Python UnicodeDecodeError

When you are reading CSV file (spreadsheet), make sure you set encoding="utf-8", or you might get:

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte

(result, consumed) = self._buffer_decode(data, self.errors, final)

def read_rows(CSV_file_path: str):
 
    import sys
    print("default encoding", sys.getdefaultencoding())
    import csv
    rows = []
    with open(CSV_file_path, 'rt', encoding="utf-8") as csvfile:
        cvs_reader = csv.reader(csvfile, delimiter=',', quotechar='"')
        for row in cvs_reader: # row is a list
            rows.append(row)
    return rows

Using Docker containers on Mac

Install Docker on Mac

https://download.docker.com/mac/stable/Docker.dmg


$ docker --version
Docker version 17.03.1-ce, build c6d412e

$ docker-compose --version
docker-compose version 1.11.2, build dfed245

$docker-machine --version
docker-machine version 0.10.0, build 76ed2a6

Docker for Udacity Machine Learning

$ docker pull kyoungrok0517/tensorflow-udacity

Docker for Raspberry Pi

Having created a large Pi cluster, the next logical step is to deploy various microservices in Docker containers on Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/docker-comes-to-raspberry-pi/

Python OCR for robotics.

I was thinking that it would be cool for my robots to have text reading capability, also known as OCR.

I was testing Python pytesseract library:


https://github.com/UkiDLucas/uki.guru/blob/master/OCR/ocr.ipynb


So far no success, but it will be worth trying.

Python: Passing *args and **kwargs into a function

# *args is the usual notation for optional, non-keyword arguments
# **kwargs is the usual notation for optional, keyword arguments
def test_var_args(regular_argument, *args, **kwargs):
    print ("- regular argument:", regular_argument)
    for arg in args:
        print ("- unnamed arguments arg:", arg)
    for key in kwargs:
        print ("- named arguments: %s: %s" % (key, kwargs[key]))
test_var_args(1, "two", 3, four=4, five="five")

- regular argument: 1
- unnamed arguments arg: two
- unnamed arguments arg: 3
- named arguments: four: 4
- named arguments: five: five

Python bubble sort

Since I had to learn python for my machine learning and self-driving classes and I had to review the basics. Not to waste my efforts, I am creating a new guide, you can see more in:

https://github.com/UkiDLucas/python_zen_interviews

def bubble_sort(the_list: list, verbose: int=0):
    """
    author: @UkiDLcuas
    This function changes the provided list.
    The list can contain integers, decimal numbers, strings, etc.
    The list is sorted in ascending order (first to last).
    The function does not return anything.
    """
    if verbose > 0:
        iteration = 0
   
    # count remining bubbles ( aka step backwards)
    start = len(the_list)-1 # end, zero-based list
    stop = 0 # beginning
    step = -1 # backwards
    for remaining_bubbles in range(start, stop, step):
        for i in range(remaining_bubbles):
            if verbose > 0:
                iteration = iteration + 1
                print("iteration", iteration, "remaining_bubbles", remaining_bubbles, "index", i)
                print("  ", the_list)
                print("    comparing if is", the_list[i], "bigger than", the_list[i+1])
            if the_list[i] > the_list[i+1]:
                # swap
                temp = the_list[i+1] # temp placehoder for the value to be moved
                the_list[i+1] = the_list[i] # bubble up
                the_list[i] = temp # bubble down
    if verbose > 0:
        print("*** finished", len(the_list), "element list in ", iteration, "iterations")

AWS

Notes on how I use Amazon AWS EC2 instances for Convolutional Deep Neural Networks Machine Learning, using powerful GPU CUDA configurations.

I have moved this post to:

https://ukidlucas.github.io/posts/AWS.html

Ubuntu: installing TensorFlow for NVidia (CUDA) GPU

I am setting TensorFlow on:

• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit
• 16 GiB RAM
• AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 640 Processor × 4 
• GeForce GTX 1050 Ti/PCIe/SSE2

Check if you have NVidia CUDA GPU

uki@uki-p6710f:~$  lspci | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1c82 (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation Device 0fb9 (rev a1)

Check the name of your OS

uki@uki-p6710f:~$ uname -m && cat /etc/*release
x86_64
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=16.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=xenial
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="16.04.1 LTS (Xenial Xerus)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS"
VERSION_ID="16.04"
HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
VERSION_CODENAME=xenial
UBUNTU_CODENAME=xenial

Check C compiler

uki@uki-p6710f:~$ gcc --version
gcc (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 5.4.0 20160609
Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Ubuntu Headers 

uki@uki-p6710f:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
[sudo] password for uki:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
linux-headers-4.4.0-62-generic is already the newest version (4.4.0-62.83).
linux-headers-4.4.0-62-generic set to manually installed.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.4.0-31 linux-headers-4.4.0-31-generic linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-31-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 89 not upgraded.

Download newest CUDA installer (1.4GB)

https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads

https://developer.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/8.0/Prod2/local_installers/cuda_8.0.61_375.26_linux-run

Execute CUDA installer

 cd ~/Downloads/

uki@uki-p6710f:~/Downloads$ ls -alt

Mar  5 14:54 cuda_8.0.61_375.26_linux.run

Feb  2 09:53 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-375.10.run

$ sudo sh cuda_8.0.61_375.26_linux.run

Set environment variables

uki@uki-p6710f:~$ nano ~/.bashrc

##### CUDA 
export PATH=/usr/local/cuda-8.0/bin${PATH:+:${PATH}}
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/cuda-8.0/lib64

uki@uki-p6710f:~$ echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH

/usr/local/cuda-8.0/lib64

Install TensorFlow via pip3 (Python 3.5)

uki@uki-p6710f:~$ python --version

Python 3.5.2 :: Anaconda 4.3.0 (64-bit)

$ sudo apt install python3-pip

$  conda info --envs
# conda environments:
#
tensorflow               /home/uki/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow
root                  *  /home/uki/anaconda3

$ conda env create -f /Users/ukilucas/dev/uki.guru/conda_enviroment_GPU.yml

$source activate tensorflow

Setting Jupyter kernel to match Python conda environment

http://ukitech.blogspot.com/2017/02/kernel.html

Removing unused Jupyter notebook kernels on Mac

Since I am experimenting with various Python versions 2 vs 3.5 vs 3.6 and packages, e.g. TensorFlow I often end up with conda environments and corresponding Jupyter kernels that I do not use.

Removing Kernels

$ cd ~/Library/Jupyter/kernels 
$ rm -r tensorflow_gpu/

See my post on:

Installing Jupyter kernels to match Conda environments

http://ukitech.blogspot.com/2017/02/kernel.html

Developing Alexa skills using flask-ask Python framework

Install Flask-Ask for Alexa

$ pip install flask-ask

Start your favorite Python dev editor

$ jupyter notebook

Write code

To avoid repeating myself in 2 places, here is my code on GitHub:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UkiDLucas/uki.guru/master/Alexa/skill_001.py

https://github.com/UkiDLucas/uki.guru/blob/master/Alexa/templates.yaml

Test code running locally via HTTPS using ngrok

$ python skill_001.py  * Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit) * Restarting with stat * Debugger is active! * Debugger pin code: 275-052-815

https://ngrok.com/

- unzip
- put in Applications folder
- click to open
- you should get a message "ngrok was blocked from opening because it is not from an identified developer"
- got to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy
- click "Open Anyway"
- run from Terminal:

$ /Applications/ngrok http 5000

You will need the HTTPS URL form ngrok

ngrok by @inconshreveable                                                                                                                                                (Ctrl+C to quit)                                                                                                                                                                                         Session Status                online                                                                                                                                                     Version                       2.1.18                                                                                                                                                     Region                        United States (us)                                                                                                                                         Web Interface                 http://127.0.0.1:4040                                                                                                                                      Forwarding                    http://908cd95a.ngrok.io -> localhost:5000                                                                                                                 Forwarding                    https://908cd95a.ngrok.io -> localhost:5000                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Connections                   ttl     opn     rt1     rt5     p50     p90                                                                                                                                              0       0       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00 

Log in to Amazon Apps and Services

Make sure you use the same email and you have set up your Alexa Echo device with.

https://developer.amazon.com/edw/home.html#/

Alexa Skills Kit

Easily add new skills to Alexa

Installing TensorFlow 1.0 as conda environment with yml definition file on MacBook Pro with NVidia GPU support

My conda environment yml file on GitHub

https://github.com/UkiDLucas/uki.guru/blob/master/conda_enviroment_GPU.yml

Execute yml file, set environment

$ conda env create --file .../conda_environment.yml
$ conda info --envs  

$ source activate py352_tf_gpu

Update jupyter notebook (iPython) kernel with new environment we created

$ python -m ipykernel install --user --name py352_tf_gpu --display-name "conda env py352_tf_gpu"$ jupyter notebook

Test run in jupyter notebook

You can see that jupyter notebook recognize GPU

You can see execution on MacBook Pro (late 2013 with NVidia). Both CPU and GPU are measured.

PLEASE READ THIS if you get DEAD KERNELS in GPU mode:
https://github.com/aymericdamien/TensorFlow-Examples/issues/38#issuecomment-280468579