Introducing Machine Learning
Our journey starts with an introduction to machine learning and the fundamental concepts we’ll use throughout this book.
We’ll start by providing an overview of machine learning from a software engineering perspective. Then, we’ll introduce the core concepts that are used in the field of machine learning and data science: models, datasets, learning paradigms, and other details. This introduction will include a practical example that clearly illustrates the machine learning terms discussed.
We will also introduce decision trees, a crucially important machine learning algorithm that is our first step to understanding LightGBM.
After completing this chapter, you will have established a solid foundation in machine learning and the practical application of machine learning techniques.
The following main topics will be covered in this chapter:
- What is machine learning?
- Introducing models, datasets, and supervised learning
- Decision tree learning
