Package weka.estimators

Class CheckEstimator

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    OptionHandler, RevisionHandler
    public class CheckEstimator
extends java.lang.Object
implements OptionHandler, RevisionHandler
    Class for examining the capabilities and finding problems with estimators. If you implement a estimator using the WEKA.libraries, you should run the checks on it to ensure robustness and correct operation. Passing all the tests of this object does not mean bugs in the estimator don't exist, but this will help find some common ones.

    Typical usage:

    java weka.estimators.CheckEstimator -W estimator_name estimator_options

    This class uses code from the CheckEstimatorClass ATTENTION! Current estimators can only 1. split on a nominal class attribute 2. build estimators for nominal and numeric attributes 3. build estimators independendly of the class type The functionality to test on other class and attribute types is left in big parts in the code. CheckEstimator reports on the following:

    • Estimator abilities
      • Possible command line options to the estimator
      • Whether the estimator can predict nominal, numeric, string, date or relational class attributes. Warnings will be displayed if performance is worse than ZeroR
      • Whether the estimator can be trained incrementally
      • Whether the estimator can build estimates for numeric attributes
      • Whether the estimator can handle nominal attributes
      • Whether the estimator can handle string attributes
      • Whether the estimator can handle date attributes
      • Whether the estimator can handle relational attributes
      • Whether the estimator build estimates for multi-instance data
      • Whether the estimator can handle missing attribute values
      • Whether the estimator can handle missing class values
      • Whether a nominal estimator only handles 2 class problems
      • Whether the estimator can handle instance weights
    • Correct functioning
      • Correct initialisation during addvalues (i.e. no result changes when addValues called repeatedly)
      • Whether incremental training produces the same results as during non-incremental training (which may or may not be OK)
      • Whether the estimator alters the data pased to it (number of instances, instance order, instance weights, etc)
    • Degenerate cases
      • building estimator with zero training instances
      • all but one attribute attribute values missing
      • all attribute attribute values missing
      • all but one class values missing
      • all class values missing
    Running CheckEstimator with the debug option set will output the training and test datasets for any failed tests.

    The weka.estimators.AbstractEstimatorTest uses this class to test all the estimators. Any changes here, have to be checked in that abstract test class, too.

    Valid options are: 

     -D
  Turn on debugging output.
     -S
  Silent mode - prints nothing to stdout.
     -N <num>
  The number of instances in the datasets (default 100).
     -W
  Full name of the estimator analysed.
  eg: weka.estimators.NormalEstimator
     
 Options specific to estimator weka.estimators.NormalEstimator:
 
     -D
  If set, estimator is run in debug mode and
  may output additional info to the console
    Options after -- are passed to the designated estimator.

    Version:
    $Revision: 1.5 $
    Author:
    Len Trigg (trigg@cs.waikato.ac.nz), FracPete (fracpete at waikato dot ac dot nz)
    See Also:
    TestInstances

    • Nested Class Summary

      Nested Classes 
      Modifier and Type Class Description
      static class  CheckEstimator.AttrTypes
      class that contains info about the attribute types the estimator can estimate estimator work on one attribute only
      static class  CheckEstimator.EstTypes
      public class that contains info about the chosen attribute type estimator work on one attribute only
      class  CheckEstimator.PostProcessor
      a class for postprocessing the test-data

    • Constructor Summary

      Constructors 
      Constructor Description
      CheckEstimator()  

    • Method Summary

      All Methods Static Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods 
      Modifier and Type Method Description
      void doTests()
      Begin the tests, reporting results to System.out
      boolean getDebug()
      Get whether debugging is turned on
      Estimator getEstimator()
      Get the estimator used as the estimator
      static int getMinMax​(Instances inst, int attrIndex, double[] minMax)
      Find the minimum and the maximum of the attribute and return it in the last parameter..
      int getNumInstances()
      Gets the current number of instances to use for the datasets.
      java.lang.String[] getOptions()
      Gets the current settings of the CheckEstimator.
      CheckEstimator.PostProcessor getPostProcessor()
      returns the current PostProcessor, can be null
      java.lang.String getRevision()
      Returns the revision string.
      boolean getSilent()
      Get whether silent mode is turned on
      boolean hasClasspathProblems()
      returns TRUE if the estimator returned a "not in classpath" Exception
      java.util.Enumeration listOptions()
      Returns an enumeration describing the available options.
      static void main​(java.lang.String[] args)
      Test method for this class
      void setDebug​(boolean debug)
      Set debugging mode
      void setEstimator​(Estimator newEstimator)
      Set the estimator for boosting.
      void setNumInstances​(int value)
      Sets the number of instances to use in the datasets (some estimators might require more instances).
      void setOptions​(java.lang.String[] options)
      Parses a given list of options.
      void setPostProcessor​(CheckEstimator.PostProcessor value)
      sets the PostProcessor to use
      void setSilent​(boolean value)
      Set slient mode, i.e., no output at all to stdout

      • Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

        equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

    • Constructor Detail

      • CheckEstimator

        public CheckEstimator()

    • Method Detail

      • listOptions

        public java.util.Enumeration listOptions()
        Returns an enumeration describing the available options.
        Specified by:
        listOptions in interface OptionHandler
        Returns:
        an enumeration of all the available options.

      • setOptions

        public void setOptions​(java.lang.String[] options)
                throws java.lang.Exception
        Parses a given list of options. Valid options are: 

         -D
  Turn on debugging output.
         -S
  Silent mode - prints nothing to stdout.
         -N <num>
  The number of instances in the datasets (default 100).
         -W
  Full name of the estimator analysed.
  eg: weka.estimators.NormalEstimator
         
 Options specific to estimator weka.estimators.NormalEstimator:
 
         -D
  If set, estimator is run in debug mode and
  may output additional info to the console
        Specified by:
        setOptions in interface OptionHandler
        Parameters:
        options - the list of options as an array of strings
        Throws:
        java.lang.Exception - if an option is not supported

      • getOptions

        public java.lang.String[] getOptions()
        Gets the current settings of the CheckEstimator.
        Specified by:
        getOptions in interface OptionHandler
        Returns:
        an array of strings suitable for passing to setOptions

      • getPostProcessor

        public CheckEstimator.PostProcessor getPostProcessor()
        returns the current PostProcessor, can be null
        Returns:
        the current PostProcessor

      • hasClasspathProblems

        public boolean hasClasspathProblems()
        returns TRUE if the estimator returned a "not in classpath" Exception
        Returns:
        true if CLASSPATH problems occurred

      • doTests

        public void doTests()
        Begin the tests, reporting results to System.out

      • setDebug

        public void setDebug​(boolean debug)
        Set debugging mode
        Parameters:
        debug - true if debug output should be printed

      • getDebug

        public boolean getDebug()
        Get whether debugging is turned on
        Returns:
        true if debugging output is on

      • setSilent

        public void setSilent​(boolean value)
        Set slient mode, i.e., no output at all to stdout
        Parameters:
        value - whether silent mode is active or not

      • getSilent

        public boolean getSilent()
        Get whether silent mode is turned on
        Returns:
        true if silent mode is on

      • setNumInstances

        public void setNumInstances​(int value)
        Sets the number of instances to use in the datasets (some estimators might require more instances).
        Parameters:
        value - the number of instances to use

      • getNumInstances

        public int getNumInstances()
        Gets the current number of instances to use for the datasets.
        Returns:
        the number of instances

      • setEstimator

        public void setEstimator​(Estimator newEstimator)
        Set the estimator for boosting.
        Parameters:
        newEstimator - the Estimator to use.

      • getEstimator

        public Estimator getEstimator()
        Get the estimator used as the estimator
        Returns:
        the estimator used as the estimator

      • getMinMax

        public static int getMinMax​(Instances inst,
                            int attrIndex,
                            double[] minMax)
                     throws java.lang.Exception
        Find the minimum and the maximum of the attribute and return it in the last parameter..
        Parameters:
        inst - instances used to build the estimator
        attrIndex - index of the attribute
        minMax - the array to return minimum and maximum in
        Returns:
        number of not missing values
        Throws:
        java.lang.Exception - if parameter minMax wasn't initialized properly

      • getRevision

        public java.lang.String getRevision()
        Returns the revision string.
        Specified by:
        getRevision in interface RevisionHandler
        Returns:
        the revision

      • main

        public static void main​(java.lang.String[] args)
        Test method for this class
        Parameters:
        args - the commandline parameters