[Announce] Apache MADlib v1.18.0 released

[Nikhil Kak <nk...@vmware.com>]

The Apache MADlib team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the 1.18.0 release.

The main goals of this release are:

New features
    - DL: setup methods for grid search and random search (MADLIB-1439)
    - DL: Add support for custom loss functions (MADLIB-1441)
    - DL: Hyperband phase 1 - print run schedule (MADLIB-1445)
    - DL: Hyperband phase 2 - generate MST table (MADLIB-1446)
    - DL: Hyperband phase 3 - logic for diagonal runs (MADLIB-1447)
    - DL: Hyperband phase 4 - implement full logic with default params (MADLIB-1448)
    - DL: Hyperband phase 5 - implement full logic with optional params (MADLIB-1449)
    - AutoML: add Hyperopt for deep learning (MADLIB-1453)
    - DL: Add Multiple input/output support to load, fit, and evaluate (MADLIB-1457)
    - DL: Add multiple input/output support on advanced features (MADLIB-1458)
    - DL: add caching param to autoML interface (MADLIB-1461)
    - DL: Add support for TensorBoard (MADLIB-1474)
    - DBSCAN clustering algo - phase 1 (MADLIB-1017)

Improvements:
    - DL: cache data to speed training (MADLIB-1427)
    - DL: reduce GPU idle time between hops (MADLIB-1428)
    - DL: utility to load and delete custom Python functions (MADLIB-1429)
    - DL: support custom loss functions (MADLIB-1432)
    - DL: support custom metrics (MADLIB-1433)
    - DL: Fit multiple does not print timing for validation evaluate (MADLIB-1462)
    - DL: Fix gpu_memory_fraction for distribution_policy != 'all_segments' (MADLIB-1463)
    - DL: add object table info in load MST table utility function (MADLIB-1430)
    - DL: improve speed of evaluate for multiple model training (MADLIB-1431)
    - DL: improve existing grid search method (MADLIB-1440)
    - DL: Remove dependency on keras (MADLIB-1450)
    - DL: Improve output of predict (MADLIB-1451)
    - DL: Add top n to evalute() (MADLIB-1452)
    - DL - Write best so far to console for autoML methods (MADLIB-1454)
    - Do not try to drop output tables (MADLIB-1442)
    - Prevent an "integer out of range" exception in linear regression train (MADLIB-1460)

Bug fixes:
    - DL: Fix fit_multiple when output_table or mst_table is passed as NULL (MADLIB-1464)
    - DL: Iris predict accuracy has regressed (MADLIB-1465)
    - DL: madlib_keras_fit_multiple_model goes down with an IndexError: tuple index out of range (MADLIB-1467)
    - DL: Crash in fit_multiple when any model reaches loss=nan (MADLIB-1443)
    - DL: BYOM fails at get_num_classes (MADLIB-1472)
    - DL: Hyperband cumulative output time is not correct (MADLIB-1456)
    - check bigint support for all graph methods (MADLIB-1444)
    - MLP: weights param not working (MADLIB-1471)

Other:
    - Create build trigger jobs on cloudbees (MADLIB-1466)


All release changes can be found here:

  https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MADLIB/MADlib+1.18.0

You can download the source release and convenience binary packages
from Apache MADlib's download page here:

  https://madlib.apache.org/download.html


Alternatively, you can download through an ASF mirror near you:

  https://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.lua/madlib/1.18.0


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Apache MADlib is an open-source library for scalable in-database
analytics. It provides data-parallel implementations of mathematical,
statistical and machine learning methods for structured and
unstructured data.

The MADlib mission: to foster widespread development of scalable
analytic skills, by harnessing efforts from commercial practice,
academic research, and open-source development.

We welcome your help and feedback. For more information on how to
report problems, and to get involved, visit the project website at
https://madlib.apache.org


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Thank you, everyone, who contributed to the 1.18.0 release. We look forward to continued community participation for the next release!

Regards,
Nikhil Kak