Programming Snapshot – Decision Trees
Horses and Riders
© Lead Image © Outdoorsman, fotolia.com
Decision trees help machines emulate human behavior. Thanks to artificial intelligence, programs can autonomously build decision trees by learning from existing real-life data. Can an AI system determine who was operating a particular vehicle by analyzing driving style?
In the 1950s, TV stations were broadcasting howlers that probably wouldn't interest anyone today. One was "What's My Line?" with presenter John Daly, in which a blindfolded team of four panelists had to guess the identity of a star guest using only yes or no questions.
A popular strategy was to pose general questions first ("Are you male?"), in order to ask more specific questions in the final round, until the panelists began to close in on the guest star and their identity was finally revealed.
In machine learning, programmers employ similar techniques to teach computers to imitate learned behaviors. As a somewhat contrived example, take the behavior of an AND gate (Table 1), which always shows the value at output until a 1 is applied to both inputs. The gate is normally implemented by binary operators, but for the purpose of this investigation, I'll be using the decision tree in Figure 1.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Digital Autonomy
• The Answer Was Already on the Shelf
• Changing the Chip Industry: How Public Investment Has Grown Open Silicon
• United Nations Open Source Portal Goes Live
• EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
• France Says “Au Revoir” to Microsoft
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Surpasses Double-Digit Market Share
According to two sources, the Linux operating system has hit a major milestone in market share that naysayers thought would never happen.
-
AI Helped Develop a Linux Exploit
A use-after-free race exploit was discovered and exploited on CentOS Stream 9.
-
Yet Another Linux Kernel Vulnerability Discovered
Affecting millions of systems, a kernel flaw discovered by Qualys could allow users to gain root privileges.
-
Ubuntu 26.10 to Include Ubuntu Certified Hardware Check
If you've ever wondered if your laptop or PC is officially certified to run Ubuntu, that curiosity will soon be met.
-
Substantial Update to IPFire Now Available
The lastest version of IPFire features a fundamental change to how the system handles DNS.
-
Gnome Working on Test Center App to Make Testing Easier
It's now possible to test experimental features on the Gnome desktop without worrying that you'll break things.
-
New Vulnerability Discovered in Linux Kernel
Hiding out for nearly 15 years, the Ghostlock vulnerability allows a standard logged-in user to gain root privileges.
-
New Linux Flaw Lets Attackers Escape VMs
A 16-year-old vulnerability allows an attacker to escape a virtual machine, gain access to the host, and execute malicious code.
-
Hannah Montana Linux Is Back!
Developer Noah Cagle decided the world needed the once obscure but beloved Linux distribution and gave it a decidedly pink refresh.
-
System76 Refreshes the Lemur Laptop
If you're looking for a laptop with tons of power and battery, look no further than the latest iteration of the System76 Lemur Pro.