[Os-project-managers] Bonmin etc. options passed through Couenne

[Jun Ma]

The reasons for "category"1. It's not just for solver, i.e. it can be used to categorize other aspects.2. It' a grouping mechanism. Having it separate provides structured info.3. Bh mixing it into the name, we lose the structure, thus the info. (xxx.yyy could mean anything)4. Category in a sense is just like "package" or "namespace" in any language that is used to make sure the name is unique.5. If xxx.yyy is a tight name, i.e. xxx and yyy are treated as a whole, then you always can choose not to add a category, say zzz. The name will just be xxx.yyy, NOT zzz.xxx.yyy
Jun
> Hi guys,
> 
> In our options paper we say "Another use of the {\tt  category}  
> attribute is to allow a solver to pass options on to external pieces  
> of software that are used by the solver. For instance, Couenne..."
> 
> In the OSCouenneSolver we then go through contortions to build the  
> option name out of the "name" and "category" attributes and pass it to  
> the option loader in Couenne as e.g., "bonmin.warmstart". Wouldn't it  
> be a lot easier and clearer(!) so simply put "bonmin.warmstart" as the  
> *name* of the option right away? After all, this is the name you would  
> use when calling Couenne in stand-alone fashion, and this is what the  
> Couenne user's manual says you should do. It would also simplify our  
> code considerably, and it would avoid the contortion of treating  
> category "ipopt" special, since the loader does not prepend the  
> 'ipopt' to the option name. That is
> 
> name="print_level" value="6" category="ipopt"
> 
> must be sent to the option loader *without* the 'ipopt.' prepended. I  
> say, using the "category" attribute in the way we are advocating in  
> the paper is confusing and can do more harm than good. My preference  
> would be to simply take that paragraph out of the paper.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> gus
> 
> Cheers
> 
> gus
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Horand I. Gassmann, Professor
> 
> School of Business Administration, Dalhousie University
> 6100 University Avenue, PO Box 15000
> Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2
> ph. (902) 494-1844
> fax (902) 494-1107
> 
> http://myweb.dal.ca/gassmann/
> 
 		 	   		  
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