players.rdoc

Bandit Players¶ ↑

There are a number of different possible players that each seek to explore/exploit using different methods. Each can be configured in the bandit.yml file in the config directory under your Rails.root.

UCB¶ ↑

The UCB player calculates the best alternative based on the sum of its conversion rate and its calculated confidence interval. The player will automatically shift between an experimental phase and a non-experimental phase based on its confidence that it has found the optimal strategy. See the following blog post for more details: www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2012/bandit_algorithms_vs_ab.html

Epsilon Greedy¶ ↑

The epsilon greedy player selects the best alternative with a probability of 1 - epsilon, and selects uniformly among the other alternatives with a probability of epsilon. You can set the value of epsilon in the config file like this:

production:
  ...
  player: epsilon_greedy
  player_config:
    epsilon: 0.1
  ...

Softmax¶ ↑

The softmax player selects an an alternative with a probability based on its past success compared to the other alternatives. The temperature determines how likely the player is to explore less successful alternatives.

production:
  ...
  player: softmax
  player_config:
    temperature: 0.2
  ...

Round Robin¶ ↑

This is included for testing purposes only. It will not optimize. There are no config options.

production:
  ...
  player: round_robin
  ...