Fixing Random Seeds for RandomIndexing

[igorbrigadir]

I've been having some trouble fixing the Random seeds used in Random Indexing.

I'd like to have predictable output across runs, so I can run through a bunch of fixed seeds and see how much of an impact the random initialization & other parameters can have on retrieval.

The example:

RandomIndexing ri = new RandomIndexing(new Properties());
ri.RANDOM.setSeed(SEED);

Doesn't give me predictable output, as the RandomIndexVectorGenerator class has a random number source I can't fix for testing.

One way to do this would be to make the random seed an optional property - same as vectorLength.

(IncrementalSemanticAnalysis also uses some of the classes for Random Indexing, that might need the same change, I'll make a pull request with this when I'm done.)

[davidjurgens]

Hi,

I just pushed a new patch to RandomIndexing that should allow you to
properly set the seed value. Hopefully this will fix your problem.
RandomIndexing now has a proper constructor that shows all the properties
that can be set, rather that having to specify them with a Properties
object.

Thanks,
David

On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 1:33 PM, igorbrigadir [email protected]
wrote:

I've been having some trouble fixing the Random seeds used in Random
Indexing.

I'd like to have predictable output across runs, so I can run through a
bunch of fixed seeds and see how much of an impact the random
initialization & other parameters can have on retrieval.

The example:

RandomIndexing ri = new RandomIndexing(new Properties());
ri.RANDOM.setSeed(SEED);

Doesn't give me predictable output, as the RandomIndexVectorGenerator
class has a random number source I can't fix for testing.

One way to do this would be to make the random seed an optional property -
same as vectorLength.

(IncrementalSemanticAnalysis also uses some of the classes for Random
Indexing, that might need the same change, I'll make a pull request with
this when I'm done.)

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[igorbrigadir]

That's great, I'll try it out now, Thanks!