{"slug": "pytorch-for-neural-networks-part-1-writing-your-first-neural-network-in-pytorch", "title": "Pytorch for Neural Networks Part 1: Writing Your First Neural Network in Pytorch", "summary": "A developer has published a tutorial series on building neural networks with PyTorch, starting with the fundamentals of creating a basic neural network class. The first installment demonstrates how to import essential PyTorch modules including torch, torch.nn, torch.nn.functional, and torch.optim.SGD, then walks through constructing a custom neural network class that inherits from nn.Module.", "body_md": "In my previous series of articles, we mainly explored the **theory behind various neural network concepts**.\n\nIn this new series, we will focus on **putting that knowledge into practice using code**. This will be a fun way to turn what we have learned into something more practical.\n\nWe will start with the basics and build things step by step.\n\nFor this article, we will be using the following modules.\n\n``` python\nimport torch\n```\n\n`torch`\n\nis used to create **tensors**, which store all the numerical data in neural networks, such as:\n\n``` python\nimport torch.nn as nn\n```\n\nThis module helps us define and build neural network components.\n\nIt also allows us to make weights and biases part of the neural network.\n\n``` python\nimport torch.nn.functional as F\n```\n\nThis module gives us access to various **activation functions** and other useful operations.\n\n``` python\nfrom torch.optim import SGD\n```\n\n`SGD`\n\n, which stands for **Stochastic Gradient Descent**, is an optimization algorithm used to fit the neural network to data.\n\nNow let us begin building our neural network.\n\nWhen creating a neural network in PyTorch, we usually start by creating a class.\n\n```\nclass MyBasicNN(nn.Module):\n```\n\nHere, we create a class named `MyBasicNN`\n\n.\n\nThis class inherits from a PyTorch class called `nn.Module`\n\n.\n\nBy inheriting from `nn.Module`\n\n, our class gains all the functionality needed to behave like a neural network in PyTorch.\n\nNext, we define the initialization method.\n\n``` python\nclass MyBasicNN(nn.Module):\n    def __init__(self):\n        super().__init__()\n```\n\nHere, we define the constructor (`__init__`\n\n) for our neural network.\n\nThe line:\n\n```\nsuper().__init__()\n```\n\ncalls the initialization method of the parent class `nn.Module`\n\n.\n\nThis ensures that all the necessary PyTorch functionality is properly set up for our neural network.\n\nThe next step is to initialize the **weights and biases** for our neural network.\n\nBefore doing that, we first need an example problem so we know what kind of neural network we want to build.\n\nWe will explore that in the next article.\n\nAI agents write code fast. They also silently remove logic, change behavior, and introduce bugs -- without telling you. You often find out in production.\n\n[git-lrc](https://github.com/HexmosTech/git-lrc) fixes this. It hooks into git commit and reviews every diff before it lands. 60-second setup. Completely free.\n\nAny feedback or contributors are welcome! It's online, source-available, and ready for anyone to use.\n\nGive it a ⭐ [star on Github](https://github.com/HexmosTech/git-lrc)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pytorch-for-neural-networks-part-1-writing-your-first-neural-network-in-pytorch", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/rijultp/pytorch-for-neural-networks-part-1-writing-your-first-neural-network-in-pytorch-37lc", "published_at": "2026-05-29 21:16:24+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-29 21:41:20.723103+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["neural-networks", "machine-learning", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-tools", "ai-research"], "entities": ["PyTorch", "Stochastic Gradient Descent"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pytorch-for-neural-networks-part-1-writing-your-first-neural-network-in-pytorch", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pytorch-for-neural-networks-part-1-writing-your-first-neural-network-in-pytorch.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pytorch-for-neural-networks-part-1-writing-your-first-neural-network-in-pytorch.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/pytorch-for-neural-networks-part-1-writing-your-first-neural-network-in-pytorch.jsonld"}}