Basic building blocks for quickly creating neural networks

When you want to build a neural network for production use, you typically use the high-level API. The high-level API contains all kinds of different building blocks of a neural network.

For example: there's a basic dense layer to build the most basic kind of neural network. But you will also find more advanced layer types in the high-level API, such as the layer types needed to process images or time series data. 

The high-level API also contains different optimizers to train neural networks, so you don't have to manually build a gradient-descent optimizer. In CNTK, the optimization process is implemented using learners and trainers, where the learner defines which kind of gradient-descent algorithm to use while the trainer defines how to implement the basics of backpropagation.

In Chapter 2, Building Neural Networks with CNTK, we'll explore how to use the high-level API to build and train a neural network. In Chapter 5, Working with Images, and Chapter 6, Working with Time Series Data, you'll learn how to use some of the more advanced layer types to process images and time series data with CNTK.