Introduction to machine learning

In this section, we will try to define machine learning from science, statistics, and data analytical perspectives. Machine learning (ML) is the branch of computer science that provides the computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed (Arthur Samuel in 1959). This field of study being evolved from the study of pattern recognition and computational learning theory in artificial intelligence.

More specifically, ML explores the study and construction of algorithms that can learn from heuristics and make predictions on data. This kind of algorithms overcome the strictly static program instructions by making data-driven predictions or decisions, through building a model from sample inputs. Now let's more explicit and versatile definition from Prof. Tom M. Mitchell, who explained what machine learning really means from the computer science perspective:

A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some class of tasks...