FEA Successive halving for faster parameter search (scikit-learn#13900)

* More flexible grid search interface

* added info dict parameter

* Put back removed test

* renamed info into more_results

* Passed grroups as well since we need n_to use get_n_splits(X, y, groups)

* port

* pep8

* dabl -> sklearn

* add _required_parameters

* skipping check in rst file if pandas not installed

* Update sklearn/model_selection/_search_successive_halving.py

Co-Authored-By: Joel Nothman <joel.nothman@gmail.com>

* renamed into GridHalvingSearchCV and RandomHalvingSearchCV

* Addressed thomas' comments

* repr

* removed passing group as a parameter to evaluate_candidates

* Joels comments

* pep8

* reorganized user user guide

* renaming

* update user guide

* remove groups support + pass fit_params

* parameter renaming

* pep8

* r_i -> resource_iter

* fixed r_i issues

* examples + removed use of word budget

* Added inpute checking tests

* added cv_resutlts_ user guide

* minor title change

* fixed doc layout

* Addressed some comments

* properly pass down fit_params

* change default value of force_exhaust_resources and update doc

* should fix doc

* Used check_fit_params

* Update section about min_resources and number of candidates

* Clarified ratio section

* Use ~ to refer to classes

* fixed doc checks

* Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: Joel Nothman <joel.nothman@gmail.com>

* Addressed easy comments from Joel

* missed some

* updated docstring of run_search

* Used f strings instead of format

* remove candidate duplication checks

* fix example

* Addressed easy comments

* rotate ticks labels

* Added discussion in the intro as suggested by Joel

* Split examples into sections

* minor changes

* remove force_exhaust_budget and introduce min_resources=exhaust

* some minor validation

* Added a n_resources_ attribute

* update examples

* Addressed comments

* passing CV instead of X,y

* minor revert for handling fit_params

* updated docs

* fix len

* whatsnew

* Add test for sampling when all_list

* minor change to top-k

* Force CV splits to be consistent across calls

* reorder parameters

* reduced diff

* added tests for top_k

* put back doc for groups

* not sure what went wrong

* put import at its place

* some comment

* Addressed comments

* Added tests for cv_results_ and base estimator inputs

* pep8

* avoid monkeypatching

* rename df

* use Joel's suggestions for testing masks

* Made it experimental

* Should fix docs

* whats new entry

* Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: Andreas Mueller <t3kcit@gmail.com>

* Addressed comments to docs

* Addressed comments in examples

* minor doc update

* minor renaming in UG

* forgot some

* some sad note about splitter statefulness :'(

* Addressed comments

* ratio -> factor

Co-authored-by: Joel Nothman <joel.nothman@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Andreas Mueller <t3kcit@gmail.com>

doc/conf.py

@@ -356,6 +356,7 @@ def __call__(self, directory):
 # discovered properly by sphinx
 from sklearn.experimental import enable_hist_gradient_boosting  # noqa
 from sklearn.experimental import enable_iterative_imputer  # noqa
+from sklearn.experimental import enable_successive_halving  # noqa
 
 
 def make_carousel_thumbs(app, exception):

doc/conftest.py

@@ -57,6 +57,13 @@ def setup_impute():
         raise SkipTest("Skipping impute.rst, pandas not installed")
 
 
+def setup_grid_search():
+    try:
+        import pandas  # noqa
+    except ImportError:
+        raise SkipTest("Skipping grid_search.rst, pandas not installed")
+
+
 def setup_unsupervised_learning():
     try:
         import skimage  # noqa
@@ -86,5 +93,7 @@ def pytest_runtest_setup(item):
         raise SkipTest('FeatureHasher is not compatible with PyPy')
     elif fname.endswith('modules/impute.rst'):
         setup_impute()
+    elif fname.endswith('modules/grid_search.rst'):
+        setup_grid_search()
     elif fname.endswith('statistical_inference/unsupervised_learning.rst'):
         setup_unsupervised_learning()

doc/modules/classes.rst

@@ -1194,9 +1194,11 @@ Hyper-parameter optimizers
    :template: class.rst
 
    model_selection.GridSearchCV
+   model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV
    model_selection.ParameterGrid
    model_selection.ParameterSampler
    model_selection.RandomizedSearchCV
+   model_selection.HalvingRandomSearchCV
 
 
 Model validation

doc/whats_new/v0.24.rst

@@ -412,6 +412,14 @@ Changelog
   :pr:`17478` by :user:`Teon Brooks <teonbrooks>` and
   :user:`Mohamed Maskani <maskani-moh>`.
 
+- |Feature| Added (experimental) parameter search estimators
+  :class:`model_selection.HalvingRandomSearchCV` and
+  :class:`model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV` which implement Successive
+  Halving, and can be used as a drop-in replacements for
+  :class:`model_selection.RandomizedSearchCV` and
+  :class:`model_selection.GridSearchCV`. :pr:`13900` by `Nicolas Hug`_, `Joel
+  Nothman`_ and `Andreas Müller`_.
+
 - |Fix| Fixed the `len` of :class:`model_selection.ParameterSampler` when
   all distributions are lists and `n_iter` is more than the number of unique
   parameter combinations. :pr:`18222` by `Nicolas Hug`_.

examples/model_selection/plot_successive_halving_heatmap.py

@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+"""
+Comparison between grid search and successive halving
+=====================================================
+
+This example compares the parameter search performed by
+:class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV` and
+:class:`~sklearn.model_selection.GridSearchCV`.
+
+"""
+from time import time
+
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+import numpy as np
+import pandas as pd
+
+from sklearn.svm import SVC
+from sklearn import datasets
+from sklearn.model_selection import GridSearchCV
+from sklearn.experimental import enable_successive_halving  # noqa
+from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingGridSearchCV
+
+
+print(__doc__)
+
+# %%
+# We first define the parameter space for an :class:`~sklearn.svm.SVC`
+# estimator, and compute the time required to train a
+# :class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV` instance, as well as a
+# :class:`~sklearn.model_selection.GridSearchCV` instance.
+
+rng = np.random.RandomState(0)
+X, y = datasets.make_classification(n_samples=1000, random_state=rng)
+
+gammas = [1e-1, 1e-2, 1e-3, 1e-4, 1e-5, 1e-6, 1e-7]
+Cs = [1, 10, 100, 1e3, 1e4, 1e5]
+param_grid = {'gamma': gammas, 'C': Cs}
+
+clf = SVC(random_state=rng)
+
+tic = time()
+gsh = HalvingGridSearchCV(estimator=clf, param_grid=param_grid, factor=2,
+                          random_state=rng)
+gsh.fit(X, y)
+gsh_time = time() - tic
+
+tic = time()
+gs = GridSearchCV(estimator=clf, param_grid=param_grid)
+gs.fit(X, y)
+gs_time = time() - tic
+
+# %%
+# We now plot heatmaps for both search estimators.
+
+
+def make_heatmap(ax, gs, is_sh=False, make_cbar=False):
+    """Helper to make a heatmap."""
+    results = pd.DataFrame.from_dict(gs.cv_results_)
+    results['params_str'] = results.params.apply(str)
+    if is_sh:
+        # SH dataframe: get mean_test_score values for the highest iter
+        scores_matrix = results.sort_values('iter').pivot_table(
+                index='param_gamma', columns='param_C',
+                values='mean_test_score', aggfunc='last'
+        )
+    else:
+        scores_matrix = results.pivot(index='param_gamma', columns='param_C',
+                                      values='mean_test_score')
+
+    im = ax.imshow(scores_matrix)
+
+    ax.set_xticks(np.arange(len(Cs)))
+    ax.set_xticklabels(['{:.0E}'.format(x) for x in Cs])
+    ax.set_xlabel('C', fontsize=15)
+
+    ax.set_yticks(np.arange(len(gammas)))
+    ax.set_yticklabels(['{:.0E}'.format(x) for x in gammas])
+    ax.set_ylabel('gamma', fontsize=15)
+
+    # Rotate the tick labels and set their alignment.
+    plt.setp(ax.get_xticklabels(), rotation=45, ha="right",
+             rotation_mode="anchor")
+
+    if is_sh:
+        iterations = results.pivot_table(index='param_gamma',
+                                         columns='param_C', values='iter',
+                                         aggfunc='max').values
+        for i in range(len(gammas)):
+            for j in range(len(Cs)):
+                ax.text(j, i, iterations[i, j],
+                        ha="center", va="center", color="w", fontsize=20)
+
+    if make_cbar:
+        fig.subplots_adjust(right=0.8)
+        cbar_ax = fig.add_axes([0.85, 0.15, 0.05, 0.7])
+        fig.colorbar(im, cax=cbar_ax)
+        cbar_ax.set_ylabel('mean_test_score', rotation=-90, va="bottom",
+                           fontsize=15)
+
+
+fig, axes = plt.subplots(ncols=2, sharey=True)
+ax1, ax2 = axes
+
+make_heatmap(ax1, gsh, is_sh=True)
+make_heatmap(ax2, gs, make_cbar=True)
+
+ax1.set_title('Successive Halving\ntime = {:.3f}s'.format(gsh_time),
+              fontsize=15)
+ax2.set_title('GridSearch\ntime = {:.3f}s'.format(gs_time), fontsize=15)
+
+plt.show()
+
+# %%
+# The heatmaps show the mean test score of the parameter combinations for an
+# :class:`~sklearn.svm.SVC` instance. The
+# :class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV` also shows the
+# iteration at which the combinations where last used. The combinations marked
+# as ``0`` were only evaluated at the first iteration, while the ones with
+# ``5`` are the parameter combinations that are considered the best ones.
+#
+# We can see that the :class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV`
+# class is able to find parameter combinations that are just as accurate as
+# :class:`~sklearn.model_selection.GridSearchCV`, in much less time.

examples/model_selection/plot_successive_halving_iterations.py

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+"""
+Successive Halving Iterations
+=============================
+
+This example illustrates how a successive halving search (
+:class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV` and
+:class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingRandomSearchCV`) iteratively chooses
+the best parameter combination out of multiple candidates.
+
+"""
+import pandas as pd
+from sklearn import datasets
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+from scipy.stats import randint
+import numpy as np
+
+from sklearn.experimental import enable_successive_halving  # noqa
+from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingRandomSearchCV
+from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier
+
+
+print(__doc__)
+
+# %%
+# We first define the parameter space and train a
+# :class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingRandomSearchCV` instance.
+
+rng = np.random.RandomState(0)
+
+X, y = datasets.make_classification(n_samples=700, random_state=rng)
+
+clf = RandomForestClassifier(n_estimators=20, random_state=rng)
+
+param_dist = {"max_depth": [3, None],
+              "max_features": randint(1, 11),
+              "min_samples_split": randint(2, 11),
+              "bootstrap": [True, False],
+              "criterion": ["gini", "entropy"]}
+
+rsh = HalvingRandomSearchCV(
+    estimator=clf,
+    param_distributions=param_dist,
+    factor=2,
+    random_state=rng)
+rsh.fit(X, y)
+
+# %%
+# We can now use the `cv_results_` attribute of the search estimator to inspect
+# and plot the evolution of the search.
+
+results = pd.DataFrame(rsh.cv_results_)
+results['params_str'] = results.params.apply(str)
+results.drop_duplicates(subset=('params_str', 'iter'), inplace=True)
+mean_scores = results.pivot(index='iter', columns='params_str',
+                            values='mean_test_score')
+ax = mean_scores.plot(legend=False, alpha=.6)
+
+labels = [
+    f'iter={i}\nn_samples={rsh.n_resources_[i]}\n'
+    f'n_candidates={rsh.n_candidates_[i]}'
+    for i in range(rsh.n_iterations_)
+]
+ax.set_xticklabels(labels, rotation=45, multialignment='left')
+ax.set_title('Scores of candidates over iterations')
+ax.set_ylabel('mean test score', fontsize=15)
+ax.set_xlabel('iterations', fontsize=15)
+plt.tight_layout()
+plt.show()
+
+# %%
+# Number of candidates and amount of resource at each iteration
+# -------------------------------------------------------------
+#
+# At the first iteration, a small amount of resources is used. The resource
+# here is the number of samples that the estimators are trained on. All
+# candidates are evaluated.
+#
+# At the second iteration, only the best half of the candidates is evaluated.
+# The number of allocated resources is doubled: candidates are evaluated on
+# twice as many samples.
+#
+# This process is repeated until the last iteration, where only 2 candidates
+# are left. The best candidate is the candidate that has the best score at the
+# last iteration.

sklearn/experimental/enable_successive_halving.py

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+"""Enables Successive Halving search-estimators
+
+The API and results of these estimators might change without any deprecation
+cycle.
+
+Importing this file dynamically sets the
+:class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingRandomSearchCV` and
+:class:`~sklearn.model_selection.HalvingGridSearchCV` as attributes of the
+`model_selection` module::
+
+    >>> # explicitly require this experimental feature
+    >>> from sklearn.experimental import enable_successive_halving # noqa
+    >>> # now you can import normally from model_selection
+    >>> from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingRandomSearchCV
+    >>> from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingGridSearchCV
+
+
+The ``# noqa`` comment comment can be removed: it just tells linters like
+flake8 to ignore the import, which appears as unused.
+"""
+
+from ..model_selection._search_successive_halving import (
+    HalvingRandomSearchCV,
+    HalvingGridSearchCV
+)
+
+from .. import model_selection
+
+# use settattr to avoid mypy errors when monkeypatching
+setattr(model_selection, "HalvingRandomSearchCV",
+        HalvingRandomSearchCV)
+setattr(model_selection, "HalvingGridSearchCV",
+        HalvingGridSearchCV)
+
+model_selection.__all__ += ['HalvingRandomSearchCV', 'HalvingGridSearchCV']

sklearn/experimental/tests/test_enable_successive_halving.py

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+"""Tests for making sure experimental imports work as expected."""
+
+import textwrap
+
+from sklearn.utils._testing import assert_run_python_script
+
+
+def test_imports_strategies():
+    # Make sure different import strategies work or fail as expected.
+
+    # Since Python caches the imported modules, we need to run a child process
+    # for every test case. Else, the tests would not be independent
+    # (manually removing the imports from the cache (sys.modules) is not
+    # recommended and can lead to many complications).
+
+    good_import = """
+    from sklearn.experimental import enable_successive_halving
+    from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingGridSearchCV
+    from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingRandomSearchCV
+    """
+    assert_run_python_script(textwrap.dedent(good_import))
+
+    good_import_with_model_selection_first = """
+    import sklearn.model_selection
+    from sklearn.experimental import enable_successive_halving
+    from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingGridSearchCV
+    from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingRandomSearchCV
+    """
+    assert_run_python_script(
+        textwrap.dedent(good_import_with_model_selection_first)
+    )
+
+    bad_imports = """
+    import pytest
+
+    with pytest.raises(ImportError):
+        from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingGridSearchCV
+
+    import sklearn.experimental
+    with pytest.raises(ImportError):
+        from sklearn.model_selection import HalvingGridSearchCV
+    """
+    assert_run_python_script(textwrap.dedent(bad_imports))

sklearn/model_selection/__init__.py

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import typing
+
 from ._split import BaseCrossValidator
 from ._split import KFold
 from ._split import GroupKFold
@@ -29,7 +31,15 @@
 from ._search import ParameterSampler
 from ._search import fit_grid_point
 
-__all__ = ('BaseCrossValidator',
+if typing.TYPE_CHECKING:
+    # Avoid errors in type checkers (e.g. mypy) for experimental estimators.
+    # TODO: remove this check once the estimator is no longer experimental.
+    from ._search_successive_halving import (  # noqa
+        HalvingGridSearchCV, HalvingRandomSearchCV
+    )
+
+
+__all__ = ['BaseCrossValidator',
            'GridSearchCV',
            'TimeSeriesSplit',
            'KFold',
@@ -56,4 +66,4 @@
            'learning_curve',
            'permutation_test_score',
            'train_test_split',
-           'validation_curve')
+           'validation_curve']