Improving LLM Reasoning: Revealing the Code Prompt Chain

Key takeaways

• Chain of Code (CoC) is a novel approach to interacting with language models, improving reasoning skills through a combination of code writing and selective code emulation.
• CoC extends the capabilities of language models in logical, arithmetic, and linguistic tasks, especially those that require a combination of these skills.
• With CoC, language models write code and also emulate parts of it that cannot be compiled, offering a unique approach to solving complex problems.
• CoC shows efficacy for both large and small LMs.

The key idea is to encourage LMs to format linguistic subtasks in a program as flexible pseudocode that the compiler can explicitly detect undefined behaviors and pass them on to simulate with an LM (such as an 'LMulator').

New language model (LM) stimulation, communication, and training techniques continue to emerge to improve LM reasoning and performance capabilities. One of these emergence is the development of Chain of Code (CoC), a method aimed at advancing code-based reasoning in LM. This technique is a fusion of traditional coding and innovative LM code execution emulation, creating a powerful tool for tackling complex linguistic and arithmetic reasoning tasks.

CoC is differentiated by its ability to handle complex problems combining logic, arithmetic, and language processing, which, as LM users have known for quite some time, has long been a challenging task for standard LMs. The effectiveness of CoC is not limited to large models, but extends to various sizes, demonstrating versatility and broad applicability in ai reasoning.

Figure 1: Code Chain Approach and Process Comparison (Article Image)

CoC is a paradigm shift in LM functionality; This is not a simple incitement tactic to increase the chances of eliciting the desired response from a LM. Instead, CoC redefines the LM's approach toward the aforementioned reasoning tasks.

In essence, CoC allows LMs to not only write code but also emulate parts of it, especially those aspects that are not directly executable. This duality allows LMs to handle a broader range of tasks, combining linguistic nuances with logical and arithmetic problem solving. CoC can format linguistic tasks as pseudocode and effectively bridge the gap between traditional coding and ai reasoning. This bridge allows a flexible and more capable system for solving complex problems. The LMulator, a core component of the larger CoC capabilities, enables the simulation and interpretation of code execution output that would not otherwise be directly available to the LM.

CoC has demonstrated notable success across different benchmarks, significantly outperforming existing approaches such as Chain of Thought, particularly in scenarios requiring a combination of linguistic and computational reasoning.

Experiments show that Chain of Code outperforms Chain of Thought and other baselines on a variety of benchmarks; on BIG-Bench Hard, Chain of Code hits 84%, a 12% gain over Chain of Thought.

Figure 2: Code chain performance comparison (article image)

The implementation of CoC involves a distinctive approach to reasoning tasks, integrating encoding and emulation processes. CoC encourages LMs to format complex reasoning tasks as pseudocode, which is then interpreted and solved. This process includes several steps:

1. Identify reasoning tasks: Determine the linguistic or arithmetic task that requires reasoning.
2. Code writing: The LM writes pseudocode or flexible code fragments to outline a solution.
3. Code emulation: For parts of the code that are not directly executable, the LM emulates the expected result, effectively simulating the execution of the code.
4. Combination of results: The LM combines the results of the execution of the real code and its emulation to form a comprehensive solution to the problem.

These steps allow LMs to address a broader range of reasoning questions by “thinking in code,” thereby improving their problem-solving capabilities.

LMulator, as part of the CoC framework, can significantly help refine both code and reasoning in a few specific ways:

• Error identification and simulation: When a language model writes code that contains errors or non-executable parts, LMulator can simulate how this code would behave if it were executed, revealing logical errors, infinite loops or edge cases, and guiding the LM. rethink and adjust the code logic.
• Handling undefined behavior: In cases where code involves undefined or ambiguous behavior that a standard interpreter cannot execute, LMulator uses the language model's understanding of context and intent to infer what the result or behavior should be. , providing a simulated and reasoned result where traditional. the execution would fail.
• Improve reasoning in code: When a combination of linguistic and computational reasoning is required, LMulator allows the language model to iterate over its own code generation, simulating the results of various approaches, effectively “reasoning” through the code , leading to more accurate and efficient results. solutions.
• Exploring edge cases: LMulator can explore and test how the code handles edge cases by simulating different inputs, which is particularly useful for ensuring that the code is robust and can handle a variety of scenarios.
• Feedback loop for learning: As LMulator simulates and identifies problems or potential improvements in the code, the language model can use this feedback to learn and refine its approach to coding and problem solving, which is a continuous learning process which improves the model's coding and reasoning capabilities over time.

LMulator improves the language model's ability to write, test, and refine code by providing a platform for simulation and iterative improvement.

The CoC technique is an advance in improving the reasoning abilities of LMs. CoC expands the scope of problems that LMs can address by integrating code writing with selective code emulation. This approach demonstrates the potential for ai to handle more complex real-world tasks that require nuanced thinking. Importantly, CoC has been shown to excel in both small and large LMs, opening a path for the growing variety of smaller models to potentially improve their reasoning capabilities and bring their effectiveness closer to that of larger models.

For a deeper understanding, see the full document here.

Matthew May (@mattmayo13) has a master's degree in computer science and a postgraduate diploma in data mining. As Editor-in-Chief of KDnuggets, Matthew aims to make complex data science concepts accessible. His professional interests include natural language processing, machine learning algorithms, and exploring emerging ai. He is driven by the mission to democratize knowledge in the data science community. Matthew has been coding since he was 6 years old.