<s>
DVC	O
is	O
a	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
,	O
platform-agnostic	O
version	O
system	O
for	O
data	O
,	O
machine	O
learning	O
models	O
,	O
and	O
experiments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
make	O
ML	O
models	O
shareable	O
,	O
experiments	O
reproducible	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
track	O
versions	O
of	O
models	O
,	O
data	O
,	O
and	O
pipelines	B-Operating_System
.	I-Operating_System
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
works	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
Git	B-Application
repositories	O
and	O
cloud	O
storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
incorporate	O
the	O
best	O
practices	O
of	O
software	O
development	O
into	O
Machine	O
Learning	O
workflows	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
does	O
this	O
by	O
extending	O
the	O
traditional	O
software	O
tool	O
Git	B-Application
by	O
cloud	O
storages	O
for	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
and	O
Machine	O
Learning	O
models	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Codified	O
:	O
it	O
codifies	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
and	O
models	O
by	O
storing	O
pointers	O
to	O
the	O
data	O
files	B-Operating_System
in	O
cloud	O
storages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reproducible	O
:	O
it	O
allows	O
users	O
to	O
reproduce	O
experiments	O
,	O
and	O
rebuild	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
from	O
raw	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
features	O
also	O
allow	O
to	O
automate	O
the	O
construction	O
of	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
training	O
,	O
evaluation	O
,	O
and	O
deployment	O
of	O
ML	O
models	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
stores	B-General_Concept
large	O
files	B-Operating_System
and	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
in	O
separate	O
storage	O
,	O
outside	O
of	O
Git	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
storage	O
can	O
be	O
on	O
the	O
user	O
’s	O
computer	O
or	O
hosted	O
on	O
any	O
major	O
cloud	O
storage	O
provider	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
AWS	B-General_Concept
S3	I-General_Concept
,	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Cloud	I-General_Concept
Storage	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
Blob	O
Storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
users	O
may	O
also	O
set	O
up	O
a	O
remote	O
repository	O
on	O
any	O
server	B-Application
and	O
connect	O
to	O
it	O
remotely	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
user	O
stores	B-General_Concept
their	O
data	O
and	O
models	O
in	O
the	O
remote	O
repository	O
,	O
text	O
file	O
is	O
created	O
in	O
their	O
Git	B-Application
repository	O
which	O
points	O
to	O
the	O
actual	O
data	O
in	O
remote	O
storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
's	O
features	O
can	O
be	O
divided	O
into	O
three	O
categories	O
:	O
data	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
,	O
pipelines	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
experiment	O
tracking	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
and	O
model	O
versioning	O
is	O
the	O
base	O
layer	O
of	O
DVC	O
for	O
large	O
files	B-Operating_System
,	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
machine	O
learning	O
models	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
allows	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
a	O
standard	O
Git	B-Application
workflow	B-Operating_System
,	O
but	O
without	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
store	O
those	O
files	B-Operating_System
in	O
the	O
repository	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Large	O
files	B-Operating_System
,	O
directories	O
and	O
ML	O
models	O
are	O
replaced	O
with	O
small	O
metafiles	O
,	O
which	O
in	O
turn	O
point	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
is	O
stored	O
separately	O
,	O
allowing	O
data	O
scientists	O
to	O
transfer	O
large	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
or	O
share	O
a	O
model	O
with	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
user	O
creates	O
metafiles	O
,	O
describing	O
what	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
,	O
ML	O
artifacts	O
and	O
other	O
features	O
to	O
track	O
,	O
DVC	O
makes	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
capture	O
versions	O
of	O
data	O
and	O
models	O
,	O
create	O
and	O
restore	O
from	O
snapshots	O
,	O
record	O
evolving	O
metrics	O
,	O
switch	O
between	O
versions	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unique	O
versions	O
of	O
data	O
files	B-Operating_System
and	O
directories	O
are	O
cached	B-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
systematic	O
way	O
(	O
also	O
preventing	O
file	O
duplication	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
provides	O
a	O
mechanism	O
to	O
define	O
and	O
execute	O
pipelines	B-Operating_System
.	I-Operating_System
</s>
<s>
Pipelines	B-General_Concept
represent	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
building	O
ML	O
datasets	B-General_Concept
and	O
models	O
,	O
from	O
how	O
data	O
is	O
preprocessed	O
to	O
how	O
models	O
are	O
trained	O
and	O
evaluated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pipelines	B-General_Concept
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
deploy	O
models	O
into	O
production	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
is	O
focused	O
on	O
the	O
experimentation	O
phase	O
of	O
the	O
ML	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
can	O
run	O
multiple	O
copies	O
of	O
a	O
DVC	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
by	O
cloning	O
a	O
Git	B-Application
repository	O
with	O
the	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
or	O
running	O
ML	O
experiments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
can	O
also	O
record	O
the	O
workflow	B-Operating_System
as	O
a	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
reproduce	O
it	O
in	O
the	O
future	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pipelines	B-General_Concept
are	O
represented	O
in	O
code	O
as	O
yaml	O
configuration	B-Protocol
files	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
files	B-Operating_System
define	O
the	O
stages	O
of	O
the	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
and	O
how	O
data	O
and	O
information	O
flows	O
from	O
one	O
step	O
to	O
the	O
next	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
is	O
run	O
,	O
the	O
artifacts	O
produced	O
by	O
that	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
are	O
registered	O
in	O
a	O
dvc.lock	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
lockfile	O
records	O
the	O
stages	O
that	O
were	O
run	O
,	O
and	O
stores	B-General_Concept
a	O
hash	O
of	O
the	O
resulting	O
output	O
for	O
each	O
stage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Not	O
only	O
is	O
it	O
a	O
record	O
of	O
the	O
execution	O
of	O
the	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
,	O
but	O
is	O
also	O
useful	O
when	O
deciding	O
which	O
steps	O
must	O
be	O
rerun	O
on	O
subsequent	O
executions	O
of	O
the	O
pipeline	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Experiments	O
maintain	O
a	O
link	O
to	O
the	O
commit	O
in	O
the	O
current	O
branch	O
(	O
Git	B-Application
HEAD	O
)	O
as	O
their	O
parent	O
or	O
baseline	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
they	O
do	O
not	O
form	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
regular	O
Git	B-Application
tree	O
(	O
unless	O
they	O
are	O
made	O
persistent	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
experiments	O
can	O
be	O
managed	O
and	O
visualized	O
either	O
from	O
the	O
VS	B-Language
Code	I-Language
IDE	O
or	O
online	O
using	O
Iterative	O
Studio	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Visualization	B-Application
allows	O
each	O
user	O
to	O
compare	O
experiment	O
results	O
visually	O
,	O
track	O
plots	O
and	O
generate	O
them	O
with	O
library	O
integrations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DVC	O
offers	O
several	O
options	O
for	O
using	O
visualization	B-Application
in	O
a	O
regular	O
workflow	B-Operating_System
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2022	O
,	O
Iterative	O
released	O
a	O
free	O
extension	O
for	O
Visual	B-Language
Studio	I-Language
Code	I-Language
(	O
VS	B-Language
Code	I-Language
)	O
,	O
a	O
source-code	B-Application
editor	I-Application
made	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
,	O
which	O
provides	O
VS	B-Language
Code	I-Language
users	O
with	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
use	O
DVC	O
in	O
their	O
editors	O
with	O
additional	O
user	B-Application
interface	I-Application
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
allowed	O
data	O
scientists	O
to	O
keep	O
track	O
of	O
their	O
machine	O
learning	O
processes	O
and	O
file	O
dependencies	O
in	O
the	O
simple	O
form	O
of	O
git-like	O
commands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
allowed	O
them	O
to	O
transform	O
existing	O
machine	O
learning	O
processes	O
into	O
reproducible	O
DVC	O
pipelines	B-Operating_System
.	I-Operating_System
</s>
<s>
New	O
features	O
like	O
multi-stage	O
DVC	O
files	B-Operating_System
,	O
run	O
cache	B-General_Concept
,	O
plots	O
,	O
data	O
transfer	O
optimizations	O
,	O
hyperparameter	O
tracking	O
,	O
and	O
stable	O
release	O
cycles	O
were	O
added	O
as	O
a	O
result	O
of	O
discussions	O
and	O
contributions	O
from	O
the	O
community	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ML	O
experiments	O
:	O
To	O
solve	O
the	O
problem	O
of	O
Git	B-Application
overhead	O
,	O
when	O
hundreds	O
of	O
experiments	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
run	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
day	O
and	O
each	O
experiment	O
run	O
requires	O
additional	O
Git	B-Application
commands	O
,	O
DVC	O
2.0	O
introduced	O
the	O
lightweight	O
experiments	O
feature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
eliminated	O
the	O
dependence	O
upon	O
additional	O
services	O
by	O
saving	O
data	O
versions	O
as	O
metadata	O
in	O
Git	B-Application
,	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
relegating	O
it	O
to	O
external	O
databases	O
or	O
APIs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Metrics	O
logging	O
:	O
DVC	O
2.0	O
introduced	O
a	O
new	O
open-source	O
library	O
DVC-Live	O
that	O
would	O
provide	O
functionality	O
for	O
tracking	O
model	O
metrics	O
and	O
organizing	O
metrics	O
in	O
a	O
way	O
that	O
DVC	O
could	O
visualize	O
with	O
navigation	O
in	O
Git	B-Application
history	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
several	O
open	O
source	O
projects	O
that	O
provide	O
similar	O
data	B-Architecture
version	I-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
capabilities	O
to	O
DVC	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
:	O
,	O
,	O
and	O
.	O
</s>
