> > * Looking over the github repo, apparently R4ML is not under active > development/maintenance anymore (last commit Jul 20). So who would be > willing to maintain and extend it? > > ALOK: We will doing development into it . there are open PR already. > > No commits since Jul 20 does raise warning flags, as Matthias pointed out. For some perspective, SystemML has 1013 commits in the last year (~2.78 per day). No R4ML commits in 2 months is concerning for obvious reasons. It implies no real work has been done on the project for months.
> * Providing wrappers for our algorithm scripts would be just a start > because it hides our core value proposition of custom large-scale ML. > Hence, we would also need an MLContext equivalent that allows to execute > arbitrary DML scripts or R functions. Is there already a tentative design > of such an API and if not, who would like to take it over? > > ALOK: Currently no out of box MLCtx. > > I believe this also raises some warning flags. Looking over the code at https://github.com/SparkTC/r4ml/blob/master/R4ML/R/sysml.bridge.R, it looks like the code in the R4ML master branch utilizes an old API that does not currently exist in SystemML. As Matthias pointed out, a key value proposition of SystemML is customizable machine learning, which would require an API that currently exists in the project. That said, I believe an R API interface to SystemML is extremely valuable and I think the whole SystemML community would benefit from the R API, and I hope you will pursue the issue further. It looks like it has been in development since June (https://github.com/SparkTC/r4ml/pull/50). Deron
