Varozhka: Generation of a prediction set (part 4)

Now you should have Netflix dataset, Varozhka and a compiled test estimator at your machine. Please, check previous posts if you don't.

Before you start the processing I would recommend to unload all unneccessary stuff, because importing and processing are CPU- and memory- consuming tasks.

1. Run Varozhka.UI.exe. If this is a first run, it will ask you about settings:

You should provide:

• Directory with the Netflix dataset.
• Directory where prediction sets should be generated.
• Assembly with an estimator (if you followed steps from the previous post it should be at C:\Projects\MyEstimator\bin\Release).

2. Indexing will start automatically if settings are valid:

This is a long operation... you can take a cup of coffee while it's importing. On my four years old P4 it takes around 40 minutes... a good place to optimize ;)

 3. The main UI will appear after the indexing is completed. Here you can check RMSE against the current estimator:

And, if results are good - generate a prediction set to submit:

On complete it will start Submission page at Netflix Prize site, and will open Explorer window with the Output directory (you specified it in the Settings):

output.txt.gz is the Prediction file, and md5.txt contains md5 hash string.

To submit the generated prediction set:

1. Fill up your team info.
2. Choose output.txt.gz in Prediction File field.
3. Put content of md5.txt in MD5 Hash field.
4. Hit Submit button.

Soon you should receive emails with submission results ;)

There are several things which are not implemented in the current version:

• processing cannot be stopped
• estimator cannot be reloaded, so you should quit and start the app again if you changed the estimator

 

 

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