Charles River Analytics congratulates Principal Scientist, Dr. Avi Pfeffer, on the publication of his book entitled Practical Probabilistic Programming. The book introduces readers to probabilistic programming and enables those without experience in machine learning to create rich, probabilistic modeling applications using Figaro™. Figaro is an open-source, probabilistic programming language developed by Dr. Pfeffer.
“Practical Probabilistic Programming introduces the working programmer to probabilistic programming,” said Dr. Pfeffer. “Readers will learn how to use the probabilistic programming paradigm to model application domains and then express those probabilistic models in code. While most books in probabilistic modeling are academic in nature, this one explains the relevant concepts in practical, down-to-earth terms with relevant examples.”
Topics in the book include:
- An introduction to probabilistic modeling and probabilistic programming
- Writing probabilistic programs in Figaro
- Using functional and object-oriented programming styles to build probabilistic models
- Using dynamic models to keep track of systems that change over time
- How to use probabilistic programs to create samples
- Creating decision models and decision making algorithms
- Explanations of algorithms used in probabilistic programming
Figaro is free, open-source software that can be downloaded from www.cra.com/figaro.
More information on the book is available at http://www.manning.com/pfeffer.
For more information about the book or Figaro, contact Dr. Avi Pfeffer at Figaro (@) cra.com.
