psblas3/base/newserial/README

Design principles for this directory.

1. What is a sparse matrix? 
   It is an object which does have some properties (number of rows,
   number of columns, whether it is a triangle, and in that case
   upper/lower, unit/nonunit), a state (null, build, assembled,
   update), a type (real/complex, single/double), and a storage
   format.  
   Thus we have a three-level inheritance chain: 
   i.   The  base object, defining the methods to set/query the various
        properties, and allocate and a free. Some of the property
        getters/setters, allocate and free depend on the storage
        format, so at this level they will just throw an error. 
   ii.  The X_base_object, where X=s,d,c,z  thus defining the
        type. At this level we define the computational interfaces to
	MV and SV, since they require the type of the vectors/scalars
   	involved (should also add NRMI here!!!!), but again they will
   	be empty shells. We also define the interface to CSINS,
   	required to build the object, and TO_COO,FROM_COO (see
   	below). 
   iii. The X_YYY_object where the real implementation of the
      	MV/SV/NRMI/CSINS/ALLOCATE/FREE/TO_COO/FROM_COO takes place.  

2. What is a sparse matrix (take 2)? 
   The above structure by itself does not allow a sparse matrix to
   switch among different storage formats during its life. To do this,
   we define all of the above to be INNER objects, encapsulated in an
   OUTER object which is what the rest of the library sees, as
   follows: 
     
  type :: psbn_d_sparse_mat

    class(psbn_d_base_sparse_mat), allocatable  :: a 
    
  end type psbn_d_sparse_mat
  type(psbn_d_sparse_mat) :: a

  In this way we can have an outer object whose type is stable
  both statically (at compile time) and at runtime, while at runtime
  the type of the inner object switches from COO to CSR to whatever as
  needed. All of the methods are simply thrown onto the corresponding
  methods of the (allocatable, polymorphic) component A%A as needed
  (provided the component is allocated, that is).
  This is what is called a STATE design pattern (different from the
  internal state we discussed above).

  As an example, consider the allocate/build/assembly cycle: 
  the outer code would do the following: 
  1.  Allocate(psbn_d_coo_sparse_mat ::  a%a) 

  2. During the build loop a call to A%CSINS() gets translated into
     CALL A%A%CSINS()
    
  3. At assembly time the code would do the following
     subroutine psb_spasb(a,....)
     type(psbn_d_sparse_mat), intent(inout)  :: a

     class(psbn_d_base_sparse_mat), allocatable :: temp

     select case (TYPE)
     case('CSR')
        allocate(psbn_d_csr_sparse_mat :: temp, stat=info)
     end select				 
     call temp%from_coo(a%a)
     call a%a%free()
     call move_alloc(temp,a%a)
      

  4. Note in the above that to_coo, from_coo are defined so that every
     conceivable  storage representation provides just 2 conversion
     routines, avoiding quadratic explosion. But since all have to
     provide them, the to_coo/from_coo is defined in d_base_mat_mod
     together with d_coo_sparse_mat, which enjoys the "eldest child"
     status with respect to all the other types derived from
     d_base_sparse_mat (its "siblings"). 

  5. How does a user add a new storage format? Very simple. After
     deriving the class and implementing all the necessary methods,
     the user declares in the program a dummy variable of the new
     inner type 

     type(X_YYY_sparse_mat) :: reftype


     then calls 
       call psb_spasb(a,....,mold=reftype)

     In psb_spasb we have
     class(psbn_d_base_sparse_mat), intent(in), optional :: mold

     if (present(mold)) then 
        allocate(temp,source=mold,stat=info)
     end select				 
     call temp%from_coo(a%a)
     call a%a%free()
     call move_alloc(temp,a%a)
  
     AND IT'S DONE! Nothing else in the library requires the explicit
     knowledge of type of  MOLD. 

     User exercise: start by adding CSR in this way. 
     (waiting for a couple of bug fixes from NAG to actually test this.)