Modularity in Deep Learning: A Survey
Haozhe Sun Isabelle Guyon
Modularity is a general principle present in many fields. It offers
attractive advantages, including, among others, ease of conceptualization,
interpretability, scalability, module combinability, and module reusability.
The deep learning community has long sought to take inspiration from the
modularity principle, either implicitly or explicitly. This interest has been
increasing over recent years. We review the notion of modularity in deep
learning around three axes: data, task, and model, which characterize the life
cycle of deep learning. Data modularity refers to the observation or creation
of data groups for various purposes. Task modularity refers to the
decomposition of tasks into sub-tasks. Model modularity means that the
architecture of a neural network system can be decomposed into identifiable
modules. We describe different instantiations of the modularity principle, and
we contextualize their advantages in different deep learning sub-fields.
Finally, we conclude the paper with a discussion of the definition of
modularity and directions for future research.