters were ready.
waiting for a printed copy to arrive. this is really good book
Can you say more about why, specifically?
Looks super interesting :) I was considering picking up a printed copy, but shipping to Montreal, Canada is 31 USD, pretty much the price of the book.
If you're affiliated with Mila, it may be worth it to ask for the book to be bought for the shared library - I'm sure many people would peruse it :)
That makes a lot of sense! Might just order it through a local bookseller though.