How to cite Waffles

You can reference Waffles with the following citation:

Michael S. Gashler. Waffles: A machine learning toolkit. Journal of Machine Learning Research, MLOSS 12:2383-2387, July 2011. ISSN 1532-4435.

Bibtex:

@article{gashler_waffles,
	author={Gashler, Michael S.},
	title={Waffles: A Machine Learning Toolkit},
	journal={Journal of Machine Learning Research},
	volume={MLOSS 12},
	pages={2383--2387},
	month={July},
	year={2011},
	issn={1532-4435},
	publisher={JMLR.org and Microtome Publishing},
	url={http://www.jmlr.org/papers/volume12/gashler11a/gashler11a.pdf}
}

You only need to cite us if Waffles makes as much of a contribution to your research as the other papers that you cite. We don't want citations that we have not earned. While acknowledgement is nice, we'd really much rather have your code. If you really want to say "thanks", consider polishing up your code and contributing it. You'll make a bigger impact (and probably get more citations) if your idea is easily usable and accessible to others who might want to build upon it. Also, integrating your work with an open source toolkit is a good way to gain exposure for your work. The days when it was sufficient to merely describe your new algorithm in a paper are quickly coming to an end.

Problem-solving may be analogous to a relay race with scientists and engineers. To merely publish a paper describing your idea is to toss the baton into the bushes and say "the engineers can pick it up from here". Real scholarship is more than just stating your solution--it is placing your solution into the hands of someone who will run with it. To do this, code speaks louder than words. Code demonstrates what papers only describe, and code is the language of the engineers.

A scientist might argue, "...but our system only rewards those who publish. Tenure and grant committees do not examine code." Here you must ask yourself, "Would a great scientist spend all of his time chasing the money?" Have a little faith that our system will eventually find a way to reward great scholarship, and do the right thing now. You don't have to contribute your code to Waffles, but please polish it up and contribute it somewhere. If acknowledging the contributions of others is paying-it-back, then taking the time to release your code is paying-it-forward, and I would prefer the latter.