Thanks to visit codestin.com
Credit goes to github.com

Skip to content

Uniform processing of time response and optimization parameters #1125

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
merged 5 commits into from
Feb 12, 2025

Conversation

murrayrm
Copy link
Member

@murrayrm murrayrm commented Feb 9, 2025

This PR regularizes the use of various keywords for time responses and optimization routines, while maintaining backward compatibility with existing code. The motivation for the PR is that over time we have introduced different terms to refer to parameters that have the same purpose. This can be confusing for people trying to use the package.

For example:

  • The named parameters x0 and X0 are used in different places for the initial state in simulation and optimization functions.
  • The parameter return_x is used when a function should return the state as part of a tuple, though sometime return_states is used instead.
  • Responses use the states property (not x) and setting the the state names is done via states.
  • Similar issues arise for inputs (u0, U, inputs) and outputs (y0, outputs).
  • Time points for simulation and optimization are sometimes referred to as timepts but other times as T.
  • In the optimization and flatness modules, cost functions are referred to as cost, trajectory_cost or integral cost, depending on the function, and constraints are referred to as trajectory_constraints in some places as constraints in others.
  • Other parameters have names that don't seem to fit existing python-control naming patterns: t_eval, yfinal, etc.

To address these issues, this PR introduces a common set of terms across various time response and optimal control functions, with the following more consistent usage patterns and functionality:

  • Parameters specifying the inputs, outputs, and states are referred to as inputs, outputs, and states consistently throughout the functions.
  • Variables associated with inputs, outputs, states and time use those words plus an appropriate modifier: initial_state, final_output, input_indices etc.
  • Aliases are used both to maintain backward compatibility and to allow shorthand descriptions: e.g., U, Y, X0. Short form aliases are documented in docstrings by listing the parameter as long_form (or sf) : type.
  • Existing legacy keywords are allowed and generate a PendingDeprecationWarning.
  • Specifying a parameter value in two different ways (eg, via long form and an alias) generates a TypeError.

The implementation is done in a manner that can later be utilized for other functions where we want to have aliases and legacy keys, as documented in the Developer Notes section of the Reference Manual:

[P]arameter names are generally longer strings that describe the purpose fo the paramater. Similar to matplotlib (e.g., the use of lw as an alias for linewidth), some commonly used parameter names can be specified using an “alias” that allows the use of a shorter key.

Named parameter and keyword variable aliases are processed using the config._process_kwargs() and config._process_param() functions. These functions allow the specification of a list of aliases and a list of legacy keys for a given named parameter or keyword. To make use of these functions, the _process_kwargs() is first called to update the kwargs variable by replacing aliases with the full key:

_process_kwargs(kwargs, aliases)

The values for named parameters can then be assigned to a local variable using a call to process_param() of the form:

var = _process_kwargs('param', param, kwargs, aliases)

where param is the named parameter used in the function signature and var is the local variable in the function (may also be param, but doesn’t have to be).

...

The alias mapping is a dictionary that returns a tuple consisting of valid aliases and legacy aliases:

alias_mapping = {
    'argument_name_1', (['alias', ...], ['legacy', ...]),
     ...}

If an alias is present in the dictionary of keywords, it will be used to set the value of the argument. If a legacy keyword is used, a warning is issued.

Two primary tables have been created in this PR. The first is a
dictionary of aliases and legacy names for time response commands (from timeresp.py):

_timeresp_aliases = {
    # param:            ([alias, ...], [legacy, ...])
    'timepts':          (['T'],        []),
    'inputs':           (['U'],        ['u']),
    'outputs':          (['Y'],        ['y']),
    'initial_state':    (['X0'],       ['x0']),
    'final_output':     (['yfinal'],   []),
    'return_states':    (['return_x'], []),
    'evaluation_times': (['t_eval'],   []),
    'timepts_num':      (['T_num'],    []),
    'input_indices':    (['input'],    []),
    'output_indices':   (['output'],   []),
}

The second is a dictionary of aliases for optimal control functions (from optimal.py):

_optimal_aliases = {
    # param:                  ([alias, ...],                [legacy, ...])
    'integral_cost':          (['trajectory_cost', 'cost'], []),
    'initial_state':          (['x0', 'X0'],                []),
    'initial_input':          (['u0', 'U0'],                []),
    'final_state':            (['xf'],                      []),
    'final_input':            (['uf'],                      []),
    'initial_time':           (['T0'],                      []),
    'trajectory_constraints': (['constraints'],             []),
    'return_states':          (['return_x'],                []),
}

@coveralls
Copy link

Coverage Status

coverage: 94.715% (-0.04%) from 94.751%
when pulling fc9fadb on murrayrm:keyword_aliases-07Feb2025
into cf77f99 on python-control:main.

@slivingston slivingston self-requested a review February 10, 2025 03:10
Copy link
Member

@slivingston slivingston left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Good work! There are still several places where _process_legacy_keyword() is called (statefbk.py, pzmap.py, ...), but we can change those later.

I marked several small items to correct.

doc/develop.rst Outdated
-----------------

As described above, parameter names are generally longer strings that
describe the purpose fo the paramater. Similar to `matplotlib` (e.g.,
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
describe the purpose fo the paramater. Similar to `matplotlib` (e.g.,
describe the purpose for the parameter. Similar to `matplotlib` (e.g.,

doc/develop.rst Outdated

var = _process_kwargs('param', param, kwargs, aliases)

where 'param` is the named parameter used in the function signature
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
where 'param` is the named parameter used in the function signature
where `param` is the named parameter used in the function signature

param = _process_param('param', defval, kwargs, function_aliases)

If `param` is a variable keyword argument (in `kwargs`), `defval` can
be pssed as either None or the default value to use if `param` is not
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
be pssed as either None or the default value to use if `param` is not
be passed as either None or the default value to use if `param` is not

defval : object or dict
Default value for the parameter.
kwargs : dict
Dictionary of varaible keyword arguments.
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
Dictionary of varaible keyword arguments.
Dictionary of variable keyword arguments.

Raises
------
TypeError
If multiple keyword aliased are used for the same parameter.
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
If multiple keyword aliased are used for the same parameter.
If multiple keyword aliases are used for the same parameter.

@@ -1016,10 +1018,25 @@ def __init__(
self.states = response.states


# Parameter and keyword aliases
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

This dictionary is better placed near the top of the file, next to other module-level variables like _optimal_defaults. The motivation for this practice is clarity: the variable has module-level scope, so it is in-scope for functions defined before it, too. In my experience, it is easier to have all of these variables in the same part of file, just after imports.

@@ -738,6 +739,20 @@ def plot(self, *args, **kwargs):
lines[row, col] += cplt.lines[row, col]
return ControlPlot(lines, cplt.axes, cplt.figure)

# Dictionary of aliases for time response commands
_timeresp_aliases = {
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Same comment here as for _optimal_aliases: I recommend to move the definition of _timeresp_aliases to the top of the file, just after __all__.


# Aliases
resp_short = ct.input_output_response(sys, timepts, 1, X0=[1, 1])
np.testing.assert_allclose(resp_long.states, resp_posn.states)
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
np.testing.assert_allclose(resp_long.states, resp_posn.states)
np.testing.assert_allclose(resp_short.states, resp_posn.states)

docstring):
# Found the string, but not in numpydoc form
_warn(f"{funcname}: {argname} docstring missing space")

elif not (match := re.search(
"\n" + r"((\w+|\.{3}), )*" + argname + r"(, (\w+|\.{3}))* :",
"\n" + r"((\w+|\.{3}), )*" + argname_ + r"(, (\w+|\.{3}))* :",
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

There is a search for duplicates below on line 658. Should argname there also be changed to argname_ ?

# Legacy
with pytest.warns(PendingDeprecationWarning, match="legacy"):
resp_legacy = ct.input_output_response(sys, timepts, 1, x0=[1, 1])
np.testing.assert_allclose(resp_long.states, resp_posn.states)
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
np.testing.assert_allclose(resp_long.states, resp_posn.states)
np.testing.assert_allclose(resp_legacy.states, resp_posn.states)

@murrayrm murrayrm merged commit a042895 into python-control:main Feb 12, 2025
14 checks passed
@murrayrm murrayrm added this to the 0.10.2 milestone Feb 19, 2025
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment
Labels
None yet
Projects
None yet
Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

3 participants