NuPIC is a library that provides the building blocks for online prediction systems. The library contains the Cortical Learning Algorithm (CLA), but also the Online Prediction Framework (OPF) that allows clients to build prediction systems out of encoders, models, and metrics.
For more information, see numenta.org or the Github wiki.
Issue tracker at issues.numenta.org.
For more detailed documentation, see the OPF wiki page.
Encoders turn raw values into sparse distributed representations (SDRs). A good encoder will capture the semantics of the data type in the SDR using overlapping bits for semantically similar values.
Models take sequences of SDRs and make predictions. The CLA is implemented as an OPF model.
Metrics take input values and predictions and output scalar representations of the quality of the predictions. Different metrics are suitable for different problems.
Clients take input data and feed it through encoders, models, and metrics and store or report the resulting predictions or metric results.
For all installation options, see the Getting Started wiki page.
Currently supported platforms:
- Linux (32/64bit)
- Mac OSX
- Raspberry Pi (ARMv6)
- Chromebook (Ubuntu ARM, Crouton) (ARMv7)
- VM images
Dependencies:
- Python (2.6-2.7) (with development headers)
- GCC (4.6-4.8), or Clang
- Make
The dependencies are included in platform-specific repositories for convenience:
- nupic-linux64 for 64-bit Linux systems
- nupic-darwin64 for 64-bit OS X systems
Add the following to your .bashrc file. Change the paths as needed.
# Installation path
export NTA=$HOME/nta/eng
# Target source/repo path. Defaults to $PWD
export NUPIC=/path/to/repo
# Convenience variable for temporary build files
export BUILDDIR=/tmp/ntabuild
# Number of jobs to run in parallel (optional)
export MK_JOBS=3
# Set up the rest of the necessary env variables. Must be done after
# setting $NTA.
source $NUPIC/env.sh
If you plan on making changes to NuPIC, add the following to your .bashrc file.
# Developer mode: make build use symbolic links from source for Python files instead of copying files
export NTAX_DEVELOPER_BUILD=1
Complete set of python requirements are documented in requirements.txt, compatible with pip:
pip install -r external/common/requirements.txt
Note: If using pip 1.5 or later:
pip install --allow-all-external --allow-unverified PIL --allow-unverified psutil -r external/common/requirements.txt
Note: If you get a "permission denied" error when using pip, you may add the --user flag to install to a location in your home directory, which should resolve any permissions issues. Doing this, you may need to add this location to your PATH and PYTHONPATH. Alternatively, you can run pip with 'sudo'.
Build and install NuPIC:
$NUPIC/build.sh
NuPIC should now be installed in $NTA! If the build failed, check to make sure that $NUPIC is set, and the value is the proper path to the local NuPIC repo.
Run the C++ tests:
$NTA/bin/htmtest
$NTA/bin/testeverything
Run the Python unit tests:
cd $NTA
./bin/run_tests.sh
You can run the examples using the OpfRunExperiment OPF client:
python $NUPIC/examples/opf/bin/OpfRunExperiment.py $NUPIC/examples/opf/experiments/multistep/hotgym/
There are also some sample OPF clients. You can modify these to run your own data sets. One example is the hotgym prediction client:
python $NUPIC/examples/opf/clients/hotgym/hotgym.py
Also check out other uses of the CLA on the Getting Started wiki page.