Compositional Stochastic Modeling and Probabilistic Programming
arXiv:1212.0582
Abstract
Probabilistic programming is related to a compositional approach to stochastic modeling by switching from discrete to continuous time dynamics. In continuous time, an operator-algebra semantics is available in which processes proceeding in parallel (and possibly interacting) have summed time-evolution operators. From this foundation, algorithms for simulation, inference and model reduction may be systematically derived. The useful consequences are potentially far-reaching in computational science, machine learning and beyond. Hybrid compositional stochastic modeling/probabilistic programming approaches may also be possible.
Extended Abstract for the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) Workshop on Probabilistic Programming, 2012