2017-02-15 Departmental seminar: Chris Heunen (Edinburgh)

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 21:24:08 +0100

Chris Heunen (Edinburgh)

Semantics for probabilistic programming

Abstract

Statistical models in e.g. machine learning are traditionally expressed in some sort of flow charts. Writing sophisticated models succinctly is much easier in a fully fledged programming language. The programmer can then rely on generic inference algorithms instead of having to craft one for each model. Several such higher-order functional probabilistic programming languages exist, but their semantics, and hence correctness, are not clear. The problem is that the standard semantics of probability theory, given by measurable spaces, does not support function types. I will describe how to get around this.

2017-02-15 13:00:00 UTC
LT1415