DEV Community: Assitan

What’s the Gini index for machine learning?

Assitan — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 12:12:02 +0000

The Gini index is used for decision trees. Indeed, how do we know how to separate the root node? Well, there are a couple of methods, and the Gini index is a good one. It allows checking if the leaves containing labels are pure or impure.

That’s right, the more diverse the leaves are, the higher the Gini index is. Why? Because if, let’s say, you want to recommend a product using a decision tree, you want to make sure that the leaves are the most homogeneous possible so that you can be confident in your proposition.

When we glance, we can think that feature A gives leaves with less diversity, so a better score, because we have 3 purple circles and two red circles. But you know what, let’s be a bit more rigorous.

So to choose which feature we use as the root tree, we calculate the diversity of the leaves.

This is the formula:

Then we compare the mean of each tree and choose the lowest number. Our winner is feature A!

That’s it!

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If you want to know more things about Data science and programming with illustrations, follow me on Twitter.

Originally published at https://codistwa.com.

8 tips to get better at coding

Assitan — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 16:13:58 +0000

You may be a junior, just out of a Bootcamp, and you can’t find a job, or in a job, but you feel like you’re stagnating. So you need advice that will help you improve your skills in coding and maybe be less frustrated. But, of course, you’ll have to be consistent to see the results.

So If you’re a front-end developer, back-end developer, data scientist, data engineer, etc., if you’re coding, here are 8 tips to get better at coding.

Know the main keyboard shortcuts

There are many keyboard shortcuts, but first, it is essential to know the main ones that you can find in all programs like code editors.

Ctrl C: copy
Ctrl X: cut
Ctrl V: paste
Ctrl Z: cancel
Ctrl S: save
Ctrl Shift Z: redo
Ctrl F: search

And when you have time, learn the other shortcuts. It helps to be faster rather than doing everything with a mouse, increasing your productivity. It must be a reflex for you.

Keep an eye on new things

Tech is evolving very fast, so it’s essential to keep itself informed. There are two ways of doing that, with specialized newsletters and conferences.

The newsletters allow you to know what’s new in a specific field, Front-end development, Machine learning, etc. You can find tutorials, events, courses. I advise you not to subscribe to too many newsletters. You may be overwhelmed and won’t have time to read them. I would say 3, 4 newsletters maximum. Also, create filters in your email, for example, a JavaScript filter or web development, data science, etc., so when you have time to can read them.

example:

JavaScript Weekly
Node.js Weekly
Python Weekly
KDnuggets

Conferences allow you to learn new topics, to be inspired, and to network, even if today it’s more complicated from a distance. When I go there, it motivates me. You can even try to get started to make your presentation. There are big conferences that last all day or meetups that last 2 hours. There are often recruiters at these conferences/meetups.

example :

Create tools to automate redundant tasks

Creating tools allows you to do cool little projects that can improve your daily life, so it’s practical and valuable. Every redundant task takes time that can be automated as much as possible. This also helps to avoid errors.

example: a file converter

Follow guiding styles

Even if each person codes personally, it is essential to unify the programs not to make them too complex. Your colleague must be able to resume your work if you are absent or on another project, and even for you if you have to dive back into it 6 months later, it will be easier for you (even if we are still shocked to see our code 6 months later!)

A guide style allows you to code in a uniform and logical way. There are very used guide styles like the Airbnb style for React. It really helps to code better. The style guides can be integrated into the development with so-called linters (a tool that analyzes the code for errors).

example: Airbnb style guide, pep 8 pour python, the style guide of google for ML, the style guide SQL of GitLab

Do personal projects

This is a mandatory step because it allows you to show your skills and to work on exciting subjects. This gives experience. Don’t forget to put them on GitHub. You can find ideas on Medium, Dev.to.

example:

todo app, dashboard
e-commerce website
music interface
sentiment analysis with Twitter
animal image recognition

Do code challenges

Challenges allow you to train on a specific subject, for example, on algorithms or logic exercises. Especially if you have a job interview, try to do it at least once a week.

example:

Code Euler
Codewars
Kaggle
Codistwa (coming soon!)

Find a community

There are communities on Slack, Discord, Quora, or Stack exchange that can help motivate you. You can find 100% women groups or communities that only talk about JavaScript, for example.

example: Women in ml & data science, Babel.js, Open Data Community, welearnJS, workshops

Give courses/write technical articles

Writing an article may seem complicated, but several types of articles can help you get started. First, you write a technical or non-technical article. There is, for example, the good old feedback on a project you had a hard time on. Or a guide on a specific topic or tips/advice. A course will help you see if you master this or that subject, and in the worst case, thanks to the research done for this course, you will be able to update your knowledge. Finally, you will explain a concept to a colleague, which is a highly sought-after skill.

example: how you struggled with D3.js or simply “My last project with D3.js”

Conclusion

It’s hard to find ways to get better at coding, but fortunately, there are many options:

Know the main keyboard shortcuts
Keep an eye on new things
Create tools to automate redundant tasks
Follow guiding styles
Do personal projects
Do code challenges
Find a community
Give courses/write technical articles

Written by @Assitan_k.

Originally published at https://codistwa.com.

Level up your JavaScript skills with 5 Github repositories

Assitan — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 14:28:15 +0000

So you know the bases, you work with React, Vue, Angular, Node, VanillaJS … but sometimes you get stuck on your code and that's frustrates you ?
Or maybe you want to be better in coding challenges. No matter the reason, these Github repositories will help you to be a better JavaScript developer anyway.

Algorithms / Computer Science

https://github.com/trekhleb/javascript-algorithms

You'll find everything about algorithms and data-structure, it's very complete, classed in two categories (Beginner/Advanced).
Of course, I advise you to start with the Beginner part.
There are informations about Big O notation and data structure operations / array sorting algorithms complexity.

Maths

https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code

Okay, you can do some maths in the repository above. But with this one, you'll see way more maths like Euclidean norm. Therefore, how math formulas are represented in JavaScript.

33 concepts you should know

https://github.com/leonardomso/33-js-concepts

In this repository you'll find algorithms of course but specially what makes JavaScript: Call stack, Types, Scope, Generators, etc.
After that, you'll able to say "yes I know JavaScript works" 😏

30 seconds of code

https://github.com/30-seconds/30-seconds-of-code

It gathers many snippets. The website is really cool, but you have the same content on the README file.
There are the specs and the examples.

Modern JS Cheatsheet

https://github.com/mbeaudru/modern-js-cheatsheet

So yes, this is a cheatsheet. And a very good one. You have many examples and explanations.

I hope these repositories will help you. It's a lot of information, but you'll find many codes to practice.
Don't hesitate to share other repositories.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter : @Assitan_K

Can also check out my Courses platform Codistwa and my YouTube channel.

3 tips to challenge yourself as a Web Developer

Assitan — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 09:55:17 +0000

3 tips for challenging yourself as a Web Developer

The technological watch is good but can go a step further.

Automate everything you can

As a web developer, you have to be lazy. Every painful, repetitive task can be automated. Try making a list to identify those repetitive tasks.

Don’t you have a CLI in your project? Create one. You can make a script that generates directories, files specifically for your project.

If you are a Front-end Developer, try to use Node.js, make a little script, or if you are interested in another language, it would be the opportunity to learn new things.

Know how things work under the hood

With platforms like Github, you can access significant, free documentation. So be curious about how your modules work, especially the big ones.

For instance, you can check Redux-saga’s repository. They use exciting features of ES.next.

You have to go in the source code, read the code or clone the repository and play with it. Although it can be very intimidating, regularly doing this process will be more accessible and natural for you.

Explain a concept

Whatever is well conceived is clearly said. And the words to say it flow with ease.

This sentence was said by the French author Nicolas Boileau. Indeed, what is very interesting is if you can’t explain something clearly, you may not have well understood the concept.

Make analogies, use visual images, make drawings.

With this approach, you can see what is not clear for you. This is an excellent exercise. Try with your colleagues or even your friends, family, like so, you will see if you can vulgarize.

I hope this article was helpful. Feel free to follow me on Twitter. 😊

You can also check out my Courses platform Codistwa and my YouTube channel.