I'm following a machine learning course. I have a simple linear regression (LR) problem to help me get used to TensorFlow. The LR problem is to find parameters a and b such that Y = a*X + b approximates an (x, y) point cloud (which I generated myself for the sake of simplicity).
I am solving this LR problem using a 'fixed step size gradient descent (FSSGD)'. I implemented it using TensorFlow and it works but I noticed that it is really slow both on GPU and CPU. Because I was curious I implemented the FSSGD myself in Python/NumPy and as expected this runs much faster, about:
- 10x faster than TF@CPU
- 20x faster than TF@GPU
If TensorFlow is this slow, I cannot imagine that so many people are using this framework. So I must be doing something wrong. Can anyone help me so I can speedup my TensorFlow implementation.
I'm NOT interested in the difference between the CPU and GPU performance. Both performance indicators are merely provided for completeness and illustration. I'm interested in why my TensorFlow implementation is so much slower than a raw Python/NumPy implementation.
As reference, I add my code below.
- Stripped to a minimal (but fully working) example.
- Using
Python v3.7.9 x64. - Used
tensorflow-gpu==1.15for now (because the course uses TensorFlow v1) - Tested to run in both Spyder and PyCharm.
My FSSGD implementation using TensorFlow (execution time about 40 sec @CPU to 80 sec @GPU):
#%% General imports
import numpy as np
import timeit
import tensorflow.compat.v1 as tf
#%% Get input data
# Generate simulated input data
x_data_input = np.arange(100, step=0.1)
y_data_input = x_data_input + 20 * np.sin(x_data_input/10) + 15
#%% Define tensorflow model
# Define data size
n_samples = x_data_input.shape[0]
# Tensorflow is finicky about shapes, so resize
x_data = np.reshape(x_data_input, (n_samples, 1))
y_data = np.reshape(y_data_input, (n_samples, 1))
# Define placeholders for input
X = tf.placeholder(tf.float32, shape=(n_samples, 1), name="tf_x_data")
Y = tf.placeholder(tf.float32, shape=(n_samples, 1), name="tf_y_data")
# Define variables to be learned
with tf.variable_scope("linear-regression", reuse=tf.AUTO_REUSE): #reuse= True | False | tf.AUTO_REUSE
W = tf.get_variable("weights", (1, 1), initializer=tf.constant_initializer(0.0))
b = tf.get_variable("bias", (1,), initializer=tf.constant_initializer(0.0))
# Define loss function
Y_pred = tf.matmul(X, W) + b
loss = tf.reduce_sum((Y - Y_pred) ** 2 / n_samples) # Quadratic loss function
# %% Solve tensorflow model
#Define algorithm parameters
total_iterations = 1e5 # Defines total training iterations
#Construct TensorFlow optimizer
with tf.variable_scope("linear-regression", reuse=tf.AUTO_REUSE): #reuse= True | False | tf.AUTO_REUSE
opt = tf.train.GradientDescentOptimizer(learning_rate = 1e-4)
opt_operation = opt.minimize(loss, name="GDO")
#To measure execution time
time_start = timeit.default_timer()
with tf.Session() as sess:
#Initialize variables
sess.run(tf.global_variables_initializer())
#Train variables
for index in range(int(total_iterations)):
_, loss_val_tmp = sess.run([opt_operation, loss], feed_dict={X: x_data, Y: y_data})
#Get final values of variables
W_val, b_val, loss_val = sess.run([W, b, loss], feed_dict={X: x_data, Y: y_data})
#Print execution time
time_end = timeit.default_timer()
print('')
print("Time to execute code: {0:0.9f} sec.".format(time_end - time_start))
print('')
# %% Print results
print('')
print('Iteration = {0:0.3f}'.format(total_iterations))
print('W_val = {0:0.3f}'.format(W_val[0,0]))
print('b_val = {0:0.3f}'.format(b_val[0]))
print('')
My own python FSSGD implementation (execution time about 4 sec):
#%% General imports
import numpy as np
import timeit
#%% Get input data
# Define input data
x_data_input = np.arange(100, step=0.1)
y_data_input = x_data_input + 20 * np.sin(x_data_input/10) + 15
#%% Define Gradient Descent (GD) model
# Define data size
n_samples = x_data_input.shape[0]
#Initialize data
W = 0.0 # Initial condition
b = 0.0 # Initial condition
# Compute initial loss
y_gd_approx = W*x_data_input+b
loss = np.sum((y_data_input - y_gd_approx)**2)/n_samples # Quadratic loss function
#%% Execute Gradient Descent algorithm
#Define algorithm parameters
total_iterations = 1e5 # Defines total training iterations
GD_stepsize = 1e-4 # Gradient Descent fixed step size
#To measure execution time
time_start = timeit.default_timer()
for index in range(int(total_iterations)):
#Compute gradient (derived manually for the quadratic cost function)
loss_gradient_W = 2.0/n_samples*np.sum(-x_data_input*(y_data_input - y_gd_approx))
loss_gradient_b = 2.0/n_samples*np.sum(-1*(y_data_input - y_gd_approx))
#Update trainable variables using fixed step size gradient descent
W = W - GD_stepsize * loss_gradient_W
b = b - GD_stepsize * loss_gradient_b
#Compute loss
y_gd_approx = W*x_data_input+b
loss = np.sum((y_data_input - y_gd_approx)**2)/x_data_input.shape[0]
#Print execution time
time_end = timeit.default_timer()
print('')
print("Time to execute code: {0:0.9f} sec.".format(time_end - time_start))
print('')
# %% Print results
print('')
print('Iteration = {0:0.3f}'.format(total_iterations))
print('W_val = {0:0.3f}'.format(W))
print('b_val = {0:0.3f}'.format(b))
print('')