I love programming. I’ve built everything from anti-virus programs to sudoku solvers and system image hash validation. The one thing I always wanted to get into, but never did, was Artificial Intelligence.
I got stuck in the decision paralysis. How ‘smart’ do I make it? When does it cross over from programmed response to reasoned response? Do I give it my morals or do I let it learn on its own? These questions, among others, kept me from ever taking the step to building anything.
I tinkered with building a visual representation of a neuron using Visual Basic.Net and gave it a lot of functionality, and I felt like I wasn’t reaching my potential by letting it collect dust. So I sought to create a “Preferences Predictor”. I looked up the best programming language for AI. That’s when I realized VB was holding me back. I should focus on Python and libraries like TensorFlow.
I thought about projects I could use for experimenting and learning about AI programming. Then I remembered a custom Point of Sale I wrote years ago that had a very basic inventory management portal. I could implement some AI that would look at trends and stock and then make suggestions for inventory to stock up on, and even promotional pricing.
When I was looking into the country I am moving to, and the technical job market, I decided now is the time to get familiar with 2020s-2030s programming technology. So I set up my computer with a strong focus on AI and programming tools, libraries, and resources. I installed Linux due to it’s powerful efficiency in resource management and low operating system overhead.
As I started learning about back-propagation and gradients, and how they relate to Python AI programming, I realized this is going to be a challenge. And that’s what makes it exciting. It is just challenging enough to not be boring and just easy enough to not be stressful.
So, join me on this ride as I go from 25 years programming experience to a career in Artificial Intelligence programming!