What is the difference b.t. tf.layers.dense and tf.layers.Dense

[BNAadministrator3]

Hey guys,

Just as the title. I tried to search the Stack Overflow but I can't figure it out. I mean, how to choose the layer b.t. dense and Dense when I construct a neural network?

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[csukuangfj]

tensorflow/tensorflow/python/layers/core.py

Lines 32 to 33 in 9fa3d27

	@tf_export(v1=['layers.Dense'])
	class Dense(keras_layers.Dense, base.Layer):

tf.layers.Dense returns an instance of class Dense.

tensorflow/tensorflow/python/layers/core.py

Lines 116 to 117 in 9fa3d27

	@tf_export(v1=['layers.dense'])
	def dense(

tensorflow/tensorflow/python/layers/core.py

Lines 174 to 188 in 9fa3d27

	layer = Dense(units,
	activation=activation,
	use_bias=use_bias,
	kernel_initializer=kernel_initializer,
	bias_initializer=bias_initializer,
	kernel_regularizer=kernel_regularizer,
	bias_regularizer=bias_regularizer,
	activity_regularizer=activity_regularizer,
	kernel_constraint=kernel_constraint,
	bias_constraint=bias_constraint,
	trainable=trainable,
	name=name,
	_scope=name,
	_reuse=reuse)
	return layer.apply(inputs)

tf.layers.dense first creates an instance of tf.layers.Dense, then calls return layer.apply(inputs), which returns a tensor.

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The same goes for:

• tf.layers.Dropout and tf.layers.dropout
• tf.layers.Flatten and tf.layers.flatten
• tf.layers.AveragePooling1D and tf.layers.average_pooling1d
• and many more ... (refer to the code)