Eps

Linear regression for Ruby

• Build models quickly and easily
• Serve models built in Ruby, Python, R, and more
• Automatically handles categorical variables
• No external dependencies

Installation

Add this line to your application’s Gemfile:

gem 'eps'

To speed up training on large datasets, you can also add GSL.

Getting Started

Create a model

data = [
  {bedrooms: 1, bathrooms: 1, price: 100000},
  {bedrooms: 2, bathrooms: 1, price: 125000},
  {bedrooms: 2, bathrooms: 2, price: 135000},
  {bedrooms: 3, bathrooms: 2, price: 162000}
]
model = Eps::Regressor.new(data, target: :price)
puts model.summary

Make a prediction

model.predict(bedrooms: 2, bathrooms: 1)

Pass an array of hashes make multiple predictions at once

Building Models

Training and Test Sets

When building models, it’s a good idea to hold out some data so you can see how well the model will perform on unseen data. To do this, we split our data into two sets: training and test. We build the model with the training set and later evaluate it on the test set.

rng = Random.new(1) # seed random number generator
train_set, test_set = houses.partition { rng.rand < 0.7 }

If your data has a time associated with it, we recommend splitting on this.

split_date = Date.parse("2018-06-01")
train_set, test_set = houses.partition { |h| h.sold_at < split_date }

Feature Engineering

Selecting features for a model is extremely important for performance. Features can be numeric or categorical. For categorical features, there’s no need to create dummy variables - just pass the data as strings.

{state: "CA"}

Categorical features generate coefficients for each distinct value except for one

You should do this for any ids in your data.

{city_id: "123"}

For times, create features like day of week and hour of day with:

{weekday: time.wday.to_s, hour: time.hour.to_s}

In practice, your code may look like:

def features(house)
  {
    bedrooms: house.bedrooms,
    city_id: house.city_id.to_s,
    month: house.sold_at.strftime("%b"),
    price: house.price
  }
end

train_data = train_set.map { |h| features(h) }

Training

Once we have some features, let’s train the model.

model = Eps::Regressor.new(train_data, target: :price)
puts model.summary

The summary includes the coefficients and their significance. The lower the p-value, the more significant the feature is. p-values below 0.05 are typically considered significant. It also shows the adjusted r-squared, which is a measure of how well the model fits the data. The higher the number, the better the fit. Here’s a good explanation of why it’s better than r-squared.

Evaluation

When you’re happy with the model, see how well it performs on the test set. This gives us an idea of how well it’ll perform on unseen data.

test_data = test_set.map { |h| features(h) }
model.evaluate(test_data)

This returns:

• RSME - Root mean square error
• MAE - Mean absolute error
• ME - Mean error

We want to minimize the RMSE and MAE and keep the ME around 0.

Serving Models

Once the model is trained, all we need are the coefficients to make predictions. You can dump them as a Ruby object or JSON. For Ruby, use:

model.dump

Then hardcode the result into your app.

data = {:coefficients=>{:_intercept=>63500.0, :bedrooms=>26000.0, :bathrooms=>10000.0}}
model = Eps::Regressor.load(data)

Now we can use it to make predictions.

model.predict(bedrooms: 2, bathrooms: 1)

Another option that works well is writing the model to file in your app.

json = model.to_json
File.open("lib/models/housing_price.json", "w") { |f| f.write(json) }

To load it, use:

json = File.read("lib/models/housing_price.json")
model = Eps::Regressor.load_json(json)

To continuously train models, we recommend storing them in your database.

Beyond Ruby

Eps makes it easy to serve models from other languages. You can build models in R, Python, and others and serve them in Ruby without having to worry about how to deploy or run another language. Eps can load models in:

JSON

data = File.read("model.json")
model = Eps::Regressor.load_json(data)

PMML - Predictive Model Markup Language

data = File.read("model.pmml")
model = Eps::Regressor.load_pmml(data)

PFA - Portable Format for Analytics

data = File.read("model.pfa")
model = Eps::Regressor.load_pfa(data)

Here are examples for how to dump models in each:

• R JSON
• R PMML
• R PFA
• Python JSON
• Python PMML
• Python PFA

Verifying

It’s important for features to be implemented consistently when serving models created in other languages. We highly recommend verifying this programmatically. Create a CSV file with ids and predictions from the original model.

house_id	prediction
1	145000
2	123000
3	250000

Once the model is implemented in Ruby, confirm the predictions match.

model = Eps::Regressor.load_json("model.json")

# preload houses to prevent n+1
houses = House.all.index_by(&:id)

CSV.foreach("predictions.csv", headers: true) do |row|
  house = houses[row["house_id"].to_i]
  expected = row["prediction"].to_f

  actual = model.predict(bedrooms: house.bedrooms, bathrooms: house.bathrooms)

  unless (actual - expected).abs < 0.001
    raise "Bad prediction for house #{house.id} (exp: #{expected}, act: #{actual})"
  end

  putc "✓"
end

Database Storage

The database is another place you can store models. It’s good if you retrain models automatically.

We recommend adding monitoring and guardrails as well if you retrain automatically

Create an ActiveRecord model to store the predictive model.

rails g model Model key:string:uniq data:text

Store the model with:

store = Model.where(key: "housing_price").first_or_initialize
store.update(data: model.to_json)

Load the model with:

data = Model.find_by!(key: "housing_price").data
model = Eps::Regressor.load_json(data)

Monitoring

We recommend monitoring how well your models perform over time. To do this, save your predictions to the database. Then, compare them with:

actual = houses.map(&:price)
estimated = houses.map(&:estimated_price)
Eps.metrics(actual, estimated)

This returns the same evaluation metrics as model building. For RMSE and MAE, alert if they rise above a certain threshold. For ME, alert if it moves too far away from 0.

Training Performance

Speed up training on large datasets with GSL.

First, install GSL. With Homebrew, you can use:

brew install gsl

Then, add this line to your application’s Gemfile:

gem 'gsl', group: :development

It only needs to be available in environments used to build the model.

Data

A number of data formats are supported. You can pass the target variable separately.

x = [{x: 1}, {x: 2}, {x: 3}]
y = [1, 2, 3]
Eps::Regressor.new(x, y)

Or pass arrays of arrays

x = [[1, 2], [2, 0], [3, 1]]
y = [1, 2, 3]
Eps::Regressor.new(x, y)

Daru

Eps works well with Daru data frames.

df = Daru::DataFrame.from_csv("houses.csv")
Eps::Regressor.new(df, target: "price")

To split into training and test sets, use:

rng = Random.new(1) # seed random number generator
train_index = houses.map { rng.rand < 0.7 }
train_set = houses.where(train_index)
test_set = houses.where(train_index.map { |v| !v })

CSVs

When importing data from CSV files, be sure to convert numeric fields. The table method does this automatically.

CSV.table("data.csv").map { |row| row.to_h }

Reference

Get coefficients

model.coefficients

Get an extended summary with standard error, t-values, and r-squared

model.summary(extended: true)

History

View the changelog

Contributing

Everyone is encouraged to help improve this project. Here are a few ways you can help:

• Report bugs
• Fix bugs and submit pull requests
• Write, clarify, or fix documentation
• Suggest or add new features

To get started with development and testing:

git clone https://github.com/ankane/eps.git
cd eps
bundle install
rake test