Use "approximate" instead of "experimental" for Pathfinder and ADVI descriptions
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Description
Summary:
Both Pathfinder and ADVI algorithms are approximate algorithms. Craft console messages accordingly and revise the documentation to explain what this means.
Description:
The ADVI implementation lives in a folder called "experimental" which reflects what was known about the algorithm at the point that it was added to Stan. ADVI is no longer "experimental" in that it has been field-tested for the past 5 years.
Pathfinder has only been tested against PosteriorDB so far; it will be added to the next Stan release.
Current Output:
ADVI spits out a block warning on the console, which quickly scrolls away. Revise.
Current Version:
v2.32.2
Contributor guide
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
Start by locating the Pathfinder and ADVI implementations, their console messages, and the related documentation. Check how each currently describes the algorithms and revise the wording so both are described as approximate, with the documentation explaining what that means; done means the messages and documentation no longer call them experimental.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- cli, documentation
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 38/100