torch.nn.Module和torch.nn.functional的区别

nn.module和nn.functional是torch.nn的两个模块，这两个模块都能实现神经网络的卷积、池化等操作，但又有本质的区别。

nn.Module是类，除了要进行相关的计算，还要对module中的参数等属性进行管理；nn.fuctional是函数，只进行相关的计算。下面以nn.Linear和nn.functional.linear来学习两者的区别：

nn.Linear：

class Linear(Module):
    r"""Applies a linear transformation to the incoming data: :math:`y = xA^T + b`
    Args:
        in_features: size of each input sample
        out_features: size of each output sample
        bias: If set to ``False``, the layer will not learn an additive bias.
            Default: ``True``
    Shape:
        - Input: :math:`(N, *, H_{in})` where :math:`*` means any number of
          additional dimensions and :math:`H_{in} = \text{in\_features}`
        - Output: :math:`(N, *, H_{out})` where all but the last dimension
          are the same shape as the input and :math:`H_{out} = \text{out\_features}`.
    Attributes:
        weight: the learnable weights of the module of shape
            :math:`(\text{out\_features}, \text{in\_features})`. The values are
            initialized from :math:`\mathcal{U}(-\sqrt{k}, \sqrt{k})`, where
            :math:`k = \frac{1}{\text{in\_features}}`
        bias:   the learnable bias of the module of shape :math:`(\text{out\_features})`.
                If :attr:`bias` is ``True``, the values are initialized from
                :math:`\mathcal{U}(-\sqrt{k}, \sqrt{k})` where
                :math:`k = \frac{1}{\text{in\_features}}`
    Examples::
        >>> m = nn.Linear(20, 30)
        >>> input = torch.randn(128, 20)
        >>> output = m(input)
        >>> print(output.size())
        torch.Size([128, 30])
    """
    __constants__ = ['in_features', 'out_features']

    def __init__(self, in_features, out_features, bias=True):
        super(Linear, self).__init__()
        self.in_features = in_features
        self.out_features = out_features
        self.weight = Parameter(torch.Tensor(out_features, in_features))
        if bias:
            self.bias = Parameter(torch.Tensor(out_features))
        else:
            self.register_parameter('bias', None)
        self.reset_parameters()

    def reset_parameters(self):
        init.kaiming_uniform_(self.weight, a=math.sqrt(5))
        if self.bias is not None:
            fan_in, _ = init._calculate_fan_in_and_fan_out(self.weight)
            bound = 1 / math.sqrt(fan_in)
            init.uniform_(self.bias, -bound, bound)

    def forward(self, input):
        return F.linear(input, self.weight, self.bias)

    def extra_repr(self):
        return 'in_features={}, out_features={}, bias={}'.format(
            self.in_features, self.out_features, self.bias is not None
        )

从源码中可以看到，nn.Linear是nn.Module的一个子类，除了在forward的时候调用nn.functional.linear进行计算，还涉及到参数的管理和初始化、module的信息展示等。

nn.functional.linear：

def linear(input, weight, bias=None):
    # type: (Tensor, Tensor, Optional[Tensor]) -> Tensor
    r"""
    Applies a linear transformation to the incoming data: :math:`y = xA^T + b`.
    Shape:
        - Input: :math:`(N, *, in\_features)` where `*` means any number of
          additional dimensions
        - Weight: :math:`(out\_features, in\_features)`
        - Bias: :math:`(out\_features)`
        - Output: :math:`(N, *, out\_features)`
    """
    if input.dim() == 2 and bias is not None:
        # fused op is marginally faster
        ret = torch.addmm(bias, input, weight.t())
    else:
        output = input.matmul(weight.t())
        if bias is not None:
            output += bias
        ret = output
    return ret

从源码中可以看到，nn.functional.linear 只是进行了全连接的计算。

通过两者的对比可以知道：module是一个类，是对functional中的函数的功能扩展，添加了参数和信息管理等功能，但是它的计算功能还是通过调用functional中的函数来实现的。