[eigen] Re: introducing the Eigen2 support stages

[Benoit Jacob <jacob.benoit.1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Another update:

The biggest remaining chunk was the Geometry module, as it is replete
with hard API incompatibilities. I've solved this by importing a copy
of Eigen2's Geometry module. So the RESOLVE_API_CONFLICTS stage
becomes really, really useful here.

By tomorrow, stuff should be mostly finished, except for the Sparse module.

Benoit

2011/1/23 Benoit Jacob <jacob.benoit.1@xxxxxxxxx>:
> A little update:
>
> the stage 2, RESOLVE_API_CONFLICTS, is now producing errors instead of
> warnings, to help make sure that these very important issues are
> caught.
>
> a new stage "1.5" has been introduced, doing what stage 2 used to do
> (produce warnings). it's called RESOLVE_API_CONFLICTS_WARN.
>
> So i've multiplied all the constants by 10 to make room. The stages
> currently are:
>
> EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE10_FULL_EIGEN2_API
> EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE15_RESOLVE_API_CONFLICTS_WARN
> EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE20_RESOLVE_API_CONFLICTS
> EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE30_FULL_EIGEN3_API
> EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE40_FULL_EIGEN3_STRICTNESS
>
> On the implementation front, almost all the core functionality is
> passing, but the 'triangular' test, covering things such as part(),
> took me longer than anticipated. I still hope that by tomorrow I
> should be almost done.
>
> Benoit
>
> 2011/1/21 Benoit Jacob <jacob.benoit.1@xxxxxxxxx>:
>> Hi,
>>
>> As you may know, we are in the process of making the transition from
>> eigen2 to 3 as easy as possible by making the EIGEN2_SUPPORT mode
>> fully Eigen2 API compatible.
>>
>> However, as was discussed, there are a few corner cases where this is
>> impossible, because eigen2 and 3 use different conventions for the
>> same API.
>>
>> So it's been suggested to split EIGEN2_SUPPORT into multiple 'stages',
>> and I have just dmplemented that.
>>
>> First of all, if you are currently doing #define EIGEN2_SUPPORT, don't
>> worry: it stays supported, nothing changes. It just becomes a shortcut
>> for what I'll call below "stage 3"
>>
>> So here are the different stages:
>>
>> 1)  #define EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE1_FULL_EIGEN2_API
>>
>> When you #define this before including Eigen3 headers, you get 100%
>> support of the Eigen2 API (once ongoing work is completed), so that
>> Eigen2-using code compiles unchanged.
>>
>> That means that when a convention is different between eigen2 and
>> eigen3, the eigen2 convention is used. For example, for complex
>> vectors x and y,  x.dot(y)  conjugates y (dot product linear in the
>> first variable x).
>>
>> For such cases where the eigen2 and eigen3 APIs conflict, we introduce
>> eigen2_ prefixed functions, so you can replace
>>  x.dot(y)
>> by
>>  x.eigen2_dot(y)
>>
>> 2)  #define EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE2_RESOLVE_API_CONFLICTS
>>
>> This is identical to stage 1 except that the eigen2 API that conflicts
>> with eigen3 is now deprecated. So when you do
>>  x.dot(y)
>> you get a 'deprecated' warning even though that would also compile in
>> pure eigen3 (but with a different meaning). At this stage, you should
>> go over these warnings and fix them by using eigen2_ prefixed
>> functions:
>>  x.eigen2_dot(y)
>>
>> 3) #define EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE3_FULL_EIGEN3_API
>>
>> This is what you get when you just #define EIGEN_SUPPORT.
>> This stage switches to eigen3 conventions everywhere. So now x.dot(y)
>> is linear in the first variable. You may still use eigen2_ prefixed
>> functions, and of course the rest of the Eigen2 API is still available
>> unchanged.
>>
>> Also, where Eigen2 allows to do const-incorrect things (such as
>> mapping const data as non-const Map), this stage still allows it.
>>
>> 4) #define EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE4_FULL_EIGEN3_STRICTNESS
>>
>> This stage enables eigen3 strictness where eigen2 was laxist. In
>> particular, it enforces const-correctness of Map.
>>
>> Notice that making the EIGEN2_SUPPORT_STAGE1_FULL_EIGEN2_API mode 100%
>> API compatible is work in progress. I am still in the process of
>> making the eigen2 test suite succeed. I'd say it should be completed
>> during this weekend.
>>
>> Of course, I expect most small projects to just us EIGEN2_SUPPORT
>> (which, again, is giving you stage 3) and not worry about this at all.
>>
>> Of course, this needs to be explained in the online 'porting from
>> eigen 2 to eigen3' dox page.
>>
>> Benoit
>>
>