Aliases and defaults

[o-smirnov]

Looking at this chunk of my recipe:

  inputs:
    scan:
      dtype: str
    scan_list:
      dtype: List[str]
    sol_type:
      dtype: str
      choices: [kk, kkde, kkde2]

  defaults:
    scan_list: ${vars.all_scans}
    sol_type: kkde
    sol_k_int: 1

...I find myself slightly offended by the repetition. And yes, I remember that making a separate defaults section was my suggestion. And I still think this is a good idea to have all the defaults in one place when many inputs are involved.

However, in the spirit of democracy and pluralistic ways of skinning felines, it occurs to me that we could have our cake and eat it. Reinstate an optional default keyword in the Parameter schema, and keep the defaults section at parent level. The outer defaults then override the internal defaults if provided. What do you think @SpheMakh?

[SpheMakh]

I was about to suggest the same thing!

[o-smirnov]

Good, I shall make it so then!

[o-smirnov]

I should probably do the same for aliases. Where my recipe now says

  inputs:
    ...

  aliases:
    sol_k_tint: [selfcal.k_time_int, selfcal_res.k_time_int]
    sol_k_fint: [selfcal.k_freq_int, selfcal_res.k_freq_int]

  defaults:
    sol_k_tint: 1
    sol_k_fint: 1024

it could say

  inputs:
    ...
    sol_k_tint: 
      aliases: [selfcal.k_time_int, selfcal_res.k_time_int]
      default: 1
    sol_k_fint: 
      aliases: [selfcal.k_freq_int, selfcal_res.k_freq_int]
      default: 1024

[o-smirnov]

No wait @SpheMakh, there already is an alias field in the Parameter, which is used when the command-line option to the underlying binary differs from the parameter name (i.e. channels-out is an alias for nchan in wsclean).

I think to avoid confusion we need different terminology for the two concepts. Since recipe-level aliases are exposed to the user, while this latter kind of alias is a more low-level technical detail, I vote to rename the latter to something like option_name.

[SpheMakh]

I suggest (in order of preference) handle, nom_de_guerre

[o-smirnov]

Oh yes, I totally second nom_de_guerre, it captures the concept perfectly. ("Handle" is a bit too generic...)

[o-smirnov]

OK, done.