MachineLearning version 1.03

DESCRIPTION

    This distribution includes a base module (MachineLearning.pm) and the
    following four modules for direct use:

        NeuralNetwork.pm - Implements a neural network that optimizes its
        output for quality of results (predictions) without regard to
        quantity of results (beyond a configurable minimum).

          NOTE:  This module uses simulated annealing (implemented by
          SimulatedAnnealing.pm--see below) for optimization of the
          weights and thresholds.

        DecisionTrees.pm - Implements a "grove" of decision trees built on
        a single data source (a file containing "training" data).  As with
        NeuralNetwork.pm, the output is optimized for quality at the expense
        of quantity.

        SimulatedAnnealing.pm - Implements simulated annealing for
        optimization of a collection of numbers with predefined ranges.

        IntegerAnnealing.pm - Implements simulated annealing for
        optimization of a collection of integers with predefined ranges.

INSTALLATION

    To install the five modules included in this distribution, perform the
    following simple steps:

      1.  Copy MachineLearning.pm to a directory in @INC (for example,
          "/etc/perl" or "D:\Perl\site\lib").

      2.  Copy the "MachineLearning" directory (containing the files
          SimulatedAnnealing.pm, IntegerAnnealing.pm, NeuralNetwork.pm,
          and DecisionTrees.pm) to a directory in @INC (for example,
          "/etc/perl" or "D:\Perl\site\lib").

      3.  Check that you now have a directory structure like the following:

              /etc/perl/MachineLearning.pm
              /etc/perl/MachineLearning/DecisionTrees.pm
              /etc/perl/MachineLearning/NeuralNetwork.pm
              /etc/perl/MachineLearning/SimulatedAnnealing.pm
              /etc/perl/MachineLearning/IntegerAnnealing.pm

AUTHOR

    Benjamin Fitch <blernflerkl@yahoo.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

    Copyright 2009 by Benjamin Fitch

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself.