[Users] Piraha in the Flesh

[Steven R. Brandt]

On 02/22/2013 07:11 AM, Ian Hinder wrote:
> On 21 Feb 2013, at 00:57, Steven R. Brandt <sbrandt at cct.lsu.edu> wrote:
>
>> On 02/06/2013 06:37 PM, Steven R. Brandt wrote:
>> I haven't heard a lot of feedback about this feature yet, but I thought
>> I'd mention a recent improvement.
>>
>> Piraha allows array notation in parameter files so that instead of
>> writing this:
>>
>>      CarpetRegrid2::radius_1[1]  =  10
>>      CarpetRegrid2::radius_1[2]  =   5
>>
>> you can write this:
>>      CarpetRegrid2::radius_1 = [10,5]
>>
>> The nice thing about having a parser is that the various features
>> combine, so you can also write this:
>>      CarpetRegrid2::radius_1 = [
>>          2+2*4 # This should be 10
>>          ,5]
> I support the use of Piraha in the flesh for its parsing.  It should be used for parsing the CCL files during the CST, and parsing the parameter file at runtime.  I see that Piraha is written in C++, so we would have to relax the restriction that the flesh can only contain C code.  I have not yet looked at the code.
>
> One important aspect is error messages.  How well does Piraha currently report input errors to the user?  Are they easy to understand?  I have found piraha error messages to be a little confusing in the past :)
I think my error messages are pretty good. There are probably going to 
be some confusing cases. Here are some examples. Please view with fixed 
width font to see where the ^ points.

Activating thorn Cactus...Success -> active implementation Cactus
ERROR IN PARAMETER FILE: In rule 'file::set::par' Line=58
Carpet:domain_from_coordbase = "yes"
        ^
Expected character: :

ERROR IN PARAMETER FILE: In rule 'file::set::aexpr::mexpr::value::var' 
Line=59
Carpet::ghost_size_x = 1+1+*1
                            ^
Expected character:  \t\r\n#(\-+0-9."@a-zA-Z_$

This next one is a bit tricky...

Activating thorn Cactus...Success -> active implementation Cactus
ERROR IN PARAMETER FILE: In rule 'file::set::par' Line=59
Carpet::init_fill_timelevels = "yes"

Here's the par file code, as you can see a quote is missing. Because we 
have multiline quotes, the actual error doesn't show up until the next 
line. There's not too much I can do about that.

  58 Carpet::domain_from_coordbase = "yes
  59 Carpet::init_fill_timelevels = "yes"
  60 Carpet::ghost_size_x = 1+1+*1

>>> I've hacked a version of Cactus to use Piraha for parameter parsing.
>>> Please take a look:
>>>
>>> https://svn.cactuscode.org/flesh/branches/with_piraha
>>>
>>> This version is able to run the ET testsuite.
>>>
>>> This version can understand the variables $parfile, $ENV{name}, and
>>> $pi (which is 3.14...). Variables can be standalone, or be substituted
>>> from inside strings.
>>>
>>> It can understand mathematical expressions including grouping, order
>>> of operation, and a few functions (sin, cos, tan, exp, sqrt). Other
>>> parameters from the parameter file are available for use in
>>> mathematical expressions.
>>>
>>> Some debug printing is in place so you can get an idea of what's going
>>> on.