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arXiv preprint arXiv:1704.06611 , year=

4 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

4 Pith papers citing it
abstract

Empirically, neural networks that attempt to learn programs from data have exhibited poor generalizability. Moreover, it has traditionally been difficult to reason about the behavior of these models beyond a certain level of input complexity. In order to address these issues, we propose augmenting neural architectures with a key abstraction: recursion. As an application, we implement recursion in the Neural Programmer-Interpreter framework on four tasks: grade-school addition, bubble sort, topological sort, and quicksort. We demonstrate superior generalizability and interpretability with small amounts of training data. Recursion divides the problem into smaller pieces and drastically reduces the domain of each neural network component, making it tractable to prove guarantees about the overall system's behavior. Our experience suggests that in order for neural architectures to robustly learn program semantics, it is necessary to incorporate a concept like recursion.

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representative citing papers

Gradient-Based Program Synthesis with Neurally Interpreted Languages

cs.LG · 2026-04-20 · unverdicted · novelty 8.0

NLI autonomously discovers a vocabulary of primitive operations and interprets variable-length programs via a neural executor, allowing end-to-end training and gradient-based test-time adaptation that outperforms prior methods on combinatorial generalization tasks.

Training Transformers as a Universal Computer

cs.AI · 2026-04-28 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

A transformer trained on random meaningless MicroPy programs generalizes to execute diverse human-written programs, providing empirical evidence it can act as a universal computer.

Solving math word problems with process- and outcome-based feedback

cs.LG · 2022-11-25 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

On GSM8K, outcome-based supervision achieves similar final-answer error rates to process-based with less labeling, but process-based or learned reward models are needed to reach 3.4% reasoning error among correct solutions.

citing papers explorer

Showing 4 of 4 citing papers.

  • Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models cs.CL · 2022-01-28 · accept · none · ref 9

    Chain-of-thought prompting, by including intermediate reasoning steps in few-shot examples, elicits strong reasoning abilities in large language models on arithmetic, commonsense, and symbolic tasks.

  • Gradient-Based Program Synthesis with Neurally Interpreted Languages cs.LG · 2026-04-20 · unverdicted · none · ref 113

    NLI autonomously discovers a vocabulary of primitive operations and interprets variable-length programs via a neural executor, allowing end-to-end training and gradient-based test-time adaptation that outperforms prior methods on combinatorial generalization tasks.

  • Training Transformers as a Universal Computer cs.AI · 2026-04-28 · unverdicted · none · ref 2

    A transformer trained on random meaningless MicroPy programs generalizes to execute diverse human-written programs, providing empirical evidence it can act as a universal computer.

  • Solving math word problems with process- and outcome-based feedback cs.LG · 2022-11-25 · unverdicted · none · ref 5 · internal anchor

    On GSM8K, outcome-based supervision achieves similar final-answer error rates to process-based with less labeling, but process-based or learned reward models are needed to reach 3.4% reasoning error among correct solutions.