Improving simulations.py input options

[nariman87]

Context for changes

• New features:
  • The I/O of frontend simulations.py has been improved. The input has been simplified to an intuitive set of code, code_args, noise, and noise_args. As long as those combinations are valid FlamingPy will run error corrections and automatically set up the output file based on inputs.
    An example run will be

    python flamingpy/simulations.py -code "SurfaceCode" -code_args "{'distance':3, 'ec':'primal', 'boundaries':'open'}" -noise "CVLayer" -noise_args "{'delta':0.09, 'p_swap':0.25}" -decoder "MWPM" -decoder_args "{'weight_opts':{'method':'blueprint', 'integer':False, 'multiplier':1, 'delta':0.09}}" -trials 100
    

    which generates

    code,distance,ec,boundaries,noise,delta,p_swap,decoder,weight_opts,errors,trials,current_time,simulation_time,mpi_size
    SurfaceCode,3,primal,open,CVLayer,0.09,0.25,MWPM,{'method': 'blueprint', 'integer': False, 'multiplier': 1, 'delta': 0.09},10,100,00:15:50,0.370795,1
    

Example usage and tests

Users can now insert only a code (with any imaginable args), a noise (with any imaginable args), and a decoder (with any imaginable args). As mentioned as long as those combinations are valid FlamingPy will run error corrections and automatically set up the output file based on inputs.

As in

python flamingpy/simulations.py -code "SurfaceCode" -code_args "{'distance':3, 'ec':'primal', 'boundaries':'open'}" -noise "CVLayer" -noise_args "{'delta':0.09, 'p_swap':0.25}" -decoder "MWPM" -decoder_args "{'weight_opts':{}}" -trials 100

Gives

code,distance,ec,boundaries,noise,delta,p_swap,decoder,weight_opts,errors,trials,current_time,simulation_time,mpi_size
SurfaceCode,3,primal,open,CVLayer,0.09,0.25,MWPM,{},10,100,00:15:50,0.370795,1

Performance results justifying changes

• Not Applicable

Workflow actions and tests

test_simulations.py has been updated to support the new I/O format.

Expected benefits and drawbacks

Expected benefits:

• More intuitive and technically sound input and output for simulations.py. The user no longer need to manually adjust the script for every newly supported code, noise, and decoder, plus any desired argument can be now inserted.

Related Github issues

• Not Applicable

Checklist and integration statements

• My Python and C++ codes follow this project's coding and commenting styles as indicated by existing files. Precisely, the changes conform to given black, docformatter and pylint configurations.
• I have performed a self-review of these changes, checked my code (including for codefactor compliance), and corrected misspellings to the best of my capacity. I have synced this branch with others as required.
• I have added context for corresponding changes in documentation and README.md as needed.
• I have added new workflow CI tests for corresponding changes, ensuring codecoverage is 95% or better, and these pass locally for me.
• I have updated CHANGELOG.md following the template. I recognize that the developers may revisit CHANGELOG.md and the versioning, and create a Special Release including my changes.

[nariman87]

@ilan-tz, please check above to see if this was what we wanted here. If so, I can finalize this to be merged.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Merging #111 (f5b5742) into main (028dc74) will decrease coverage by 0.14%.
The diff coverage is 94.44%.

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #111      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   96.19%   96.05%   -0.15%     
==========================================
  Files          36       36              
  Lines        2209     2206       -3     
==========================================
- Hits         2125     2119       -6     
- Misses         84       87       +3     

Impacted Files	Coverage Δ
flamingpy/decoders/decoder.py	97.45% <92.85%> (-1.69%)	⬇️
flamingpy/simulations.py	98.75% <96.00%> (-1.25%)	⬇️
flamingpy/_version.py	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)

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[ilan-tz]

Great job! This will automate the simulations file for future additions to codes, decoders, and noise models, which will make the process scalable.

I made a few small comments and suggestions. One of these is to do away completely with the str_dict, so we don't have to update this as well when we make additions to the above. I have also made a small commit with a change to decoder.py that fixes when an Exception is raised for some incompatible decoder/weight option combinations.

[ilan-tz]

There is a small bug here. Every entry of weight_opts is placed in a separate column of the output file, which causes the rest of the entries to be shifted to the right relative to the heading, whereas they are supposed to be placed in just one column.

[nariman87]

Good catch, thanks, fixed by adding double quotes to that field.