.. This document is rendered in HTML with cross-reference links filled in at
   http://yt-project.org/doc/developing/

.. _getting-involved:

Getting Involved
================

There are *lots* of ways to get involved with yt, as a community and as a
technical system -- not all of them just contributing code, but also
participating in the community, helping us with designing the websites, adding
documentation, and sharing your scripts with others.

Coding is only one way to be involved!

Communication Channels
----------------------

There are five main communication channels for yt:

 * We have an IRC channel, on ``irc.freenode.net`` in ``#yt``.
   You can connect through our web
   gateway without any special client, at http://yt-project.org/irc.html .
   *IRC is the first stop for conversation!*
 * Many yt developers participate in the yt Slack community. Slack is a free
   chat service that many teams use to organize their work. You can get an
   invite to yt's Slack organization by clicking the "Join us @ Slack" button
   on this page: http://yt-project.org/community.html
 * `yt-users <https://mail.python.org/mm3/archives/list/yt-users@python.org/>`_
   is a relatively high-traffic mailing list where people are encouraged to ask
   questions about the code, figure things out and so on.
 * `yt-dev <https://mail.python.org/mm3/archives/list/yt-dev@python.org/>`_ is
   a much lower-traffic mailing list designed to focus on discussions of
   improvements to the code, ideas about planning, development issues, and so
   on.

The easiest way to get involved with yt is to read the mailing lists, hang out
in IRC or slack chat, and participate.  If someone asks a question you know the
answer to (or have your own question about!) write back and answer it.

If you have an idea about something, suggest it!  We not only welcome
participation, we encourage it.

Documentation
-------------

The yt documentation is constantly being updated, and it is a task we would very
much appreciate assistance with.  Whether that is adding a section, updating an
outdated section, contributing typo or grammatical fixes, adding a FAQ, or
increasing coverage of functionality, it would be very helpful if you wanted to
help out.

The easiest way to help out is to fork the main yt repository (where the
documentation lives in the ``doc`` directory in the root of the yt git
repository) and then make your changes in your own fork.  When you are done,
issue a pull request through the website for your new fork, and we can comment
back and forth and eventually accept your changes. See :ref:`sharing-changes` for
more information about contributing your changes to yt on GitHub.

Gallery Images and Videos
-------------------------

If you have an image or video you'd like to display in the image or video
galleries, getting it included it easy!  You can either fork the `yt homepage
repository <http://github.com/yt-project/website>`_ and add it there, or
email it to us and we'll add it to the `Gallery
<http://yt-project.org/gallery.html>`_.

We're eager to show off the images and movies you make with yt, so please feel
free to drop `us <https://mail.python.org/mm3/archives/list/yt-dev@python.org/>`_
a line and let us know if you've got something great!

Technical Contributions
-----------------------

Contributing code is another excellent way to participate -- whether it's
bug fixes, new features, analysis modules, or a new code frontend.  See
:ref:`creating_frontend` for more details.

The process is pretty simple: fork on GitHub, make changes, issue a pull
request.  We can then go back and forth with comments in the pull request, but
usually we end up accepting.

For more information, see :ref:`contributing-code`, where we spell out how to
get up and running with a development environment, how to commit, and how to
use GitHub.

Online Presence
---------------

Some of these fall under the other items, but if you'd like to help out with
the website or any of the other ways yt is presented online, please feel free!
Almost everything is kept in git repositories on GitHub, and it is very easy
to fork and contribute back changes.

Please feel free to dig in and contribute changes.

Word of Mouth
-------------

If you're using yt and it has increased your productivity, please feel
encouraged to share that information.  Cite our `paper
<http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011ApJS..192....9T>`_, tell your colleagues,
and just spread word of mouth.  By telling people about your successes, you'll
help bring more eyes and hands to the table -- in this manner, by increasing
participation, collaboration, and simply spreading the limits of what the code
is asked to do, we hope to help scale the utility and capability of yt with the
community size.

Feel free to `blog <http://blog.yt-project.org/>`_ about, `tweet
<http://twitter.com/yt_astro>`_ about and talk about what you are up to!

Long-Term Projects
------------------

There are some wild-eyed, out-there ideas that have been bandied about for the
future directions of yt -- some of them even written into the mission
statement.  The ultimate goal is to move past simple analysis and visualization
of data and begin to approach it from the other side, of generating data,
running solvers.  We also hope to increase its ability to act as an in situ
analysis code, by presenting a unified protocol.  Other projects include
interfacing with ParaView and VisIt, creating a web GUI for running
simulations, creating a run-tracker that follows simulations in progress, a
federated database for simulation outputs, and so on and so forth.

yt is an ambitious project.  Let's be ambitious together.

yt Community Code of Conduct
----------------------------

The community of participants in open source
Scientific projects is made up of members from around the
globe with a diverse set of skills, personalities, and
experiences. It is through these differences that our
community experiences success and continued growth. We
expect everyone in our community to follow these guidelines
when interacting with others both inside and outside of our
community. Our goal is to keep ours a positive, inclusive,
successful, and growing community.

As members of the community,

- We pledge to treat all people with respect and
  provide a harassment- and bullying-free environment,
  regardless of sex, sexual orientation and/or gender
  identity, disability, physical appearance, body size,
  race, nationality, ethnicity, and religion. In
  particular, sexual language and imagery, sexist,
  racist, or otherwise exclusionary jokes are not
  appropriate.

- We pledge to respect the work of others by
  recognizing acknowledgment/citation requests of
  original authors. As authors, we pledge to be explicit
  about how we want our own work to be cited or
  acknowledged.

- We pledge to welcome those interested in joining the
  community, and realize that including people with a
  variety of opinions and backgrounds will only serve to
  enrich our community. In particular, discussions
  relating to pros/cons of various technologies,
  programming languages, and so on are welcome, but
  these should be done with respect, taking proactive
  measure to ensure that all participants are heard and
  feel confident that they can freely express their
  opinions.

- We pledge to welcome questions and answer them
  respectfully, paying particular attention to those new
  to the community. We pledge to provide respectful
  criticisms and feedback in forums, especially in
  discussion threads resulting from code
  contributions.

- We pledge to be conscientious of the perceptions of
  the wider community and to respond to criticism
  respectfully. We will strive to model behaviors that
  encourage productive debate and disagreement, both
  within our community and where we are criticized. We
  will treat those outside our community with the same
  respect as people within our community.

- We pledge to help the entire community follow the
  code of conduct, and to not remain silent when we see
  violations of the code of conduct. We will take action
  when members of our community violate this code such as
  contacting confidential@yt-project.org (all emails sent to
  this address will be treated with the strictest
  confidence) or talking privately with the person.

This code of conduct applies to all
community situations online and offline, including mailing
lists, forums, social media, conferences, meetings,
associated social events, and one-to-one interactions.

The yt Community Code of Conduct was adapted from the
`Astropy Community Code of Conduct
<http://www.astropy.org/code_of_conduct.html>`_,
which was partially inspired by the PSF code of conduct.

.. _contributing-code:

How to Develop yt
=================

yt is a community project!

We are very happy to accept patches, features, and bugfixes from any member of
the community!  yt is developed using git, primarily because it enables
very easy and straightforward submission of revisions.  We're eager to hear
from you, and if you are developing yt, we encourage you to subscribe to the
`developer mailing list
<https://mail.python.org/mm3/archives/list/yt-dev@python.org/>`_. Please feel
free to hack around, commit changes, and send them upstream.

.. note:: If you already know how to use the `git version control system
   <https://git-scm.com/>`_ and are comfortable with handling it yourself,
   the quickest way to contribute to yt is to `fork us on GitHub
   <https://github.com/yt-project/yt/fork>`_, make your changes, push the
   changes to your fork and issue a `pull request
   <https://github.com/yt-project/yt/pulls>`_.  The rest of this
   document is just an explanation of how to do that.

See :ref:`code-style-guide` for more information about coding style in yt and
:ref:`docstrings` for an example docstring.  Please read them before hacking on
the codebase, and feel free to email any of the mailing lists for help with the
codebase.

Keep in touch, and happy hacking!

.. _open-issues:

Open Issues
-----------

If you're interested in participating in yt development, take a look at the
`issue tracker on GitHub
<https://github.com/yt-project/yt/issues>`_.
Issues are marked with a milestone of "easy", "moderate", or "difficult"
depending on the estimated level of difficulty for fixing the issue. While we
try to triage the issue tracker regularly, it may be the case that issues marked
"moderate" are actually easier than their milestone label indicates since that
is the default value.

Here are some predefined issue searches that might be useful:

* Unresolved issues `marked "easy" <https://github.com/yt-project/yt/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue%20is%3Aopen%20milestone%3Aeasy>`_.
* `All unresolved issues <https://github.com/yt-project/yt/issues>`_

Submitting Changes
------------------

We provide a brief introduction to submitting changes here.  yt thrives on the
strength of its communities (http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.7064 has further
discussion) and we encourage contributions from any user.  While we do not
discuss version control, git, or the advanced usage of GitHub in detail
here, we do provide an outline of how to submit changes and we are happy to
provide further assistance or guidance.

Licensing
+++++++++

yt is `licensed <http://blog.yt-project.org/post/Relicensing/>`_ under the
BSD 3-clause license.  Versions previous to yt-2.6 were released under the GPLv3.

All contributed code must be BSD-compatible.  If you'd rather not license in
this manner, but still want to contribute, please consider creating an external
package, which we'll happily link to.

How To Get The Source Code For Editing
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

yt is hosted on GitHub, and you can see all of the yt repositories at
https://github.com/yt-project/.  With the yt installation script you should have a
copy of git for checking out pieces of code.  Make sure you have followed
the steps above for bootstrapping your development (to assure you have a
GitHub account, etc.)

In order to modify the source code for yt, we ask that you make a "fork" of the
main yt repository on GitHub.  A fork is simply an exact copy of the main
repository (along with its history) that you will now own and can make
modifications as you please.  You can create a personal fork by visiting the yt
GitHub webpage at https://github.com/yt-project/yt/ .  After logging in,
you should see an option near the top right labeled "fork". You now have
a forked copy of the yt repository for your own personal modification.

This forked copy exists on the GitHub repository, so in order to access
it locally you must clone it onto your machine from the command line:

.. code-block:: bash

   $ git clone https://github.com/<USER>/yt ./yt-git

This downloads that new forked repository to your local machine, so that you
can access it, read it, make modifications, etc.  It will put the repository in
a local directory of the same name as the repository in the current working
directory.

.. code-block:: bash

   $ cd yt-git

Verify that you are on the master branch of yt by running:

.. code-block:: bash

   $ git branch

You can see any past state of the code by using the git log command.
For example, the following command would show you the last 5 revisions
(modifications to the code) that were submitted to that repository.

.. code-block:: bash

   $ git log -n 5

Using the revision specifier (the number or hash identifier next to each
changeset), you can update the local repository to any past state of the
code (a previous changeset or version) by executing the command:

.. code-block:: bash

   $ git checkout revision_specifier

Lastly, if you want to use this new downloaded version of your yt repository as
the *active* version of yt on your computer (i.e. the one which is executed when
you run yt from the command line or the one that is loaded when you do ``import
yt``), then you must "activate" it using the following commands from within the
repository directory.

.. code-block:: bash

   $ python setup.py develop

This will rebuild all C modules as well.

.. _reading-source:

How To Read The Source Code
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you just want to *look* at the source code, you may already have it on your
computer.  If you build yt using the install script, the source is available at
``$YT_DEST/src/yt-git``.  See :ref:`source-installation` for more details about
to obtain the yt source code if you did not build yt using the install
script.

The root directory of the yt git repository contains a number of
subdirectories with different components of the code.  Most of the yt source
code is contained in the yt subdirectory.  This directory itself contains
the following subdirectories:

``frontends``
   This is where interfaces to codes are created.  Within each subdirectory of
   yt/frontends/ there must exist the following files, even if empty:

   * ``data_structures.py``, where subclasses of AMRGridPatch, Dataset
     and AMRHierarchy are defined.
   * ``io.py``, where a subclass of IOHandler is defined.
   * ``fields.py``, where fields we expect to find in datasets are defined
   * ``misc.py``, where any miscellaneous functions or classes are defined.
   * ``definitions.py``, where any definitions specific to the frontend are
     defined.  (i.e., header formats, etc.)

``fields``
   This is where all of the derived fields that ship with yt are defined.

``geometry``
   This is where geometric helpler routines are defined. Handlers
   for grid and oct data, as well as helpers for coordinate transformations
   can be found here.

``visualization``
   This is where all visualization modules are stored.  This includes plot
   collections, the volume rendering interface, and pixelization frontends.

``data_objects``
   All objects that handle data, processed or unprocessed, not explicitly
   defined as visualization are located in here.  This includes the base
   classes for data regions, covering grids, time series, and so on.  This
   also includes derived fields and derived quantities.

``analysis_modules``
   This is where all mechanisms for processing data live.  This includes
   things like clump finding, halo profiling, halo finding, and so on.  This
   is something of a catchall, but it serves as a level of greater
   abstraction that simply data selection and modification.

``gui``
   This is where all GUI components go.  Typically this will be some small
   tool used for one or two things, which contains a launching mechanism on
   the command line.

``utilities``
   All broadly useful code that doesn't clearly fit in one of the other
   categories goes here.

``extern``
   Bundled external modules (i.e. code that was not written by one of
   the yt authors but that yt depends on) lives here.


If you're looking for a specific file or function in the yt source code, use
the unix find command:

.. code-block:: bash

   $ find <DIRECTORY_TREE_TO_SEARCH> -name '<FILENAME>'

The above command will find the FILENAME in any subdirectory in the
DIRECTORY_TREE_TO_SEARCH.  Alternatively, if you're looking for a function
call or a keyword in an unknown file in a directory tree, try:

.. code-block:: bash

   $ grep -R <KEYWORD_TO_FIND> <DIRECTORY_TREE_TO_SEARCH>

This can be very useful for tracking down functions in the yt source.

.. _building-yt:

Building yt
+++++++++++

If you have made changes to any C or Cython (``.pyx``) modules, you have to
rebuild yt.  If your changes have exclusively been to Python modules, you will
not need to re-build, but (see below) you may need to re-install.

Note that you will need a functioning compilation environment to build yt. On
linux this typically means installing the package that sets up a basic build
environment (e.g. ``build-essential`` on Debian and Ubuntu). On MacOS this means
installing the XCode command line tools. On Windows this means installing the
version of the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler that is appropriate for your
version of Python. See `the Python wiki
<https://wiki.python.org/moin/WindowsCompilers>`_ for more details.

If you are running from a clone that is executable in-place (i.e., has been
installed via the installation script or you have run ``setup.py develop``) you
can rebuild these modules by executing:

.. code-block:: bash

  $ python setup.py develop

If you have previously "installed" via ``setup.py install`` you have to
re-install:

.. code-block:: bash

  $ python setup.py install

Only one of these two options is needed.

.. _requirements-for-code-submission:

Requirements for Code Submission
--------------------------------

Modifications to the code typically fall into one of three categories, each of
which have different requirements for acceptance into the code base.  These
requirements are in place for a few reasons -- to make sure that the code is
maintainable, testable, and that we can easily include information about
changes in changelogs during the release procedure.  (See `YTEP-0008
<https://ytep.readthedocs.org/en/latest/YTEPs/YTEP-0008.html>`_ for more
detail.)

* New Features

  * New unit tests (possibly new answer tests) (See :ref:`testing`)
  * Docstrings in the source code for the public API
  * Addition of new feature to the narrative documentation (See :ref:`writing_documentation`)
  * Addition of cookbook recipe (See :ref:`writing_documentation`)
  * Issue created on issue tracker, to ensure this is added to the changelog

* Extension or Breakage of API in Existing Features

  * Update existing narrative docs and docstrings (See :ref:`writing_documentation`)
  * Update existing cookbook recipes (See :ref:`writing_documentation`)
  * Modify of create new unit tests (See :ref:`testing`)
  * Issue created on issue tracker, to ensure this is added to the changelog

* Bug fixes

  * Unit test is encouraged, to ensure breakage does not happen again in the
    future. (See :ref:`testing`)
  * Issue created on issue tracker, to ensure this is added to the changelog

When submitting, you will be asked to make sure that your changes meet all of
these requirements.  They are pretty easy to meet, and we're also happy to help
out with them.  In :ref:`code-style-guide` there is a list of handy tips for
how to structure and write your code.

.. _git-with-yt:

How to Use git with yt
----------------------

If you're new to git, the following resource is pretty great for learning
the ins and outs:

* https://git-scm.com/

The commands that are essential for using git include:

* ``git <command> --help`` which provides help for any git command. For example, you
  can learn more about the ``log`` command by doing ``git log --help``.
* ``git add <paths>`` which stages changes to the specified paths for subsequent
  committing (see below).
* ``git commit`` which commits staged changes (stage using ``git add`` as above)
  in the working directory to the repository, creating a new "revision."
* ``git merge <branch>`` which merges the revisions from the specified branch
  into the current branch, creating a union of their lines of development. This
  updates the working directory.
* ``git pull <remote> <branch>`` which pulls revisions from the specified branch of the
  specified remote repository into the current local branch. Equivalent to ``git
  fetch <remote>`` and then ``git merge <remote>/<branch>``. This updates the
  working directory.
* ``git push <remote>`` which sends revisions on local branches to matching
  branches on the specified remote. ``git push <remote> <branch>`` will only
  push changes for the specified branch.
* ``git log`` which shows a log of all revisions on the current branch. There
  are many options you can pass to ``git log`` to get additional
  information. One example is ``git log --oneline --decorate --graph --all``.

We are happy to answer questions about git use on our IRC, slack
chat or on the mailing list to walk you through any troubles you might have.
Here are some general suggestions for using git with yt:

* Although not necessary, a common development work flow is to create a local
  named branch other than ``master`` to address a feature request or bugfix. If
  the dev work addresses a specific yt GitHub issue, you may include that issue
  number in the branch name. For example, if you want to work on issue number X
  regarding a cool new slice plot feature, you might name the branch:
  ``cool_new_plot_feature_X``. When you're ready to share your work, push your
  feature branch to your remote and create a pull request to the ``master``
  branch of the yt-project's repository.
* When contributing changes, you might be asked to make a handful of
  modifications to your source code.  We'll work through how to do this with
  you, and try to make it as painless as possible.
* Your test may fail automated style checks. See :ref:`code-style-guide` for
  more information about automatically verifying your code style.
* You should only need one fork.  To keep it in sync, you can sync from the
  website. See :ref:`sharing-changes` for a description of the basic workflow
  and :ref:`multiple-PRs` for a discussion about what to do when you want to
  have multiple open pull requests at the same time.
* If you run into any troubles, stop by IRC (see :ref:`irc`), Slack, or the
  mailing list.

.. _sharing-changes:

Making and Sharing Changes
--------------------------

The simplest way to submit changes to yt is to do the following:

* Build yt from the git repository
* Navigate to the root of the yt repository
* Make some changes and commit them
* Fork the `yt repository on GitHub <https://github.com/yt-project/yt>`_
* Push the changesets to your fork
* Issue a pull request.

Here's a more detailed flowchart of how to submit changes.

#. Fork yt on GitHub.  (This step only has to be done once.)  You can do
   this at: https://github.com/yt-project/yt/fork.
#. If you have used the installation script, the source code for yt can be
   found in ``$YT_DEST/src/yt-git``.  Alternatively see
   :ref:`source-installation` for instructions on how to build yt from the
   git repository. (Below, in :ref:`reading-source`, we describe how to
   find items of interest.) If you have already forked the repository then
   you can clone your fork locally::

     git clone https://github.com/<USER>/yt ./yt-git

   This will create a local clone of your fork of yt in a folder named
   ``yt-git``.
#. Edit the source file you are interested in and
   test your changes.  (See :ref:`testing` for more information.)
#. Create a uniquely named branch to track your work. For example: ``git
   checkout -b my-first-pull-request``
#. Stage your changes using ``git add <paths>``.  This command take an argument
   which is a series of filenames whose changes you want to commit. After
   staging, execute ``git commit -m "<Commit description>. Addresses Issue
   #X"``. Note that supplying an actual GitHub issue # in place of ``X`` will
   cause your commit to appear in the issue tracker after pushing to your
   remote. This can be very helpful for others who are interested in what work
   is being done in connection to that issue.
#. Remember that this is a large development effort and to keep the code
   accessible to everyone, good documentation is a must.  Add in source code
   comments for what you are doing.  Add in docstrings
   if you are adding a new function or class or keyword to a function.
   Add documentation to the appropriate section of the online docs so that
   people other than yourself know how to use your new code.
#. If your changes include new functionality or cover an untested area of the
   code, add a test.  (See :ref:`testing` for more information.)  Commit
   these changes as well.
#. Add your remote repository with a unique name identifier. It can be anything
   but it is conventional to call it ``origin``.  You can see names and URLs of
   all the remotes you currently have configured with::

     git remote -v

   If you already have an ``origin`` remote, you can set it to your fork with::

     git remote set-url origin https://github.com/<USER>/yt

   If you do not have an ``origin`` remote you will need to add it::

     git remote add origin https://github.com/<USER>/yt

   In addition, it is also useful to add a remote for the main yt repository.
   By convention we name this remote ``upstream``::

     git remote add upstream https://github.com/yt-project/yt

   Note that if you forked the yt repository on GitHub and then cloned from
   there you will not need to add the ``origin`` remote.

#. Push your changes to your remote fork using the unique identifier you just
   created and the command::

      git push origin my-first-pull-request

   Where you should substitute the name of the feature branch you are working on for
   ``my-first-pull-request``.

   .. note::
     Note that the above approach uses HTTPS as the transfer protocol
     between your machine and GitHub.  If you prefer to use SSH - or
     perhaps you're behind a proxy that doesn't play well with SSL via
     HTTPS - you may want to set up an `SSH key`_ on GitHub.  Then, you use
     the syntax ``ssh://git@github.com/<USER>/yt``, or equivalent, in
     place of ``https://github.com/<USER>/yt`` in git commands.
     For consistency, all commands we list in this document will use the HTTPS
     protocol.

     .. _SSH key: https://help.github.com/articles/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/
#. Issue a pull request at https://github.com/yt-project/yt/pull/new/master A
   pull request is essentially just asking people to review and accept the
   modifications you have made to your personal version of the code.

During the course of your pull request you may be asked to make changes.  These
changes may be related to style issues, correctness issues, or requesting
tests.  The process for responding to pull request code review is relatively
straightforward.

#. Make requested changes, or leave a comment indicating why you don't think
   they should be made.
#. Commit those changes to your local repository.
#. Push the changes to your fork::
      git push origin my-first-pull-request
#. Your pull request will be automatically updated.

Once your pull request is merged, sync up with the main yt repository by pulling
from the ``upstream`` remote::

     git checkout master
     git pull upstream master

You might also want to sync your fork of yt on GitHub::

     # sync my fork of yt with upstream
     git push origin master

And delete the branch for the merged pull request::

     # delete branch for merged pull request
     git branch -d my-first-pull-request
     git push origin --delete my-first-pull-request

These commands are optional but are nice for keeping your branch list
manageable. You can also delete the branch on your fork of yt on GitHub by
clicking the "delete branch" button on the page for the merged pull request on
GitHub.

.. _multiple-PRs:

Working with Multiple GitHub Pull Requests
------------------------------------------

Dealing with multiple pull requests on GitHub is straightforward. Development on
one feature should be isolated in one named branch, say ``feature_1`` while
development of another feature should be in another named branch, say
``feature_2``. A push to remote ``feature_1`` will automatically update any
active PR for which ``feature_1`` is a pointer to the ``HEAD`` commit. A push to
``feature_1`` *will not* update any pull requests involving ``feature_2``.

.. _code-style-guide:

Coding Style Guide
==================

Automatically checking code style
---------------------------------

Below are a list of rules for coding style in yt. Some of these rules are
suggestions are not explicitly enforced, while some are enforced via automated
testing. The yt project uses a subset of the rules checked by ``flake8`` to
verify our code. The ``flake8`` tool is a combination of the ``pyflakes`` and
``pep8`` tools. To check the coding style of your contributions locally you will
need to install the ``flake8`` tool from ``pip``:

.. code-block:: bash

    $ pip install flake8

And then navigate to the root of the yt repository and run ``flake8`` on the
``yt`` subdirectory:

.. code-block:: bash

    $ cd yt-git
    $ flake8 ./yt

This will print out any ``flake8`` errors or warnings that your newly added code
triggers. The errors will be in your newly added code because we have already
cleaned up the rest of the yt codebase of the errors and warnings detected by
the `flake8` tool. Note that this will only trigger a subset of the `full flake8
error and warning list
<http://flake8.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/error-codes.html>`_, since we explicitly
blacklist a large number of the full list of rules that are checked by
``flake8`` by default.

Source code style guide
-----------------------

 * In general, follow PEP-8 guidelines.
   http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/
 * Classes are ``ConjoinedCapitals``, methods and functions are
   ``lowercase_with_underscores``.
 * Use 4 spaces, not tabs, to represent indentation.
 * Line widths should not be more than 80 characters.
 * Do not use nested classes unless you have a very good reason to, such as
   requiring a namespace or class-definition modification.  Classes should live
   at the top level.  ``__metaclass__`` is exempt from this.
 * Do not use unnecessary parenthesis in conditionals.  ``if((something) and
   (something_else))`` should be rewritten as
   ``if something and something_else``. Python is more forgiving than C.
 * Avoid copying memory when possible. For example, don't do
   ``a = a.reshape(3, 4)`` when ``a.shape = (3, 4)`` will do, and ``a = a * 3``
   should be ``np.multiply(a, 3, a)``.
 * In general, avoid all double-underscore method names: ``__something`` is
   usually unnecessary.
 * When writing a subclass, use the super built-in to access the super class,
   rather than explicitly. Ex: ``super(SpecialGridSubclass, self).__init__()``
   rather than ``SpecialGrid.__init__()``.
 * Docstrings should describe input, output, behavior, and any state changes
   that occur on an object.  See :ref:`docstrings` below for a fiducial example
   of a docstring.
 * Use only one top-level import per line. Unless there is a good reason not to,
   imports should happen at the top of the file, after the copyright blurb.
 * Never compare with ``True`` or ``False`` using ``==`` or ``!=``, always use
   ``is`` or ``is not``.
 * If you are comparing with a numpy boolean array, just refer to the array.
   Ex: do ``np.all(array)`` instead of ``np.all(array == True)``.
 * Never compare with None using ``==`` or ``!=``, use ``is None`` or
   ``is not None``.
 * Use ``statement is not True`` instead of ``not statement is True``
 * Only one statement per line, do not use semicolons to put two or more
   statements on a single line.
 * Only declare local variables if they will be used later. If you do not use the
   return value of a function, do not store it in a variable.
 * Add tests for new functionality. When fixing a bug, consider adding a test to
   prevent the bug from recurring.

API Style Guide
---------------

 * Do not use ``from some_module import *``
 * Internally, only import from source files directly -- instead of:

     ``from yt.visualization.api import ProjectionPlot``

   do:

     ``from yt.visualization.plot_window import ProjectionPlot``

 * Import symbols from the module where they are defined, avoid transitive
   imports.
 * Import standard library modules, functions, and classes from builtins, do not
   import them from other yt files.
 * Numpy is to be imported as ``np``.
 * Do not use too many keyword arguments.  If you have a lot of keyword
   arguments, then you are doing too much in ``__init__`` and not enough via
   parameter setting.
 * In function arguments, place spaces before commas.  ``def something(a,b,c)``
   should be ``def something(a, b, c)``.
 * Don't create a new class to replicate the functionality of an old class --
   replace the old class.  Too many options makes for a confusing user
   experience.
 * Parameter files external to yt are a last resort.
 * The usage of the ``**kwargs`` construction should be avoided.  If they cannot
   be avoided, they must be explained, even if they are only to be passed on to
   a nested function.

.. _docstrings:

Docstrings
----------

The following is an example docstring. You can use it as a template for
docstrings in your code and as a guide for how we expect docstrings to look and
the level of detail we are looking for. Note that we use NumPy style docstrings
written in `Sphinx restructured text format <http://sphinx-doc.org/rest.html>`_.

.. code-block:: rest

    r"""A one-line summary that does not use variable names or the
    function name.

    Several sentences providing an extended description. Refer to
    variables using back-ticks, e.g. ``var``.

    Parameters
    ----------
    var1 : array_like
        Array_like means all those objects -- lists, nested lists, etc. --
        that can be converted to an array.  We can also refer to
        variables like ``var1``.
    var2 : int
        The type above can either refer to an actual Python type
        (e.g. ``int``), or describe the type of the variable in more
        detail, e.g. ``(N,) ndarray`` or ``array_like``.
    Long_variable_name : {'hi', 'ho'}, optional
        Choices in brackets, default first when optional.

    Returns
    -------
    describe : type
        Explanation
    output : type
        Explanation
    tuple : type
        Explanation
    items : type
        even more explaining

    Other Parameters
    ----------------
    only_seldom_used_keywords : type
        Explanation
    common_parameters_listed_above : type
        Explanation

    Raises
    ------
    BadException
        Because you shouldn't have done that.

    See Also
    --------
    otherfunc : relationship (optional)
    newfunc : Relationship (optional), which could be fairly long, in which
              case the line wraps here.
    thirdfunc, fourthfunc, fifthfunc

    Notes
    -----
    Notes about the implementation algorithm (if needed).

    This can have multiple paragraphs.

    You may include some math:

    .. math:: X(e^{j\omega } ) = x(n)e^{ - j\omega n}

    And even use a greek symbol like :math:`omega` inline.

    References
    ----------
    Cite the relevant literature, e.g. [1]_.  You may also cite these
    references in the notes section above.

    .. [1] O. McNoleg, "The integration of GIS, remote sensing,
       expert systems and adaptive co-kriging for environmental habitat
       modelling of the Highland Haggis using object-oriented, fuzzy-logic
       and neural-network techniques," Computers & Geosciences, vol. 22,
       pp. 585-588, 1996.

    Examples
    --------
    These are written in doctest format, and should illustrate how to
    use the function.  Use the variables 'ds' for the dataset, 'pc' for
    a plot collection, 'c' for a center, and 'L' for a vector.

    >>> a = [1, 2, 3]
    >>> print([x + 3 for x in a])
    [4, 5, 6]
    >>> print("a\n\nb")
    a

    b
    """

Variable Names and Enzo-isms
----------------------------
Avoid Enzo-isms.  This includes but is not limited to:

 * Hard-coding parameter names that are the same as those in Enzo.  The
   following translation table should be of some help.  Note that the
   parameters are now properties on a ``Dataset`` subclass: you access them
   like ds.refine_by .

    - ``RefineBy `` => `` refine_by``
    - ``TopGridRank `` => `` dimensionality``
    - ``TopGridDimensions `` => `` domain_dimensions``
    - ``InitialTime `` => `` current_time``
    - ``DomainLeftEdge `` => `` domain_left_edge``
    - ``DomainRightEdge `` => `` domain_right_edge``
    - ``CurrentTimeIdentifier `` => `` unique_identifier``
    - ``CosmologyCurrentRedshift `` => `` current_redshift``
    - ``ComovingCoordinates `` => `` cosmological_simulation``
    - ``CosmologyOmegaMatterNow `` => `` omega_matter``
    - ``CosmologyOmegaLambdaNow `` => `` omega_lambda``
    - ``CosmologyHubbleConstantNow `` => `` hubble_constant``

 * Do not assume that the domain runs from 0 .. 1.  This is not true
   everywhere.
 * Variable names should be short but descriptive.
 * No globals!
