eneural_net_dart

AI Library to create efficient Artificial Neural Networks. Pure Dart + SIMD, portable to native, JS/Web, Wasm and Flutter, with optional Metal, CUDA and WebGPU acceleration.

Project maintained by eneural-net Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

eneural_net

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eNeural.net / Dart is an AI Library for efficient Artificial Neural Networks. The library is portable (native, JS/Web, Wasm, Flutter) and the computation is capable to use SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) to improve performance.

Training can also be GPU-accelerated, while keeping the same pure-Dart API: Metal (macOS) and CUDA (Windows/Linux) natively, and WebGPU in the browser.

Usage

import 'package:eneural_net/eneural_net.dart';
import 'package:eneural_net/eneural_net_extensions.dart';

void main() {
  // Type of scale to use to compute the ANN:
  var scale = ScaleDouble.ZERO_TO_ONE;

  // The samples to learn in Float32x4 data type:
  var samples = SampleFloat32x4.toListFromString(
    [
      '0,0=0',
      '1,0=1',
      '0,1=1',
      '1,1=0',
    ],
    scale,
    true, // Already normalized in the scale.
  );

  var samplesSet = SamplesSet(samples, subject: 'xor');

  // The activation function to use in the ANN:
  var activationFunction = ActivationFunctionSigmoid();

  // The ANN using layers that can compute with Float32x4 (SIMD compatible type).
  var ann = ANN(
    scale,
    // Input layer: 2 neurons with linear activation function:
    LayerFloat32x4(2, true, ActivationFunctionLinear()),
    // 1 Hidden layer: 3 neurons with sigmoid activation function:
    [HiddenLayerConfig(3, true, activationFunction)],
    // Output layer: 1 neuron with sigmoid activation function:
    LayerFloat32x4(1, false, activationFunction),
  );

  print(ann);

  // Training algorithm:
  var backpropagation = Backpropagation(ann, samplesSet);

  print(backpropagation);

  print('\n---------------------------------------------------');

  var chronometer = Chronometer('Backpropagation').start();

  // Train the ANN using Backpropagation until global error 0.01,
  // with max epochs per training session of 1000000 and
  // a max retry of 10 when a training session can't reach
  // the target global error:
  var achievedTargetError = backpropagation.trainUntilGlobalError(
          targetGlobalError: 0.01, maxEpochs: 50000, maxRetries: 10);

  chronometer.stop(operations: backpropagation.totalTrainingActivations);

  print('---------------------------------------------------\n');

  // Compute the current global error of the ANN:
  var globalError = ann.computeSamplesGlobalError(samples);

  print('Samples Outputs:');
  for (var i = 0; i < samples.length; ++i) {
    var sample = samples[i];

    var input = sample.input;
    var expected = sample.output;

    // Activate the sample input:
    ann.activate(input);

    // The current output of the ANN (after activation):
    var output = ann.output;

    print('- $i> $input -> $output ($expected) > error: ${output - expected}');
  }

  print('\nglobalError: $globalError');
  print('achievedTargetError: $achievedTargetError\n');

  print(chronometer);
}

Output:

ANN<double, Float32x4, SignalFloat32x4, Scale<double>>{ layers: 2+ -> [3+] -> 1 ; ScaleDouble{0.0 .. 1.0}  ; ActivationFunctionSigmoid }
Backpropagation<double, Float32x4, SignalFloat32x4, Scale<double>, SampleFloat32x4>{name: Backpropagation}

---------------------------------------------------
Backpropagation> [INFO] Started Backpropagation training session "xor". { samples: 4 ; targetGlobalError: 0.01 }
Backpropagation> [INFO] Selected initial ANN from poll of size 100, executing 600 epochs. Lowest error: 0.2451509315860858 (0.2479563313068569)
Backpropagation> [INFO] (OK) Reached target error in 2317 epochs (107 ms). Final error: 0.009992250436771877 <= 0.01
---------------------------------------------------

Samples Outputs:
- 0> [0, 0] -> [0.11514352262020111] ([0]) > error: [0.11514352262020111]
- 1> [1, 0] -> [0.9083549976348877] ([1]) > error: [-0.0916450023651123]
- 2> [0, 1] -> [0.9032943248748779] ([1]) > error: [-0.09670567512512207]
- 3> [1, 1] -> [0.09465821087360382] ([0]) > error: [0.09465821087360382]

globalError: 0.009992250436771877
achievedTargetError: true

Backpropagation{elapsedTime: 111 ms, hertz: 83495.49549549549 Hz, ops: 9268, startTime: 2021-05-26 06:25:34.825383, stopTime: 2021-05-26 06:25:34.936802}

SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data)

Dart has support for SIMD when computation is made using Float32x4 and Int32x4. The Activation Functions are implemented using Float32x4, improving performance by 1.5x to 2x, when compared to normal implementation.

The basic principle with SIMD is to execute math operations simultaneously in 4 numbers.

Float32x4 is a lane of 4 double (32 bits single precision floating points). Example of multiplication:

  var fs1 = Float32x4( 1.1 , 2.2 , 3.3  , 4.4  );
  var fs2 = Float32x4( 10  , 100 , 1000 , 1000 );
  
  var fs3 = fs1 * fs2 ;
  
  print(fs3);
  // Output:
  // [11.000000, 220.000000, 3300.000000, 4400.000000]

See “dart:typed_data library” and “Using SIMD in Dart”.

Native Acceleration (macOS: CPU + Metal · Windows/Linux: CUDA)

The training loop can be offloaded to a native backend: on macOS via Apple Accelerate (BLAS/vDSP, CPU) or Metal (GPU); on Windows/Linux via CUDA (NVIDIA GPU). The network, its weights, the optimizer state and the full training sample set are uploaded once and each epoch runs entirely in native code (forward + backprop + weight update), reproducing the pure-Dart iRProp+/Backpropagation numerics within float32 tolerance.

Native acceleration is optional and opt-in. The package stays pure-Dart (it still publishes to pub.dev and runs on the web); if the native library isn’t present, the trainers transparently fall back to the pure-Dart SIMD path.

Build the native libraries

# macOS (CPU + Metal):
bash native/macos/build.sh
# produces (git-ignored):
#   native/macos/cpu/build/libeneural_cpu_<arch>.dylib
#   native/macos/metal/build/libeneural_metal_<arch>.dylib

# Windows/Linux (CUDA — requires the NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit: nvcc + cuBLAS):
native\cuda\build.bat        # Windows
bash native/cuda/build.sh    # Linux
# produces (git-ignored):
#   native/cuda/build/libeneural_cuda_<arch>.{dll,so}

Use an accelerated trainer

NativeRProp and NativeBackpropagation are drop-in replacements for RProp and Backpropagation on Float32x4 networks:

import 'package:eneural_net/eneural_net.dart';

var trainer = NativeRProp(
  ann,
  SamplesSet(samples, subject: 'xor'),
  backend: NativeBackend.auto, // auto | cpu | metal | cuda | none
);

print(trainer.activeBackend); // NativeBackend.cpu (or .metal / .cuda / .none)

trainer.trainUntilGlobalError(targetGlobalError: 1e-6);

Backend selection:

Requesting a backend not available on the host (e.g. cuda on macOS, or metal on Windows) resolves to the pure-Dart path.

Unsupported networks (integer Int32x4 signals, or an activation function other than Linear/Sigmoid/SigmoidFast/SigmoidBoundedFast) also fall back to pure Dart automatically.

WebGPU (browser GPU)

In the browser, training can run on the GPU via WebGPU (WGSL compute shaders). Like the Metal backend it is a batched whole-epoch trainer, but WebGPU is asynchronous (GPU readback is a Future), so it is exposed through separate trainers with Future-returning methods rather than the synchronous train():

var trainer = WebGpuRProp(ann, samplesSet); // or WebGpuBackpropagation

if (await trainer.isWebGpuAccelerated) {
  print('training on the GPU');
}

await trainer.trainUntilGlobalErrorAsync(targetGlobalError: 1e-4);
// also: await trainer.trainAsync(epochs, targetError);

WebGpuRProp / WebGpuBackpropagation extend RProp / Backpropagation, so they keep the synchronous pure-Dart API too. When WebGPU is unavailable (not a browser, no WebGPU support, or an unsupported network) the async methods transparently fall back to the synchronous pure-Dart trainer — so the same code runs on the Dart VM and the web.

What runs on the device: the whole epoch. The weights, the optimizer state (iRProp+ steps/gradients) and the full sample set stay resident in GPU buffers; each epoch is a chain of WGSL compute passes (forward → output delta → backprop → gradients → weight update) over every sample at once, with a single readback for the epoch error. activateWebGpu(input) runs a single-sample forward pass on the GPU (the pure-Dart ann.activate() keeps working as usual).

Requirements: a browser with WebGPU (Chrome/Edge 113+, Safari 26+, Firefox 141+ on supported platforms), an ANN on Float32x4 signals, and activation functions among Linear/Sigmoid/SigmoidFast/SigmoidBoundedFast — anything else falls back to pure Dart.

See example/eneural_net_webgpu_example.dart.

WebGPU tests

test/eneural_net_webgpu_test.dart runs everywhere (it covers the async API and the pure-Dart fallback), while test/eneural_net_webgpu_integration_test.dart is browser-only and exercises the real GPU path: forward-pass parity with the pure-Dart activate() over several topologies/activations, exact weight upload/download round-trips, and iRProp+/Backpropagation epochs compared against the pure-Dart trainers.

The default chrome platform launches Chrome with --disable-gpu, which removes navigator.gpu, so dart_test.yaml defines two WebGPU-enabled platforms:

# Real GPU (desktop with a GPU):
dart test test/eneural_net_webgpu_integration_test.dart -p chrome_webgpu

# Software adapter (machines/CI runners without a GPU):
dart test test/eneural_net_webgpu_integration_test.dart -p chrome_webgpu_swiftshader

# Require a WebGPU device: no device -> failure instead of skip (used by CI):
dart test test/eneural_net_webgpu_integration_test.dart -p chrome_webgpu \
  --dart2js-args=-DWEBGPU_REQUIRED=true

Without a WebGPU device the integration tests self-skip, so they are safe to run anywhere. The WebGPU CI workflow runs them on Linux (SwiftShader) and macOS (real GPU), always with -DWEBGPU_REQUIRED=true so a job cannot pass through the fallback path, plus a job that checks the Dart VM fallback. Chrome on the hosted Windows runners exposes no WebGPU adapter, so there is no Windows job.

Training Algorithms

Beyond Backpropagation and RProp (iRProp+), the library ships a broad set of pure-Dart trainers (SIMD Float32x4):

var adam = Adam(ann, samplesSet, learningRate: 0.001, weightDecay: 0.01);
adam.trainUntilGlobalError(targetGlobalError: 1e-4);

Selecting by name and checkpointing

Trainers can be built by name and resumed from a JSON checkpoint:

var trainer = trainingByName('adam', ann, samplesSet, params: {'learningRate': 0.01});

// Save / restore (JSON-serializable) — ANN weights + optimizer state:
var checkpoint = saveTrainingCheckpoint(trainer);
restoreTrainingCheckpoint(trainer, checkpoint); // into a same-config trainer

print(registeredTrainings()); // adam, adamw, nadam, rmsprop, lion, lbfgs, ...

See example/eneural_net_optimizers_example.dart.

Signal

The class Signal represents the collection of numbers (including its related operations) that will flow through the ANN, representing the actual signal that an Artificial Neural Network should compute.

The main implementation is SignalFloat32x4 and represents an ANN Signal based in Float32x4. All the operations prioritizes the use of SIMD.

The framework of Signal allows the implementation of any kind of data to represent the numbers and operations of an eNeural.net ANN. SignalInt32x4 is an experimental implementation to exercise an ANN based in integers.

Activation Functions

ActivationFunction is the base class for ANN neurons activation functions:

exp(x)

exp is the function of the natural exponent, e, to the power x.

This is an important ANN function, since is used by the popular Sigmoid function, and usually a high precision version is slow and approximation versions can be used for most ANN models and training algorithms.

Fast Math

An internal Fast Math library is present and can be used for platforms that are not efficient to compute exp (Exponential function).

You can import this library and use it to create a specialized ActivationFunction implementation or use it in any kind of project:

import 'package:eneural_net/eneural_net_fast_math.dart' as fast_math ;

void main() {
  // Fast Exponential function:
  var o = fast_math.exp(2);

  // Fast Exponential function with high precision:
  var highPrecision = <double>[0.0 , 0.0];
  var oHighPrecision = fast_math.expHighPrecision(2, 0.0, highPrecision);
  
  // Fast Exponential function with SIMD acceleration:
  var o32x4 = fast_math.expFloat32x4( Float32x4(2,3,4,5) );
}

The implementation is based in the Dart package Complex:

The fast_math.expFloat32x4 function was created by Graciliano M. Passos (gmpassos@GitHub).

eNeural.net

You can find more at: eneural.net

Source

The official source code is hosted @ GitHub:

Features and bugs

Please file feature requests and bugs at the issue tracker.

Contribution

Any help from the open-source community is always welcome and needed:

Author

Graciliano M. Passos: gmpassos@GitHub.

License

Apache License - Version 2.0