In this ungraded lab, we will explain the stack semantics in Trax. This will help in understanding how to use layers like Select and Residual which gets . If you’ve taken a computer science class before, you will recall that a stack is a data structure that follows the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle. That is, whatever is the latest element that is pushed into the stack will also be the first one to be popped out. If you’re not yet familiar with stacks, then you may find this short tutorial useful. In a nutshell, all you really need to remember is it puts elements one on top of the other. You should be aware of what is on top of the stack to know which element you will be popping. You will see this in the discussions below. Let’s get started!
Imports
import numpy as np # regular ol' numpyfrom trax import layers as tl # core building blockfrom trax import shapes # data signatures: dimensionality and typefrom trax import fastmath # uses jax, offers numpy on steroids
2025-02-10 16:59:40.963815: E external/local_xla/xla/stream_executor/cuda/cuda_fft.cc:477] Unable to register cuFFT factory: Attempting to register factory for plugin cuFFT when one has already been registered
WARNING: All log messages before absl::InitializeLog() is called are written to STDERR
E0000 00:00:1739199580.979731 126645 cuda_dnn.cc:8310] Unable to register cuDNN factory: Attempting to register factory for plugin cuDNN when one has already been registered
E0000 00:00:1739199580.984598 126645 cuda_blas.cc:1418] Unable to register cuBLAS factory: Attempting to register factory for plugin cuBLAS when one has already been registered
1. The tl.Serial Combinator is Stack Oriented.
To understand how stack-orientation works in Trax, most times one will be using the Serial layer. We will define two simple Function layers: 1) Addition and 2) Multiplication.
Suppose we want to make the simple calculation (3 + 4) * 15 + 3. Serial will perform the calculations in the following manner 34add15mul3add. The steps of the calculation are shown in the table below. The first column shows the operations made on the stack and the second column the output of those operations. Moreover, the rightmost element in the second column represents the top of the stack (e.g. in the second row, Push(3) pushes 3 on top of the stack and 4 is now under it).
After processing all the stack contains 108 which is the answer to our simple computation.
From this, the following can be concluded: a stack-based layer has only one way to handle data, by taking one piece of data from atop the stack, termed popping, and putting data back atop the stack, termed pushing. Any expression that can be written conventionally, can be written in this form and thus be amenable to being interpreted by a stack-oriented layer like Serial.
Coding the example in the table:
Defining addition
def Addition(): layer_name ="Addition"# don't forget to give your custom layer a name to identify# Custom function for the custom layerdef func(x, y):return x + yreturn tl.Fn(layer_name, func)# Test itadd = Addition()# Inspect propertiesprint("-- Properties --")print("name :", add.name)print("expected inputs :", add.n_in)print("promised outputs :", add.n_out, "\n")# Inputsx = np.array([3])y = np.array([4])print("-- Inputs --")print("x :", x, "\n")print("y :", y, "\n")# Outputsz = add((x, y))print("-- Outputs --")print("z :", z)
-- Properties --
name : Addition
expected inputs : 2
promised outputs : 1
-- Inputs --
x : [3]
y : [4]
-- Outputs --
z : [7]
Defining multiplication
def Multiplication(): layer_name = ("Multiplication"# don't forget to give your custom layer a name to identify )# Custom function for the custom layerdef func(x, y):return x * yreturn tl.Fn(layer_name, func)# Test itmul = Multiplication()# Inspect propertiesprint("-- Properties --")print("name :", mul.name)print("expected inputs :", mul.n_in)print("promised outputs :", mul.n_out, "\n")# Inputsx = np.array([7])y = np.array([15])print("-- Inputs --")print("x :", x, "\n")print("y :", y, "\n")# Outputsz = mul((x, y))print("-- Outputs --")print("z :", z)
-- Properties --
name : Multiplication
expected inputs : 2
promised outputs : 1
-- Inputs --
x : [7]
y : [15]
-- Outputs --
z : [105]
Implementing the computations using Serial combinator.
# Serial combinatorserial = tl.Serial( Addition(), Multiplication(), Addition() # add 3 + 4 # multiply result by 15)# Initializationx = (np.array([3]), np.array([4]), np.array([15]), np.array([3])) # inputserial.init(shapes.signature(x)) # initializing serial instanceprint("-- Serial Model --")print(serial, "\n")print("-- Properties --")print("name :", serial.name)print("sublayers :", serial.sublayers)print("expected inputs :", serial.n_in)print("promised outputs :", serial.n_out, "\n")# Inputsprint("-- Inputs --")print("x :", x, "\n")# Outputsy = serial(x)print("-- Outputs --")print("y :", y)
(((), (), ()), ((), (), ()))
-- Serial Model --
Serial_in4[
Addition_in2
Multiplication_in2
Addition_in2
]
-- Properties --
name : Serial
sublayers : [Addition_in2, Multiplication_in2, Addition_in2]
expected inputs : 4
promised outputs : 1
-- Inputs --
x : (array([3]), array([4]), array([15]), array([3]))
-- Outputs --
y : [108]
The example with the two simple adition and multiplication functions that where coded together with the serial combinator show how stack semantics work in Trax.
2. The tl.Select combinator in the context of the Serial combinator
Having understood how stack semantics work in Trax, we will demonstrate how the tl.Select combinator works.
First example of tl.Select
Suppose we want to make the simple calculation (3 + 4) * 3 + 4. We can use Select to perform the calculations in the following manner:
4
3
tl.Select([0,1,0,1])
add
mul
add.
The tl.Select requires a list or tuple of 0-based indices to select elements relative to the top of the stack. For our example, the top of the stack is 3 (which is at index 0) then 4 (index 1) and we Select to add in an ordered manner to the top of the stack which after the command is 3434. The steps of the calculation for our example are shown in the table below. As in the previous table each column shows the contents of the stack and the outputs after the operations are carried out.
After processing all the inputs the stack contains 25 which is the answer we get above.
-- Serial Model --
Serial_in2[
Select[0,1,0,1]_in2_out4
Addition_in2
Multiplication_in2
Addition_in2
]
-- Properties --
name : Serial
sublayers : [Select[0,1,0,1]_in2_out4, Addition_in2, Multiplication_in2, Addition_in2]
expected inputs : 2
promised outputs : 1
-- Inputs --
x : (array([3]), array([4]))
-- Outputs --
y : [25]
Second example of tl.Select
Suppose we want to make the simple calculation (3 + 4) * 4. We can use Select to perform the calculations in the following manner:
4
3
tl.Select([0,1,0,1])
add
tl.Select([0], n_in=2)
mul
The example is a bit contrived but it demonstrates the flexibility of the command. The second tl.Select pops two elements (specified in n_in) from the stack starting from index 0 (i.e. top of the stack). This means that 7 and 3 will be popped out because n_in = 2) but only 7 is placed back on top because it only selects [0]. As in the previous table each column shows the contents of the stack and the outputs after the operations are carried out.
After processing all the inputs the stack contains 28 which is the answer we get above.
-- Serial Model --
Serial_in2[
Select[0,1,0,1]_in2_out4
Addition_in2
Select[0]_in2
Multiplication_in2
]
-- Properties --
name : Serial
sublayers : [Select[0,1,0,1]_in2_out4, Addition_in2, Select[0]_in2, Multiplication_in2]
expected inputs : 2
promised outputs : 1
-- Inputs --
x : (array([3]), array([4]))
-- Outputs --
y : [28]
In summary, what Select does in this example is a copy of the inputs in order to be used further along in the stack of operations.
3. The tl.Residual combinator in the context of the Serial combinator
tl.Residual
Residual networks are frequently used to make deep models easier to train and you will be using it in the assignment as well. Trax already has a built in layer for this. The Residual layer computes the element-wise sum of the stack-top input with the output of the layer series. For example, if we wanted the cumulative sum of the folowing series of computations (3 + 4) * 3 + 4. The result can be obtained with the use of the Residual combinator in the following manner
4
3
tl.Select([0,1,0,1])
add
mul
tl.Residual.
For our example the top of the stack is 34 and we select to add the same to numbers in an ordered manner to the top of the stack which after the command is 3434. The steps of the calculation for our example are shown in the table below together with the cumulative sum which is the result of tl.Residual.
After processing all the inputs the stack contains 50 which is the cumulative sum of all the operations.
-- Serial Model --
Serial_in2[
Select[0,1,0,1]_in2_out4
Addition_in2
Multiplication_in2
Addition_in2
Serial[
Branch_out2[
None
Serial
]
Add_in2
]
]
-- Properties --
name : Serial
sublayers : [Select[0,1,0,1]_in2_out4, Addition_in2, Multiplication_in2, Addition_in2, Serial[
Branch_out2[
None
Serial
]
Add_in2
]]
expected inputs : 2
promised outputs : 1
-- Inputs --
x : (array([3]), array([4]))
-- Outputs --
y : [50]
A slightly trickier example:
Normally, the Residual layer will accept a layer as an argument and it will add the output of that layer to the current stack top input. In the example below, you’ll notice that in the last step, we specify tl.Residual(Addition()). If you refer to the same figure above, you’ll notice that the stack at that point has 21 4 where 21 is the top of the stack. The Residual layer remembers this value (i.e. 21) so the result of the Addition() layer nested into it (i.e. 25) is added to this stack top input to arrive at the result: 46.
