Tabular data, structured as rows and columns, is among the most prevalent data types in machine learning classification and regression applications. Models for learning from tabular data have continuously evolved, with Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) recently demonstrating promising results through their capability of representation learning. In this survey, we systematically introduce the field of tabular representation learning, covering the background, challenges, and benchmarks, along with the pros and cons of using DNNs. We organize existing methods into three main categories according to their generalization capabilities: specialized, transferable, and general models. Specialized models focus on tasks where training and evaluation occur within the same data distribution. We introduce a hierarchical taxonomy for specialized models based on the key aspects of tabular data-features, samples, and objectives-and delve into detailed strategies for obtaining high-quality feature- and sample-level representations. Transferable models are pre-trained on one or more datasets and subsequently fine-tuned on downstream tasks, leveraging knowledge acquired from homogeneous or heterogeneous sources, or even cross-modalities such as vision and language. General models, also known as tabular foundation models, extend this concept further, allowing direct application to downstream tasks without additional fine-tuning. We group these general models based on the strategies used to adapt across heterogeneous datasets. Additionally, we explore ensemble methods, which integrate the strengths of multiple tabular models. Finally, we discuss representative extensions of tabular learning, including open-environment tabular machine learning, multimodal learning with tabular data, and tabular understanding tasks.

Tabular data is a prevalent source in machine learning. While classical methods have proven effective, deep learning methods for tabular data are emerging as flexible alternatives due to their capacity to uncover hidden patterns and capture complex interactions. Considering that deep tabular methods exhibit diverse design philosophies, including the ways they handle features, design learning objectives, and construct model architectures, we introduce Talent (Tabular Analytics and Learning Toolbox), a versatile toolbox for utilizing, analyzing, and comparing these methods. Talent includes over 35 deep tabular prediction methods, offering various encoding and normalization modules, all within a unified, easily extensible interface. We demonstrate its design, application, and performance evaluation in case studies. The code is available at https://github.com/LAMDA-Tabular/TALENT.