CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to pylinkage are documented here.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[0.6.0] - 2024-10-02

Added

• New joint: the Linear joint!
• New sub-package: optimization.collections. optimization.collections.Agent and optimization.collections.MutableAgent are two new classes that should standardize the format of optimization, related to (#5).
  • Agent is immutable and inherits from a namedtuple. It is recommended to use it, as it is a bit faster.
  • MutableAgent is mutable. It may be deprecated/removed if Agent is satisfactory.
• New sub-package: geometry.
  • It introduces two new functions line_from_points and circle_line_intersection.
• New examples:
  • examples/strider.py from leggedsnake, based on the Strider Linkage.
  • examples/inverted_stroke_engine.py is a demo of a four-stroke engine featuring a Linear joint.
• Linkage.set_completely is a new method combining both Linkage.set_num_constraints and Linkage.set_coords.
• New exception NotCompletelyDefinedError, when a joint is reloading but its anchor coordinates are set to None.
• Some run configuration files added for users of PyCharm:
  • Run all tests with "All Tests".
  • Regenerate documentation with "Sphinx Documentation".

Changed

• Optimization return type changed (#5):
  • trials_and_error_optimization return an array of MutableAgent.
  • particle_swarm_optimization return an array of one Agent.
  • It should not be a breaking change for most users.
• Changes to the "history" style.
  • It is no longer a global variable in example scripts.
  • It was in format iterations[dimensions, score], now it is a standard iterations[score, dimensions, initial pos].
  • repr_polar_swarm (in example scripts) changed to follow the new format.
  • swarm_tiled_repr takes (index, swarm) as input argument. swarm is (score, dim, pos) for each agent for this iteration.
• repr_polar_swarm reload frame only when a new buildable linkage is generated.
  • This makes the display much faster.
  • For each iteration, you may see linkages that do not exist anymore.
• Folders reorganization:
  • The geometry module is now a package (pylinkage/geometry)
  • New package pylinkage/linkage:
    • pylinkage/linkage.py separated and inserted in this package.
  • New package: pylinkage/joints
    • Joints definition are in respective files.
  • New package pylinkage/optimization/
    • pylinkage/optimizer.py split and inserted in.
    • Trials-and-errors related functions goes to grid_search.py.
    • Particle swarm optimization is at particle_swarm.py.
    • New file utils.py for generate_bounds.
  • Tests follow the same renaming.
  • From the user perspective, no change (execution may be a bit faster)
  • source/ renamed to sphinx/ because it was confusing and only for Sphinx configuration.
• Transition from Numpydoc to reST for docstrings (#12).
• __secant_circles_intersections__ renamed to secant_circles_intersections (in pylinkage/geometry/secants.py).

Fixed

• swarm_tiled_repr in visualizer.py was wrongly assigning dimensions.
• Setting locus_highlight in plot_static_linkage would result in an error.
• Pivot.reload was returning arbitrary point when we had an infinity of solutions.
• The highlighted locus was sometimes buggy in plot_static_linkage in visualizer.py.

Deprecated

• Using tqdm_verbosity is deprecated in favor of using disable=True in a tqdm object.
• The Pivot class is deprecated in favor of the Revolute class. The name "Pivot joint" is not standard. Related to #13.
• The hyperstaticity method is renamed indeterminacy in Linkage (linkage.py)

Removed

• Drops support for Python 3.7 and 3.8 as both versions reached end-of-life.
• movement_bounding_bow is replaced by movement_bounding_box (typo in function name).

[0.5.3] - 2023-06-23

Added in 0.5.3

• We now checked compatibility with Python 3.10 and 3.11.
• pyproject.toml is now the official definition of the package.
• Linkage.hyperstaticity now clearly outputs a warning when used.

Changed in 0.5.3

• master branch is now main.
• docs/example/fourbar_linkage.py can now be used as a module (not the target but anyway).
• docs/examples moved to examples/ (main folder).
  • Now docs/ only contains sphinx documentation.
• docs/examples/images moved to images/.

Fixed in 0.5.3

• Setting a motor with a negative rotation angle do no longer break get_rotation_period (#7).
• Pivot.reload and Linkage.__find_solving_order__ were raising Warnings (stopping the code), when they should only print a message (intended behavior).
• Fixed many typos in documentation as well as in code.
• The TestPSO.test_convergence is now faster on average, and when it fails in the first time, it launches a bigger test.
• Minor linting in the demo file docs/example/fourbar_linkage.py.

Deprecated in 0.5.3

• Using Python 3.7 is officially deprecated (end of life by 2023-06-27). It will no longer be tested, use it at your own risks!

[0.5.2] - 2021-07-21

Added in 0.5.2

• You can see the best score and best dimensions updating in trials_and_errors_optimization.

Changed in 0.5.2

• The optimizer tests are 5 times quicker (~1 second now) and raise less false positive.
• The sidebar in the documentation makes navigation easier.
• A bit of reorganization in optimizers, it should not affect users.

[0.5.1] - 2021-07-14

Added in 0.5.1

• The trial and errors optimization now have a progress bar (same kind of the one in particle swarm optimization), using tqdm.

Changed in 0.5.1

• matplotlib and tqdm now required.

[0.5.0] - 2021-07-12

End of alpha development! The package is now robust enough to be used by a mere human. This version introduces a lot of changes and simplifications, so everything is not perfect yet, but it is complete enough to be considered a beta version.

Git tags will no longer receive an "-alpha" mention.

Added in 0.5.0

• It is now possible and advised to import useful functions from pylinkage.{object}, without full path. For instance, use from pylinkage import Linkage instead of from pylinkage.linkage import Linkage.
• Each module had his header improved.
• The generate_bounds functions is a simple way to generate bounds before optimization.
• The order_relation arguments of particle_swarm_optimization and trials_and_errors_optimization let you choose between maximization and minimization problem.
• You can specify a custom order relation with trials_and_errors_optimization.
• The verbose argument in optimizers can disable verbosity.
• Static joints can now be defined implicitly.
• The utility module provides two useful decorators kinematic_minimization and kinematic_optimizatino. They greatly simplify the workflow of defining fitness functions.
• Versioning is now done thanks to bump2version.

Changed in 0.5.0

• The particle_swarm_optimization eval_func signature is now similar to the one ot trials_and_errors optimization. Wrappers are no longer needed!
• The trials_and_errors_optimization function now asks for bounds instead of dilatation and compression factors.
• In trials_and_errors_optimization absolute step delta_dim is now replaced by number of subdivisions divisions.

Fixed in 0.5.0

• After many hours of computations, default parameters in particle_swarm_optimization are much more efficient. With the demo fourbar_linkage, the output wasn't even convergent sometimes. Now we have a high convergence rate (~100%), and results equivalent to the trials_and_errors_optimization (in the example).
• variator function of optimizer module was poorly working.
• The docstrings were not displayed properly in documentation, this is fixed.

[0.4.1] - 2021-07-11

Added in 0.4.1

• The legend in visualizer.py is back!
• Documentation published to GitHub pages! It is contained in the docs/ folder.
• setup.cfg now include links to the website.

Changed in 0.4.1

• Examples moved from pylinkage/examples/ to docs/examples/.
• Tests moved from pylinkage/tests/ to tests/.

[0.4.0] - 2021-07-06

Added in 0.4.0

• The bounding_box method of geometry allows computing the bounding box of a 2D points finite set.
• You can now customize colors of linkage's bars with the COLOR_SWITCHER variable of visualizer.py.
• movement_bounding_box in visualizer.py to get the bounding box of multiple loci.
• parameters is optional in trials_and_errors_optimization (former exhaustive_optimization)
• pylinkage/tests/test_optimizer.py for testing the optimizers, but it is a bit ugly as for now.
• Flake8 validation in tox.ini

Fixed in 0.4.0

• set_num_constraints in Linkage was misbehaving due to update 0.3.0.
• Cost history is no longer plotted automatically after a PSO.

Changed in 0.4.0

• exhaustive_optimization is now known as trials_and_errors_optimizattion.
• Axes on linkage visualization are now named "x" and "y". It was "Points abcsices" and "Ordinates".
• A default view of the linkage is displayed in plot_static_linkage.
• Default padding in linkage representation was changed from an absolute value of 0.5 to a relative 20%.
• Static view of linkage is now aligned with its kinematic one.
• get_pos method of Linkage is now known as get_coords for consistency.
• Parameters renamed, reorganized and removed in particle_swarm_optimization to align to PySwarms.
• README.md updated consequently to the changes.

Removed in 0.4.0

• Legacy built-in Particle Swarm Optimization, to avoid confusion.
• We do no longer show a default legend on static representation.

[0.3.0] - 2021-07-05

Added in 0.3.0

• Joint objects now have a get_constraints method, consistent with their set_constraints one.
• Linkage now has a get_num_constraints method as syntactic sugar.
• Code vulnerabilities checker
• Walkthrough's example has been expanded and now seems to be complete.

Changed in 0.3.0

• Linkage's method set_num_constraints behaviour changed! You should now add flat=False to come back to the previous behavior.
• pylinkage/examples/fourbar_linkage.py expanded and finished.
• The begin parameter of article_swarm_optimization is no longer mandatory. linkage.get_num_constraints() will be used if begin is not provided.
• More flexible package version in environment.yml
• Output file name now is formatted as "Kinematic {linkage.name}" in plot_kinematic_linkage function of pylinkage/visualizer.py
• Python 3.6 is no longer tested in tox.ini. Python 3.9 is now tested.

Fixed in 0.3.0

• When linkage animation was saved, last frames were often missing in pylinkage/visualizer.py, function plot_kinematic_linkage.

[0.2.2] - 2021-06-22

Added in 0.2.2

• More continuous integration workflows for multiple Python versions.

Fixed in 0.2.2

• README.md could not be seen in PyPi.
• Various types

[0.2.1] - 2021-06-16

Added in 0.2.1

• swarm_tiled_repr function for pylinkage/visualizer.py, for visualization of PySwarms.
• EXPERIMENTAL! hyperstaticity method Linkage's hyperstaticity (over constrained) calculation.

Changed in 0.2.1

• pylinkage/exception.py now handles exceptions in another file.
• Documentation improvements.
• Python style improvements.
• .gitignore now modified from the standard GitHub gitignore example for Python.

Fixed in 0.2.1

• circle method of Pivot in pylinkage/linkage.py. It was causing errors
• tox.ini now fixed.

[0.2.0] - 2021-06-14

Added in 0.2.0

• pylinkage/vizualizer.py view your linkages using matplotlib!
• Issue templates in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
• .github/workflows/python-package-conda.yml: conda tests with unittest workflow.
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• MANIFEST.in
• README.md
• environment.yml
• setup.cfg now replaces setup.py
• tox.ini
• CHANGELOG.md

Changed in 0.2.0

• .gitignore Python Package specific extensions added
• MIT License → LICENSE
• lib/ → pylinkage/
• tests/ → pylinkage/tests/
• Revamped package organization.
• Cleared setup.py

[0.0.1] - 2021-06-12

Added in 0.0.1

• lib/geometry.py as a mathematical basis for kinematic optimization
• lib/linkage.py, linkage builder
• lib/optimizer.py, with Particle Swarm Optimization (built-in and PySwarms), and exhaustive optimization.
• MIT License.
• requirements.txt.
• setup.py.
• tests/__init__.py.
• tests/test_geometry.py.
• tests/test_linkage.py.
• .gitignore.