.. _tutconditions:

==========
Conditions
==========

**IfElse vs switch**

- Build condition over symbolic variables.
- IfElse Op takes a `boolean` condition and two variables to compute as input.
- Switch take a `tensor` as condition and two variables to compute as input.
  - Switch is an elementwise operation. It is more general than IfElse.
- While Switch Op evaluates both 'output' variables, IfElse Op is lazy and only
  evaluates one variable respect to the condition.

**Example**

.. code-block:: python

  from theano import tensor as T
  from theano.ifelse import ifelse
  import theano, time, numpy

  a,b = T.scalars('a','b')
  x,y = T.matrices('x','y')
  
  z_switch = T.switch(T.lt(a,b), T.mean(x), T.mean(y))
  z_lazy = ifelse(T.lt(a,b), T.mean(x), T.mean(y))

  f_switch = theano.function([a,b,x,y], z_switch, 
                      mode=theano.Mode(linker='vm'))
  f_lazyifelse = theano.function([a,b,x,y], z_lazy,
                      mode=theano.Mode(linker='vm'))

  val1 = 0.
  val2 = 1.
  big_mat1 = numpy.ones((10000,1000))
  big_mat2 = numpy.ones((10000,1000))

  n_times = 10

  tic = time.clock()
  for i in xrange(n_times):
      f_switch(val1, val2, big_mat1, big_mat2)
  print 'time spent evaluating both values %f sec'%(time.clock()-tic)

  tic = time.clock()
  for i in xrange(n_times):
      f_lazyifelse(val1, val2, big_mat1, big_mat2)
  print 'time spent evaluating one value %f sec'%(time.clock()-tic)

In this example, IfElse Op spend less time (about an half) than Switch
since it computes only one variable instead of both.

.. code-block:: python

  >>> python ifelse_switch.py
  time spent evaluating both values 0.6700 sec
  time spent evaluating one value 0.3500 sec


It is actually important to use  ``linker='vm'`` or ``linker='cvm'``,
otherwise IfElse will compute both variables and take the same computation
time as the Switch Op. The linker is not currently set by default to 'cvm' but
it will be in a near future.

There is not an optimization to automatically change a switch with a broadcasted scalar to an ifelse, as this is not always the faster. See this `ticket <http://trac-hg.assembla.com/theano/ticket/764>`_
