7 Steps to Understanding Deep Learning

Deep learning is a branch of machine learning, employing numerous similar, yet distinct, deep neural network architectures to solve various problems in natural language processing, computer vision, and bioinformatics, among other fields. Deep learning has experienced a tremendous recent research resurgence, and has been shown to deliver state of the art results in numerous applications. In essence, deep learning is the implementation of neural networks with more than a single hidden layer of neurons. This is, however, a very simplistic view of deep learning, and not one that is unanimously agreed upon. These "deep" architectures also vary quite considerably, with different implementations being optimized for different tasks or goals.