After looking at all the pros and cons of using LLMs, it’s safe to say that surrounding a language model with powerful tools and components would significantly boost the capabilities of a generative AI application.
And this is precisely what LangChain is—a comprehensive framework for application development with large language models.
The framework’s name, a blend of language and chain, reflects its core principle of chaining modular components together to build complex applications. By abstracting standard tasks and providing prebuilt components and templates for various applications (for example, chatbots, summarization tools, question–answering systems, and so on), LangChain aims to lower the barrier to entry for developers interested in leveraging the power of language models. This not only simplifies the development process but also encourages experimentation and innovation within the community. With LangChain, building J.A.R.V.I.S. from Iron Man seems more realistic than ever.
LangChain utilizes a lot of components to build generative AI applications. Most fall into one of seven categories: models, indexes, chains, prompts, memory, tools, and agents, as shown in Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-1. LangChain components
Chapter 2 discussed some of the limitations of LLMs, particularly hallucinations, out-of-date information, and difficulties with math ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
