The path towards stability

1. The path towards stability • we are at the beginning of an exciting period with MAGIC: the expected physics on known sources is showing up, indications are that MAGIC performance will be as good as or better than hoped, our capabilities at lower energies are still untapped, - once all instabilities have been removed, calibrations under control, there are many possibilities…. • we all know that the secret to solid physics, and towards the lower energy, is to have a high duty cycle and data that are recorded under strictly unchanged conditions: stability • hardware is naturally kept stable, once it works. A key role in stability will also be held by the analysis software: so far we have frantically struggled to find possible procedures and associated algorithms. This will not stop so soon, as experience will improve, and hardware changes occur. R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

2. Presently • … we have very successfully struggled to get acceptable software, but collecting it intelligently for the future has been neglected: • Statistics of early April on macro status in CVS: • 75 = total # of macros • of these • 49 without a useful comment • 35 without any short comment • 13 without even author name and date • no quality statistics for classes; will it look any better? • worse: many of the macros used for the successful analyses are not even even committed to the CVS! ( Maxim, David) • another bad sign: I offered help in improving this, and contacted ten people (nearly all of them presenting something here in Udine); only two bothered to answer…. R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

3. Future • what do we want in the long range? • it is fantastic that the arrival of the first data has made so many interested people to come out and contribute to understanding our data and the instrument • some people in MAGIC have worried since a long time to bring a standard framework and stability to our MAGIC software (and don’t forget you are building on their work): • Martin (SW coordinator) • Thomas B. (responsible for CVS, and author of many key algorithms) • Wolfgang, Rudy, and, of course, several of you who have helped shaping the rules • there is some discussion about the way we use CVS and Mars, even about the use of the tools we have: e.g. Berlin homepage (http://magic.physik.hu-berlin.de/www/) or David’s comments R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

4. From the Berlin homepage • MACROSoft • This is a very first version of MACROs collection library for MARS. One can download a MACRO, find some description, source code, and in future example of results, which was obtained using that MACRO. All MACROs are sorted according to it's purpose. Everybody is invited to upload their own macros! • MACRO's Menu: • Available macros • Upload macro • Download macro library R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

5. David Paneque, 20 April 2004: Policy to commit software to CVS should be discussed Quite some people are working with software not committed to the CVS. WHY ? My experience: I was not allowed to commit into CVS classes to apply SUPERCUTS using ON-OFF data because Names were not appropriate 2) Not fully object oriented programmed; there is code which is partly existing already in CVS 3) Software committed to CVS should be such that future updates (ECO 1000) are possible R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

6. Policy to commit software to CVS should be discussed In my opinion, there are more important criteria that should be considered when committing things to the CVS Code MUST compile New code (changes in the code) MUST NOT AFFECT functionality of other classes Before changing code, CONTACT author of code and authors of classes using such code to discuss impact of modifications 3) New code MUST produce RELIABLE (up to some extent) results. Usually people use it without knowing how it works. It is worth to spend some time “playing” with the code before committing. 4) New code should be easy to read and be used, even for not C++ experts…. R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

7. Future • now is the time to fix or correct our course; maybe we should end this workshop with a clear agreement • programs and know-how around them are not private property (nor do they belong to an institute) – we will only succeed by close collaboration • my personal opinion is that CVS and Mars as starting tools offer all we can foresee to need, but we have to make the access easier and the rules smoother, maybe spread the responsibility and delegate the more delicate decisions to a small group of people R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

8. Pragmatic next steps • make available (‘commit’ in CVS speak) work to the repository, with at least a minimum of comments and test macros – but committing must be made easier • make a list of the macros and classes that you think are part of the beginnings of ‘standard analysis’ - include alternatives! • help splitting objects into ‘active’ and ‘archive’: make a list of macros and classes which are considered or known to be out of date, manifestly wrong, or useless – quite generally, more structure in CVS is needed (e.g. analysis chains) • we need an analysis guide to find the way through chaos • continuous updating help is needed, also in the future • your intellectual property will be preserved better if we have a high-level repository than if you sit on your code R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004

9. Suggestion for this workshop • Can the SW coordinator organize a meeting with 5-10 people here in Udine, to sketch out a reasonable agreement and a workplan? R.K.Bock,Udine, April 2004