What language for processing NN-like structures?

[Troman]

Hi, I would like to simulate NN-like structures. I have thousands or
maybe several millions of nodes and (mostly hierarchical, topology-
like) connections between them. I would like to run different (mostly
NLP) algorithms on such structures.

I have been using Prolog for now, since it offers backtracking and
unification for free, and simulated connections using Prolog facts
recorded in a Prolog database, but Prolog is a rather slow language
and speed became an issue.

Can anyone give me an advice on what language might suit my purposes?
I'm ready to try an exotic or older language, like Lisp, if it was a
good candidate -- personally I have no experience with Lisp and can't
judge its usefullness. Or maybe someone is aware of any library for
the more common languages like Java/C# which would fit my purposes?

I would appreciate any help.

[Phil Sherrod]

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to do. But in general, C++ and/or C# are good
languages for representing, managing, and executing networks of objects such as you describe. I
prefer C++ over C# because C++ is a universal standard rather than Microsoft specific, and I like
the efficiency of using pointers within objects. I use C++ for all of my network implementations.

--
Phil Sherrod
(PhilSherrod 'at' comcast.net)
http://www.dtreg.com (Decision trees, Neural networks, SVM)
http://www.nlreg.com (Nonlinear Regression)

[tomhoo]

"...several millions of nodes..." sounds like a problem. This is
difficult in the finite element modeling world where you might be
talking a few dozen non-linear iterations for solution - and that is
using advanced/esoteric methods. There is no such free lunch with
neural nets. From my limited niche, 1000 nodes is untenable.

Also, C++ is a very powerful programming language which gives you a
lot of rope to hang yourself since you can do virtually anything you
can think of regarding pointers, arrays, objects, etc.

While unpopular and facing (unfortunately) Delphi (object oriented
Pascal) is a thorough language with a lot of syntax rules that result
in a lot of code working right, the very first time executed. Delphi
has always been acknowledged as a great rapid prototyping platform,
however, with the MS .NET effort, popularity is dwindling.

So either highly powerful C++ or .NET Visual Basic would be practical
skills to pick up. However, you could probably get to your answer
quicker with Delphi 7, the last version before the documentation went
berserk.

But you thought of writing your own code is a good idea. You will
never be limited by your programming.