Restructuring of code elements

[tfrederiksen]

I propose to reorganize the code into a structure like this

• docs
• Inelastica/scripts
• Inelastica/IO
• Inelastica/core
• Inelastica/utils
• Inelastica/F90
• examples
• tests

[brandimarte]

Maybe move 'tests' inside of 'Inelastica'?

[zerothi]

From my perspective I think having uppercase sub-modules is unnecessary (and error prone).

All is good except IO -> io, but your call in the end. Also, change F90 -> fortran or something less fixated on f90.

[tfrederiksen]

Would you also suggest to go lower-case elsewhere (package name itself, filenames, classes etc)?

[tfrederiksen]

Yes, we can have tests inside the main package directory too

[zerothi]

As for the package name I am not too sure. I think it is a matter of taste. You decide, for Python standard library they use all-lower-case module/submodule etc. https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/#id40

• Filenames, definitely lower-case, because people do from Inelastica. import Class ;) It creates an easy separation between sub-modules and classes.
• Classes, definitely not ;) keep CamelCase or whichever you prefer. SiestaIO is fine for instance.

[tfrederiksen]

OK, then we stick with Inelastica (uppercase) for the project name, the main package directory, and the script itself. And inelastica (lowercase) for the repository. At least for now.

[zerothi]

With respect to the latest changes! PS. Great job on moving this so quickly.

In Inelastica/__init__.py all sub-packages are from .NEGF import * which may not be exactly what you anticipate it to do? It basically means that all functions enters the Inelastica.* namespace. This may, or may not be your intention.

I.e. a script:

import Inelastica as I

I.GF, I.myHash # function in NEGF.py
I.* # where basically * means *any* function not prefixed with `_`

are all global to the user. Any function defined throughout inelastica without the prefix _ is added to the inelastica name-space.

Just FYI.

[tfrederiksen]

Thanks for your input. No, I guess this is not really what we intend to do... ;)

Which approach would you recommend to fix this? To go through the different modules and add prefixes _ to functions not needed for the user?

[zerothi]

As a starter I would probably not do anything. It is more when going forward it may be nice to think about this. For instance consider whether STM-related, Phonon-related, e-ph-related things should be in separate modules or not? But don't spend too much time on it.

However, there are several ways of going about this.

1. If you have a bunch of related methods that shouldn't be exposed to the user, put them in a sub-module named _* (this is what I do in sisl, see e.g. sisl._array).
2. Define __all__ in your files. When doing * imports only the methods/variables mentioned in __all__ will be exposed, by default __all__ are all named variables that does not contain the prefix _.
3. As you say, if you have a local routine, simply name it _* instead.

All are viable and easy to use solutions. I use a mix of all methods depending on each methods exposure. E.g. if the method is only used in a single module, then it is best to put it there with _* name.

[tfrederiksen]

Great, thanks for the advice. I will try to take this into account when going forward.