TinyTorch/datasets

TinyTorch Datasets

This directory contains datasets for TinyTorch examples and training.

Directory Structure

datasets/
├── tiny/           ← Tiny datasets shipped with repo (~100KB each)
│   └── digits_8x8.npz (1,797 samples, 67KB)
├── mnist/          ← Full MNIST (downloaded, gitignored)
├── cifar10/        ← Full CIFAR-10 (downloaded, gitignored)
└── download_*.py   ← Download scripts for large datasets

Quick Start

For learning (instant, offline):

# Use tiny shipped datasets
import numpy as np
data = np.load('datasets/tiny/digits_8x8.npz')

For serious training (download once):

python datasets/download_mnist.py

MNIST Dataset

The mnist/ directory should contain the MNIST or Fashion-MNIST dataset files:

• train-images-idx3-ubyte.gz - Training images (60,000 samples)
• train-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz - Training labels
• t10k-images-idx3-ubyte.gz - Test images (10,000 samples)
• t10k-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz - Test labels

Downloading the Dataset

Run the provided download script:

cd datasets
python download_mnist.py

This will download Fashion-MNIST (which has the same format as MNIST but is more accessible).

Dataset Format

Both MNIST and Fashion-MNIST use the same IDX file format:

• Images: 28x28 grayscale pixels
• Labels: Integer values 0-9
• Gzipped for compression

Fashion-MNIST classes:

• 0: T-shirt/top
• 1: Trouser
• 2: Pullover
• 3: Dress
• 4: Coat
• 5: Sandal
• 6: Shirt
• 7: Sneaker
• 8: Bag
• 9: Ankle boot

The examples will work with either original MNIST digits or Fashion-MNIST items.