JuliaDiff / JuliaDiff/ReverseDiff.jl
Support scalar inputs to differentiation API functions
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- Dominant language
- Julia
- Stars
- 393
- Forks
- 60
- Avg merge
- 18h 24m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 8
Description
I did not include a scalar derivative function in the ReverseDiff API on purpose, since ForwardDiff is a much better tool for such a method. However, we do allow users to pass in tuples of arguments to API methods. In this case, we should allow elements of the tuples to be scalars. For example, see here; it's unintuitive (and poor style for the objective code) that b should need to be an array and not a scalar.
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First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Begin at ReverseDiff's tuple-argument API methods and compare how scalar and array elements are dispatched. Reproduce the linked example, then verify that tuple inputs accept a scalar element while existing array-based differentiation behavior remains unchanged.
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Assessment
- Tech stack
- julia
- Domain
- backend-api-design
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 32/100