ML Context to create them all

docs/samples/Microsoft.ML.Samples/Trainers.cs

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 // the alignment of the usings with the methods is intentional so they can display on the same level in the docs site. 
         using Microsoft.ML.Runtime.Data;
         using Microsoft.ML.Runtime.Learners;
-        using Microsoft.ML.Trainers;
+        using Microsoft.ML.StaticPipe;
         using System;
 
 // NOTE: WHEN ADDING TO THE FILE, ALWAYS APPEND TO THE END OF IT. 

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/DataLoadSave/DataLoadSaveCatalog.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+namespace Microsoft.ML.Runtime
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A catalog of operations to load and save data.
+    /// </summary>
+    public sealed class DataLoadSaveOperations
+    {
+        internal IHostEnvironment Environment { get; }
+
+        internal DataLoadSaveOperations(IHostEnvironment env)
+        {
+            Contracts.AssertValue(env);
+            Environment = env;
+        }
+    }
+}

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/DataLoadSave/Text/TextLoader.cs

@@ -46,6 +46,11 @@ public Column() { }
             public Column(string name, DataKind? type, int index)
                : this(name, type, new[] { new Range(index) }) { }
 
+            public Column(string name, DataKind? type, int minIndex, int maxIndex)
+                : this(name, type, new[] { new Range(minIndex, maxIndex) })
+            {
+            }
+
             public Column(string name, DataKind? type, Range[] source, KeyRange keyRange = null)
             {
                 Contracts.CheckValue(name, nameof(name));
@@ -1003,6 +1008,18 @@ private bool HasHeader
         private readonly IHost _host;
         private const string RegistrationName = "TextLoader";
 
+        public TextLoader(IHostEnvironment env, Column[] columns, Action<Arguments> advancedSettings, IMultiStreamSource dataSample = null)
+            : this(env, MakeArgs(columns, advancedSettings), dataSample)
+        {
+        }
+
+        private static Arguments MakeArgs(Column[] columns, Action<Arguments> advancedSettings)
+        {
+            var result = new Arguments { Column = columns };
+            advancedSettings?.Invoke(result);
+            return result;
+        }
+
         public TextLoader(IHostEnvironment env, Arguments args, IMultiStreamSource dataSample = null)
         {
             Contracts.CheckValue(env, nameof(env));
@@ -1320,6 +1337,8 @@ public void Save(ModelSaveContext ctx)
 
         public IDataView Read(IMultiStreamSource source) => new BoundLoader(this, source);
 
+        public IDataView Read(string path) => Read(new MultiFileSource(path));
+
         private sealed class BoundLoader : IDataLoader
         {
             private readonly TextLoader _reader;

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/DataLoadSave/Text/TextLoaderSaverCatalog.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using Microsoft.ML.Runtime;
+using Microsoft.ML.Runtime.Data;
+using Microsoft.ML.Runtime.Data.IO;
+using Microsoft.ML.Runtime.Internal.Utilities;
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.IO;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace Microsoft.ML
+{
+    public static class TextLoaderSaverCatalog
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Create a text reader.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="catalog">The catalog.</param>
+        /// <param name="args">The arguments to text reader, describing the data schema.</param>
+        /// <param name="dataSample">The optional location of a data sample.</param>
+        public static TextLoader TextReader(this DataLoadSaveOperations catalog,
+            TextLoader.Arguments args, IMultiStreamSource dataSample = null)
+            => new TextLoader(CatalogUtils.GetEnvironment(catalog), args, dataSample);
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Create a text reader.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="catalog">The catalog.</param>
+        /// <param name="columns">The columns of the schema.</param>
+        /// <param name="advancedSettings">The delegate to set additional settings.</param>
+        /// <param name="dataSample">The optional location of a data sample.</param>
+        public static TextLoader TextReader(this DataLoadSaveOperations catalog,
+            TextLoader.Column[] columns, Action<TextLoader.Arguments> advancedSettings = null, IMultiStreamSource dataSample = null)
+            => new TextLoader(CatalogUtils.GetEnvironment(catalog), columns, advancedSettings, dataSample);
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Read a data view from a text file using <see cref="TextLoader"/>.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="catalog">The catalog.</param>
+        /// <param name="columns">The columns of the schema.</param>
+        /// <param name="advancedSettings">The delegate to set additional settings</param>
+        /// <param name="path">The path to the file</param>
+        /// <returns>The data view.</returns>
+        public static IDataView ReadFromTextFile(this DataLoadSaveOperations catalog,
+            TextLoader.Column[] columns, string path, Action<TextLoader.Arguments> advancedSettings = null)
+        {
+            Contracts.CheckNonEmpty(path, nameof(path));
+
+            var env = catalog.GetEnvironment();
+
+            // REVIEW: it is almost always a mistake to have a 'trainable' text loader here.
+            // Therefore, we are going to disallow data sample.
+            var reader = new TextLoader(env, columns, advancedSettings, dataSample: null);
+            return reader.Read(new MultiFileSource(path));
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Save the data view as text.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="catalog">The catalog.</param>
+        /// <param name="data">The data view to save.</param>
+        /// <param name="stream">The stream to write to.</param>
+        /// <param name="separator">The column separator.</param>
+        /// <param name="headerRow">Whether to write the header row.</param>
+        /// <param name="schema">Whether to write the header comment with the schema.</param>
+        /// <param name="keepHidden">Whether to keep hidden columns in the dataset.</param>
+        public static void SaveAsText(this DataLoadSaveOperations catalog, IDataView data, Stream stream,
+            char separator = '\t', bool headerRow = true, bool schema = true, bool keepHidden = false)
+        {
+            Contracts.CheckValue(catalog, nameof(catalog));
+            Contracts.CheckValue(data, nameof(data));
+            Contracts.CheckValue(stream, nameof(stream));
+
+            var env = catalog.GetEnvironment();
+            var saver = new TextSaver(env, new TextSaver.Arguments { Separator = separator.ToString(), OutputHeader = headerRow, OutputSchema = schema });
+
+            using (var ch = env.Start("Saving data"))
+                DataSaverUtils.SaveDataView(ch, saver, data, stream, keepHidden);
+        }
+    }
+}

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/Evaluators/EvaluatorStaticExtensions.cs

@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ public static RegressionEvaluator.Result Evaluate<T>(
         /// <param name="score">The index delegate for predicted score column.</param>
         /// <returns>The evaluation metrics.</returns>
         public static RankerEvaluator.Result Evaluate<T, TVal>(
-            this RankerContext ctx,
+            this RankingContext ctx,
             DataView<T> data,
             Func<T, Scalar<float>> label,
             Func<T, Key<uint, TVal>> groupId,

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/MLContext.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using Microsoft.ML.Runtime;
+using Microsoft.ML.Runtime.Data;
+using System;
+
+namespace Microsoft.ML
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The <see cref="MLContext"/> is a starting point for all ML.NET operations. It is instantiated by user,
+    /// provides mechanisms for logging and entry points for training, prediction, model operations etc.
+    /// </summary>
+    public sealed class MLContext : IHostEnvironment
+    {
+        // REVIEW: consider making LocalEnvironment and MLContext the same class instead of encapsulation.
+        private readonly LocalEnvironment _env;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Trainers and tasks specific to binary classification problems.
+        /// </summary>
+        public BinaryClassificationContext BinaryClassification { get; }
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Trainers and tasks specific to multiclass classification problems.
+        /// </summary>
+        public MulticlassClassificationContext MulticlassClassification { get; }
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Trainers and tasks specific to regression problems.
+        /// </summary>
+        public RegressionContext Regression { get; }
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Trainers and tasks specific to clustering problems.
+        /// </summary>
+        public ClusteringContext Clustering { get; }
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Trainers and tasks specific to ranking problems.
+        /// </summary>
+        public RankingContext Ranking { get; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Data processing operations.
+        /// </summary>
+        public TransformsCatalog Transforms { get; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Operations with trained models.
+        /// </summary>
+        public ModelOperationsCatalog Model { get; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Data loading and saving.
+        /// </summary>
+        public DataLoadSaveOperations Data { get; }
+
+        // REVIEW: I think it's valuable to have the simplest possible interface for logging interception here,
+        // and expand if and when necessary. Exposing classes like ChannelMessage, MessageSensitivity and so on
+        // looks premature at this point.
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The handler for the log messages.
+        /// </summary>
+        public Action<string> Log { get; set; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Create the ML context.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="seed">Random seed. Set to <c>null</c> for a non-deterministic environment.</param>
+        /// <param name="conc">Concurrency level. Set to 1 to run single-threaded. Set to 0 to pick automatically.</param>
+        public MLContext(int? seed = null, int conc = 0)
+        {
+            _env = new LocalEnvironment(seed, conc);
+            _env.AddListener(ProcessMessage);
+
+            BinaryClassification = new BinaryClassificationContext(_env);
+            MulticlassClassification = new MulticlassClassificationContext(_env);
+            Regression = new RegressionContext(_env);
+            Clustering = new ClusteringContext(_env);
+            Ranking = new RankingContext(_env);
+            Transforms = new TransformsCatalog(_env);
+            Model = new ModelOperationsCatalog(_env);
+            Data = new DataLoadSaveOperations(_env);
+        }
+
+        private void ProcessMessage(IMessageSource source, ChannelMessage message)
+        {
+            if (Log == null)
+                return;
+
+            var msg = $"[Source={source.FullName}, Kind={message.Kind}] {message.Message}";
+            // Log may have been reset from another thread.
+            // We don't care which logger we send the message to, just making sure we don't crash.
+            Log?.Invoke(msg);
+        }
+
+        int IHostEnvironment.ConcurrencyFactor => _env.ConcurrencyFactor;
+        bool IHostEnvironment.IsCancelled => _env.IsCancelled;
+        ComponentCatalog IHostEnvironment.ComponentCatalog => _env.ComponentCatalog;
+        string IExceptionContext.ContextDescription => _env.ContextDescription;
+        IFileHandle IHostEnvironment.CreateOutputFile(string path) => _env.CreateOutputFile(path);
+        IFileHandle IHostEnvironment.CreateTempFile(string suffix, string prefix) => _env.CreateTempFile(suffix, prefix);
+        IFileHandle IHostEnvironment.OpenInputFile(string path) => _env.OpenInputFile(path);
+        TException IExceptionContext.Process<TException>(TException ex) => _env.Process(ex);
+        IHost IHostEnvironment.Register(string name, int? seed, bool? verbose, int? conc) => _env.Register(name, seed, verbose, conc);
+        IChannel IChannelProvider.Start(string name) => _env.Start(name);
+        IPipe<TMessage> IChannelProvider.StartPipe<TMessage>(string name) => _env.StartPipe<TMessage>(name);
+        IProgressChannel IProgressChannelProvider.StartProgressChannel(string name) => _env.StartProgressChannel(name);
+    }
+}

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/Model/ModelOperationsCatalog.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
+// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.
+// See the LICENSE file in the project root for more information.
+
+using Microsoft.ML.Core.Data;
+using Microsoft.ML.Runtime.Data;
+using System.IO;
+
+namespace Microsoft.ML.Runtime
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// An object serving as a 'catalog' of available model operations.
+    /// </summary>
+    public sealed class ModelOperationsCatalog
+    {
+        internal IHostEnvironment Environment { get; }
+
+        internal ModelOperationsCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        {
+            Contracts.AssertValue(env);
+            Environment = env;
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Save the model to the stream.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="model">The trained model to be saved.</param>
+        /// <param name="stream">A writeable, seekable stream to save to.</param>
+        public void Save(ITransformer model, Stream stream) => model.SaveTo(Environment, stream);
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Load the model from the stream.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="stream">A readable, seekable stream to load from.</param>
+        /// <returns>The loaded model.</returns>
+        public ITransformer Load(Stream stream) => TransformerChain.LoadFrom(Environment, stream);
+    }
+}