PyDev of the Week: Raghav Bali

This week we welcome Raghav Bali (@Rghv_Bali) as our PyDev of the Week. Raghav is the co-author of Generative AI with Python and TensorFlow 2, a book that teaches you how to create images, text, and music with VAEs, GANs, LSTMs, GPT models and more.

You can see what else Raghav has been up to over on his website or his GitHub profile. You can also connect with Raghav on LinkedIn.

Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc):

I am an IIIT-Bangalore graduate with specialisation in software engineering and machine learning. I am the gold medalist of my batch.

I am a technology enthusiast who likes to read about and play with new technologies and gadgets. I am also interested in photography and like to play with different perspectives. You can check out my Instagram and vsco profiles.

Why did you start using Python?

Back in 2013-14 when I was getting into Machine Learning and stuff, we were majorly using MATLAB and R for our experiments and projects. Then in late 2014 I attended a couple of talks at PyCon and that opened a whole new world of possibilities to me. Since then there has been no turning back. Python’s ever-growing ecosystem of libraries and support is what makes it a go-to choice for all things ML. Also, the ease of programming and readability is a definite plus.

What other programming languages do you know and which is your favorite?

I started programming initially using C and FORTRAN as a hobby back in school. Over the years I have worked on projects using languages like C++, C#, Java, R and Python. I have also worked briefly with Visual Basic, HTML and even JavaScript.

I won’t say I have a favourite language as I believe the choice purely depends upon a project’s requirements. Currently I am most comfortable with python.

What projects are you working on now?

I work in the healthcare domain and currently I am working on some deeply involved fraud detection use cases using technologies like Machine Learning and Deep Learning.

Which Python libraries are your favorite (core or 3rd party)?

The ever so powerful pandas and numpy libraries are like the heroes of the whole data science ecosystem in the python world. These two are completely indispensable and I can’t thank the developers enough.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

The Machine Learning/Deep Learning community along with amazing developers associated with the python community are a true source of inspiration and admiration. Kudos to the quality of work and their true sense of supporting the whole ecosystem.

Thanks for doing the interview, Raghav!