`VaraintArrayHandle` has been replaced by `UnknownArrayHandle` and
`UncertainArrayHandle`. Officially make it deprecated and point users to
the new implementations.
We have made several improvements to adding data into an `ArrayHandle`.
## Moving data from an `std::vector`
For numerous reasons, it is convenient to define data in a `std::vector`
and then wrap that into an `ArrayHandle`. It is often the case that an
`std::vector` is filled and then becomes unused once it is converted to an
`ArrayHandle`. In this case, what we really want is to pass the data off to
the `ArrayHandle` so that the `ArrayHandle` is now managing the data and
not the `std::vector`.
C++11 has a mechanism to do this: move semantics. You can now pass
variables to functions as an "rvalue" (right-hand value). When something is
passed as an rvalue, it can pull state out of that variable and move it
somewhere else. `std::vector` implements this movement so that an rvalue
can be moved to another `std::vector` without actually copying the data.
`make_ArrayHandle` now also takes advantage of this feature to move rvalue
`std::vector`s.
There is a special form of `make_ArrayHandle` named `make_ArrayHandleMove`
that takes an rvalue. There is also a special overload of
`make_ArrayHandle` itself that handles an rvalue `vector`. (However, using
the explicit move version is better if you want to make sure the data is
actually moved.)
## Make `ArrayHandle` from initalizer list
A common use case for using `std::vector` (particularly in our unit tests)
is to quickly add an initalizer list into an `ArrayHandle`. Now you can
by simply passing an initializer list to `make_ArrayHandle`.
## Deprecated `make_ArrayHandle` with default shallow copy
For historical reasons, passing an `std::vector` or a pointer to
`make_ArrayHandle` does a shallow copy (i.e. `CopyFlag` defaults to `Off`).
Although more efficient, this mode is inherintly unsafe, and making it the
default is asking for trouble.
To combat this, calling `make_ArrayHandle` without a copy flag is
deprecated. In this way, if you wish to do the faster but more unsafe
creation of an `ArrayHandle` you should explicitly express that.
This requried quite a few changes through the VTK-m source (particularly in
the tests).
## Similar changes to `Field`
`vtkm::cont::Field` has a `make_Field` helper function that is similar to
`make_ArrayHandle`. It also features the ability to create fields from
`std::vector`s and C arrays. It also likewise had the same unsafe behavior
by default of not copying from the source of the arrays.
That behavior has similarly been depreciated. You now have to specify a
copy flag.
The ability to construct a `Field` from an initializer list of values has
also been added.
A new header named TypeList.h and the type lists have been redefined in
this new file. All the types have been renamed from `TypeListTag*` to
`TypeList*`. TypeListTag.h has been gutted to provide deprecated
versions of the old type list names.
There were also some other type lists that were changed from using the
old `ListTagBase` to the new `List`.
Now that UInt8 has become part of the list of default types compiled,
there have been numerous warnings that have popped up about converting
ints to unsigned char. The reason for these is when you do arithmetic
(+, -, *, or /) on a char or short, it is automatically upconverted to a
32-bit integer. When you then try to set that back to a smaller integer,
you get a conversion warning.
This change gets around this problem by explicitly telling the compiler
we expect this type with static_cast. We have also talked about
disabling conversion warnings, but this has not happened on all
dashboards, and it is not that hard to work around the warning.
VTK-m has been updated to replace old per device worklet testing executables with a device
dependent shared library so that it's able to accept a device adapter
at runtime.
Meanwhile, it updates the testing infrastructure APIs. vtkm::cont::testing::Run
function would call ForceDevice when needed and if users need the device
adapter info at runtime, RunOnDevice function would pass the adapter into the functor.
Optional Parser is bumped from 1.3 to 1.7.
Sandia National Laboratories recently changed management from the
Sandia Corporation to the National Technology & Engineering Solutions
of Sandia, LLC (NTESS). The copyright statements need to be updated
accordingly.
Change the VTKM_CONT_EXPORT to VTKM_CONT. (Likewise for EXEC and
EXEC_CONT.) Remove the inline from these macros so that they can be
applied to everything, including implementations in a library.
Because inline is not declared in these modifies, you have to add the
keyword to functions and methods where the implementation is not inlined
in the class.
Previously each device adapter only had a unique string name. This was
not the best when it came to developing data structures to track the status
of a given device at runtime.
This adds in a unique numeric identifier to each device adapter. This will
allow classes to easily create bitmasks / lookup tables for the validity of
devices.
The RuntimeDeviceInformation class allows developers to check if a given
device is supported on a machine at runtime. This allows developers to properly
check for CUDA support before running any worklets.
The WholeArrayIn, WholeArrayInOut, and WholeArrayOut ControlSignature
tags behave similarly to using an ExecObject tag with an
ExecutionWholeArray or ExecutionWholeArrayConst object. However, the
WholeArray* tags can simplify some implementations in two ways. First,
it allows you to specify more precisely what data is passed in. You have
to pass in an ArrayHandle or else an error will occur (as opposed to be
able to pass in any type of execution object). Second, this allows you
to easily pass in arrays stored in DynamicArrayHandle objects. The
Invoke mechanism will automatically find the appropriate static class.
This cannot be done easily with ExecutionWholeArray.
