Add Seed property to MLContext and use as default for data splits

src/Microsoft.ML.Core/ComponentModel/ComponentCatalog.cs

@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ internal EntryPointInfo(MethodInfo method,
                 var parameters = method.GetParameters();
                 if (parameters.Length != 2 && parameters.Length != 3)
                     throw Contracts.Except("Method '{0}' has {1} parameters, but must have 2 or 3", method.Name, parameters.Length);
-                if (parameters[0].ParameterType != typeof(IHostEnvironment))
+                if (parameters[0].ParameterType != typeof(IHostEnvironment) && parameters[0].ParameterType != typeof(ISeededEnvironment))
                     throw Contracts.Except("Method '{0}', 1st parameter is {1}, but must be IHostEnvironment", method.Name, parameters[0].ParameterType);
                 InputType = parameters[1].ParameterType;
                 var outputType = method.ReturnType;

src/Microsoft.ML.Core/Data/IHostEnvironment.cs

@@ -82,6 +82,15 @@ internal interface ICancelable
         bool IsCanceled { get; }
     }
 
+    [BestFriend]
+    internal interface ISeededEnvironment : IHostEnvironment
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The seed property that, if assigned, makes components requiring randomness behave deterministically.
+        /// </summary>
+        int? Seed { get; }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// A host is coupled to a component and provides random number generation and concurrency guidance.
     /// Note that the random number generation, like the host environment methods, should be accessed only

src/Microsoft.ML.Core/Environment/ConsoleEnvironment.cs

@@ -366,24 +366,7 @@ protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
         public ConsoleEnvironment(int? seed = null, bool verbose = false,
             MessageSensitivity sensitivity = MessageSensitivity.All,
             TextWriter outWriter = null, TextWriter errWriter = null, TextWriter testWriter = null)
-            : this(RandomUtils.Create(seed), verbose, sensitivity, outWriter, errWriter, testWriter)
-        {
-        }
-
-        // REVIEW: do we really care about custom random? If we do, let's make this ctor public.
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Create an ML.NET environment for local execution, with console feedback.
-        /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="rand">An custom source of randomness to use in the environment.</param>
-        /// <param name="verbose">Set to <c>true</c> for fully verbose logging.</param>
-        /// <param name="sensitivity">Allowed message sensitivity.</param>
-        /// <param name="outWriter">Text writer to print normal messages to.</param>
-        /// <param name="errWriter">Text writer to print error messages to.</param>
-        /// <param name="testWriter">Optional TextWriter to write messages if the host is a test environment.</param>
-        private ConsoleEnvironment(Random rand, bool verbose = false,
-            MessageSensitivity sensitivity = MessageSensitivity.All,
-            TextWriter outWriter = null, TextWriter errWriter = null, TextWriter testWriter = null)
-            : base(rand, verbose, nameof(ConsoleEnvironment))
+            : base(seed, verbose, nameof(ConsoleEnvironment))
         {
             Contracts.CheckValueOrNull(outWriter);
             Contracts.CheckValueOrNull(errWriter);

src/Microsoft.ML.Core/Environment/HostEnvironmentBase.cs

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ internal interface IMessageSource
     /// query progress.
     /// </summary>
     [BestFriend]
-    internal abstract class HostEnvironmentBase<TEnv> : ChannelProviderBase, IHostEnvironment, IChannelProvider, ICancelable
+    internal abstract class HostEnvironmentBase<TEnv> : ChannelProviderBase, ISeededEnvironment, IHostEnvironment, IChannelProvider, ICancelable
         where TEnv : HostEnvironmentBase<TEnv>
     {
         void ICancelable.CancelExecution()
@@ -330,6 +330,9 @@ public void RemoveListener(Action<IMessageSource, TMessage> listenerFunc)
 
         // The random number generator for this host.
         private readonly Random _rand;
+
+        public int? Seed { get; }
+
         // A dictionary mapping the type of message to the Dispatcher that gets the strongly typed dispatch delegate.
         protected readonly ConcurrentDictionary<Type, Dispatcher> ListenerDict;
 
@@ -345,14 +348,14 @@ public void RemoveListener(Action<IMessageSource, TMessage> listenerFunc)
         private readonly List<WeakReference<IHost>> _children;
 
         /// <summary>
-        ///  The main constructor.
+        /// The main constructor.
         /// </summary>
-        protected HostEnvironmentBase(Random rand, bool verbose,
+        protected HostEnvironmentBase(int? seed, bool verbose,
             string shortName = null, string parentFullName = null)
             : base(shortName, parentFullName, verbose)
         {
-            Contracts.CheckValueOrNull(rand);
-            _rand = rand ?? RandomUtils.Create();
+            Seed = seed;
+            _rand = RandomUtils.Create(Seed);
             ListenerDict = new ConcurrentDictionary<Type, Dispatcher>();
             ProgressTracker = new ProgressReporting.ProgressTracker(this);
             _cancelLock = new object();

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

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML
     public sealed class DataOperationsCatalog : IInternalCatalog
     {
         IHostEnvironment IInternalCatalog.Environment => _env;
-        private readonly IHostEnvironment _env;
+        private readonly ISeededEnvironment _env;
 
         /// <summary>
         /// A pair of datasets, for the train and test set.
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ internal TrainTestData(IDataView trainSet, IDataView testSet)
             }
         }
 
-        internal DataOperationsCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal DataOperationsCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
         {
             Contracts.AssertValue(env);
             _env = env;
@@ -493,16 +493,15 @@ internal static IEnumerable<TrainTestData> CrossValidationSplit(IHostEnvironment
         /// <summary>
         /// Ensures the provided <paramref name="samplingKeyColumn"/> is valid for <see cref="RangeFilter"/>, hashing it if necessary, or creates a new column <paramref name="samplingKeyColumn"/> is null.
         /// </summary>
-        internal static void EnsureGroupPreservationColumn(IHostEnvironment env, ref IDataView data, ref string samplingKeyColumn, int? seed = null)
+        internal static void EnsureGroupPreservationColumn(ISeededEnvironment env, ref IDataView data, ref string samplingKeyColumn, int? seed = null)
         {
             Contracts.CheckValue(env, nameof(env));
-            var host = env.Register("rand");
             // We need to handle two cases: if samplingKeyColumn is provided, we use hashJoin to
             // build a single hash of it. If it is not, we generate a random number.
             if (samplingKeyColumn == null)
             {
                 samplingKeyColumn = data.Schema.GetTempColumnName("SamplingKeyColumn");
-                data = new GenerateNumberTransform(env, data, samplingKeyColumn, (uint?)(seed ?? host.Rand.Next()));
+                data = new GenerateNumberTransform(env, data, samplingKeyColumn, (uint?)(seed ?? env.Seed));
             }
             else
             {
@@ -518,7 +517,7 @@ internal static void EnsureGroupPreservationColumn(IHostEnvironment env, ref IDa
                     // instead of having two hash transformations.
                     var origStratCol = samplingKeyColumn;
                     samplingKeyColumn = data.Schema.GetTempColumnName(samplingKeyColumn);
-                    var columnOptions = new HashingEstimator.ColumnOptionsInternal(samplingKeyColumn, origStratCol, 30, (uint)(seed ?? host.Rand.Next()));
+                    var columnOptions = new HashingEstimator.ColumnOptionsInternal(samplingKeyColumn, origStratCol, 30, (uint)(seed ?? env.Seed));
                     data = new HashingEstimator(env, columnOptions).Fit(data).Transform(data);
                 }
                 else

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/MLContext.cs

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML
     /// create components for data preparation, feature enginering, training, prediction, model evaluation.
     /// It also allows logging, execution control, and the ability set repeatable random numbers.
     /// </summary>
-    public sealed class MLContext : IHostEnvironment
+    public sealed class MLContext : ISeededEnvironment, IHostEnvironment
     {
         // REVIEW: consider making LocalEnvironment and MLContext the same class instead of encapsulation.
         private readonly LocalEnvironment _env;
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ private void ProcessMessage(IMessageSource source, ChannelMessage message)
         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);
+        int? ISeededEnvironment.Seed => _env.Seed;
 
         [BestFriend]
         internal void CancelExecution() => ((ICancelable)_env).CancelExecution();

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/TrainCatalog.cs

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ public abstract class TrainCatalogBase : IInternalCatalog
         IHostEnvironment IInternalCatalog.Environment => Environment;
 
         [BestFriend]
-        private protected IHostEnvironment Environment { get; }
+        private protected ISeededEnvironment Environment { get; }
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Results for specific cross-validation fold.
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ private protected CrossValidationResult[] CrossValidateTrain(IDataView data, IEs
         }
 
         [BestFriend]
-        private protected TrainCatalogBase(IHostEnvironment env, string registrationName)
+        private protected TrainCatalogBase(ISeededEnvironment env, string registrationName)
         {
             Contracts.CheckValue(env, nameof(env));
             env.CheckNonEmpty(registrationName, nameof(registrationName));
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ public sealed class BinaryClassificationCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// </summary>
         public BinaryClassificationTrainers Trainers { get; }
 
-        internal BinaryClassificationCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal BinaryClassificationCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
             : base(env, nameof(BinaryClassificationCatalog))
         {
             Calibrators = new CalibratorsCatalog(this);
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ public sealed class ClusteringCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// <summary>
         /// The clustering context.
         /// </summary>
-        internal ClusteringCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal ClusteringCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
             : base(env, nameof(ClusteringCatalog))
         {
             Trainers = new ClusteringTrainers(this);
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ public sealed class MulticlassClassificationCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// </summary>
         public MulticlassClassificationTrainers Trainers { get; }
 
-        internal MulticlassClassificationCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal MulticlassClassificationCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
             : base(env, nameof(MulticlassClassificationCatalog))
         {
             Trainers = new MulticlassClassificationTrainers(this);
@@ -549,7 +549,7 @@ public sealed class RegressionCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// </summary>
         public RegressionTrainers Trainers { get; }
 
-        internal RegressionCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal RegressionCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
             : base(env, nameof(RegressionCatalog))
         {
             Trainers = new RegressionTrainers(this);
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ public sealed class RankingCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// </summary>
         public RankingTrainers Trainers { get; }
 
-        internal RankingCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal RankingCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
             : base(env, nameof(RankingCatalog))
         {
             Trainers = new RankingTrainers(this);
@@ -685,7 +685,7 @@ public sealed class AnomalyDetectionCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// </summary>
         public AnomalyDetectionTrainers Trainers { get; }
 
-        internal AnomalyDetectionCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal AnomalyDetectionCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
             : base(env, nameof(AnomalyDetectionCatalog))
         {
             Trainers = new AnomalyDetectionTrainers(this);
@@ -753,7 +753,7 @@ public sealed class ForecastingCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// </summary>
         public Forecasters Trainers { get; }
 
-        internal ForecastingCatalog(IHostEnvironment env) : base(env, nameof(ForecastingCatalog))
+        internal ForecastingCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env) : base(env, nameof(ForecastingCatalog))
         {
             Trainers = new Forecasters(this);
         }

src/Microsoft.ML.Data/Utilities/LocalEnvironment.cs

@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="seed">Random seed. Set to <c>null</c> for a non-deterministic environment.</param>
         public LocalEnvironment(int? seed = null)
-            : base(RandomUtils.Create(seed), verbose: false)
+            : base(seed, verbose: false)
         {
         }
 

src/Microsoft.ML.EntryPoints/PermutationFeatureImportance.cs

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.Transforms
     internal static class PermutationFeatureImportanceEntryPoints
     {
         [TlcModule.EntryPoint(Name = "Transforms.PermutationFeatureImportance", Desc = "Permutation Feature Importance (PFI)", UserName = "PFI", ShortName = "PFI")]
-        public static PermutationFeatureImportanceOutput PermutationFeatureImportance(IHostEnvironment env, PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments input)
+        public static PermutationFeatureImportanceOutput PermutationFeatureImportance(ISeededEnvironment env, PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments input)
         {
             Contracts.CheckValue(env, nameof(env));
             var host = env.Register("Pfi");
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ internal sealed class PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments : TransformInputBase
     internal static class PermutationFeatureImportanceUtils
     {
         internal static IDataView GetMetrics(
-            IHostEnvironment env,
+            ISeededEnvironment env,
             IPredictor predictor,
             RoleMappedData roleMappedData,
             PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments input)
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ internal static IDataView GetMetrics(
         }
 
         private static IDataView GetBinaryMetrics(
-            IHostEnvironment env,
+            ISeededEnvironment env,
             IPredictor predictor,
             RoleMappedData roleMappedData,
             PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments input)
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ private static IDataView GetBinaryMetrics(
         }
 
         private static IDataView GetMulticlassMetrics(
-            IHostEnvironment env,
+            ISeededEnvironment env,
             IPredictor predictor,
             RoleMappedData roleMappedData,
             PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments input)
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ private static IDataView GetMulticlassMetrics(
         }
 
         private static IDataView GetRegressionMetrics(
-            IHostEnvironment env,
+            ISeededEnvironment env,
             IPredictor predictor,
             RoleMappedData roleMappedData,
             PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments input)
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ private static IDataView GetRegressionMetrics(
         }
 
         private static IDataView GetRankingMetrics(
-            IHostEnvironment env,
+            ISeededEnvironment env,
             IPredictor predictor,
             RoleMappedData roleMappedData,
             PermutationFeatureImportanceArguments input)

src/Microsoft.ML.Recommender/RecommenderCatalog.cs

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ public sealed class RecommendationCatalog : TrainCatalogBase
         /// </summary>
         public RecommendationTrainers Trainers { get; }
 
-        internal RecommendationCatalog(IHostEnvironment env)
+        internal RecommendationCatalog(ISeededEnvironment env)
             : base(env, nameof(RecommendationCatalog))
         {
             Trainers = new RecommendationTrainers(this);

test/Microsoft.ML.AutoML.Tests/AutoFitTests.cs

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public void AutoFitBinaryTest()
         [Fact]
         public void AutoFitMultiTest()
         {
-            var context = new MLContext(1);
+            var context = new MLContext(42);
             var columnInference = context.Auto().InferColumns(DatasetUtil.TrivialMulticlassDatasetPath, DatasetUtil.TrivialMulticlassDatasetLabel);
             var textLoader = context.Data.CreateTextLoader(columnInference.TextLoaderOptions);
             var trainData = textLoader.Load(DatasetUtil.TrivialMulticlassDatasetPath);