(Nearly) Free Neural Network Software for the Windows Desktop Environment
Not a programming library or framework. A straight-forward, easy-to-use application for serious researchers and enthusiasts alike.
NevAssist is a modern interface built around NevProp, a 30 year-old University-of-Nevada Neural Network research project funded (in part), by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Public Health Service Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (which no longer exists by this name).
To provide some context, the product of this research was released before Google was founded (1998), when the Intel Pentium IV processor reigned supreme, and even before Microsoft C# and Visual Basic were released. The mathematics and research into Neural Network design and development was arguably well-ahead of the tools and computing horsepower needed to facilitate the powerful modeling of today. For this reason, the fine minds behind this amazing piece of software developed it as a lightweight DOS-based console application using the C programming language…still the fastest programming language on the planet (perhaps only behind Assembler). Much has changed since 1996. Thanks to modern chip technology and computing power, models that once took hours to train, now only take seconds.
Remarkably, what hasn’t changed, are the results generated by a 30 year-old algorithm as compared to modern-day Machine Learning libraries such as SciKit-Learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc. The NevAssist installation includes two classic datasets (Boston Housing and Diamonds) that have been pre-trained using NevProp and demonstrate accuracy rates (R^2) comparable-to, or better than, those produced by the aforementioned libraries. While 30 years of technological innovation have enabled great progress in the world of Artificial Intelligence, the fundamental process of back-propagation appears little changed.
Historical references can still be found on the Internet of global research teams using NevProp to discover the non-linear relationships in their data. These researchers had to meticulously manage their network configuration files in a text editor and feed them to NevProp via a DOS command prompt (Crazy! Right?!). But this isn’t the case for you…
This once-lost gem has been resurrected and given an ‘assist’, making it easier than ever to use. Whether you are a Programmer, Researcher, Educator, Student, or simply a non-technical individual curious about Neural Networks, this tool is easy to use. Within only minutes of installation, you can observe training on one of the included datasets. As a novice, you might not fully understand what you are looking at, but that’s often where the journey and fascination begins.
Please note that this is an all-encompassing MS Windows-based application that requires no other software or programming experience to utilize. Import your data, set initial training parameters, and hit the ‘Run’ button…it’s that easy. Iteratively adjusting your network configuration to help the network achieve maximum accuracy is another matter, but that’s just part of the fun.
- Enables a comprehensive view/management of the Neural Network project.
- Provides analysis capability for evaluating outliers in the dataset and easily quarantining them.
- Allows for rapid adjustment of architecture and hyper-parameters for re-training.
- Supports easy prediction using the final training results.
- Includes space for research notes to be associated with individual projects.
- Supports saving projects to a local directory or exported/imported from ZIP.
- Would be a great tool for instructors of machine learning techniques and data analysis.
Explanation of (Nearly Free) – NevProp itself is actually free, while the NevAssist User Interface is not. NevAssist is offered at a nominal cost of $20 (initial/annual) to cover program maintenance and improvement.
The NevProp binary (np.exe) and original User Manual (NevPropManual.pdf) are installed in the NevAssist program directory under ‘C:\Program Files(x86)\Noverhead\NevAssist’ and can be utilized without the NevAssist interface.
NOTICE REGARDING COST/WARRANTY/SUPPORT: NevAssist itself is offered with a 30-day fully-functional trial followed by a nominal initial/annual renewal fee of $20 to help maintain/improve the interface. All license fees are non-refundable. NevAssist is offered ‘As-Is’ with no express or implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Outside of feedback regarding any obvious bugs that may present themselves in the product, there is no support for use of this product or training in the development of neural networks in general.
INSTALLATION NOTES:
(1) This application is not ‘signed’ and will raise an ‘unknown publisher’ message during installation. This is done to minimize costs and poses no risk to your computer. Select ‘additional info’ and ‘run anyway’ to install.
(2) NevAssist has been developed using Microsoft’s newer .NET 7 development platform , which might not be present on older operating systems. If you receive a message that this needs to be installed, simply follow the prompts for the installation.
(3) Launch the ReadMe file from the NevAssist Help menu for some basic information on getting started.
Preview NevAssist Screens
