We study the problem of learning efficient algorithms that strongly
generalize in the framework of neural program induction. By carefully designing
the input / output interfaces of the neural model and through imitation, we are
able to learn models that produce correct results for arbitrary input sizes,
achieving strong generalization. Moreover, by using reinforcement learning, we
optimize for program efficiency metrics, and discover new algorithms that
surpass the teacher used in imitation. With this, our approach can learn to
outperform custom-written solutions for a variety of problems, as we tested it
on sorting, searching in ordered lists and the NP-complete 0/1 knapsack
problem, which sets a notable milestone in the field of Neural Program
Induction. As highlights, our learned model can perform sorting perfectly on
any input data size we tested on, with $O(n log n)$ complexity, whilst
outperforming hand-coded algorithms, including quick sort, in number of
operations even for list sizes far beyond those seen during training.
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