pymc-devs / pymc-devs/pytensor

Reduce status of C backend to "just another backend"

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#2,006 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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C-backend maintenance major request discussion
Dominant language
Python
Stars
644
Forks
208
Avg merge
2d 14h
Merged PRs (30d)
16

Description

Description

This is a proposal, discussion strongly requested.

The C backend is the original backend from the Theano days, and pre-dates the notion of a backend. As a result, there are lots of C concepts interwoven in the code. A simple example is a COp, an Op that has a C implementation. These are sprinkled through the code base in tensor.

My proposal is to put C on the same level as numba/jax/etc. This would entail:

  • Depreciating the COp entirely
  • Removing any loose references to C code or C implementation in other places (elementwise vectorization for example, though Ricardo is already fixing this)
  • Replace COps with C_funcify dispatches that live in the linker/c folder
  • Move C-specific blas code to relevant linker/c files

This would do a few things. First, clean up our core library code, and keep it as slim and "easy to read" as possible. All of the codegen and C code strings can be hidden away in there. It will also make it more obvious what is and is not covered by the C backend, in case someone ever comes along and wants to try to work on it.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by mapping the COp references in the tensor code and the C-specific code in linker/c; no single test or entry point is identified. This proposal needs maintainer agreement on scope before work starts, with completion covering COp deprecation, removal of loose C references, C_funcify dispatches in linker/c, and relocation of C-specific BLAS code.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c, python
Domain
backend
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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