A way to describe data using only a few learned building blocks.
Sparse coding is like making a pop song with three guitar chords. Somehow, the crowd still sings along.
Models use it to keep a few key patterns. It helps with features, noise cleanup, and compression.
Representation Learning
Sparse coding is Representation Learning with only a few key features.
Unsupervised Learning
Sparse coding often learns its building blocks from unlabeled data.
Autoencoder
Sparse autoencoders use the idea of keeping only a few neurons active.
Lasso
Lasso uses L1 pressure to force many numbers to zero.