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* dds: A Home-made Toolkit for Discrete Dynamical Systems in Racket
This is a toolkit for playing with various discrete dynamical systems
in [[https://racket-lang.org/][Racket]]. A discrete dynamical system is a system which evolves from
a discrete state to some other discrete states (many or one). The
systems are discrete in the sense that we can identify successive
states with no other states in between. Equivalently, the phase state
of the system is discrete (and is often called the state graph).
These constraints imply the possibility of associating discrete,
possibly branching timelines to any evolution of the system.
*DISCLAIMER:* I develop this toolkit as a support for my research on
discrete dynamical systems. The primary objective for this framework
is to fit my approach to these systems. Essentially, this framework
should fit to the "shape of my mind", which is not necessarily the
same as yours.
Currently, the toolkit includes the following files:
- [[file:generic.rkt][generic.rkt]]: The generic interface for a discrete dynamical
system, with functions for constructing state graphs.
- [[file:utils.rkt][utils.rkt]]: Misc utilities.
- [[file:functions.rkt][functions.rkt]]: Definitions for working with functions: tabulating,
constructing from tables, generating random functions, etc.
- [[file:networks.rkt][networks.rkt]]: Implements network-based models, which generalise
Boolean networks, threshold Boolean automata networks, multivalued
networks, etc.
- [[file:rs.rkt][rs.rkt]]: Implements reaction systems, a variant of set rewriting.
The toolkit is designed with Emacs [[https://orgmode.org/][Org-mode]] interoperability in mind.
The file [[file:example/example.org][example/example.org]] explains the features available for
interaction with Org-mode.
** Roadmap
Here is my current roadmap for this toolkit, in order. The first
element is what I am currently working on. The degree of certainty
that I work on the subsequent items decreases with their position
in the list.
*** TODO Convert =dds= to Typed Racket
Rewriting =dds= with Typed Racket will be a major refactoring,
consisting in the following 3 phases which will happen more or
less in parallel:
- define types, add type signatures, add types for functions
I import from =graph=;
- transfer the comments from the source files to Scribble
documentation;
- redefine the generic interface for dynamics, which is currently
in =generics=.
I plan to implement the new dynamics as a structure, from which
all the concrete dynamics of the objects will inherit. This will
hopefully work like interface inheritance. The current plan is to
start converting =networks= to Typed Racket, then starting the new
module =dynamics= to fill in the blanks progressively by moving
over bits of code from =generics=. The goal is to have an empty
=generics= module at the end.
People on Racket Users suggested using structures with fields
containing functions, but it does not seem to get me to my goal of
having type-level methods/functions.
The order in which I will convert the modules:
1. =utils=,
2. =functions=,
3. =networks= and =dynamics= (currently =generics=) at the same
time,
4. =networks=,
5. =rs=.
I will convert the modules one by one by first creating a typed
section (a submodule) and re-exporting its functions together with
the untyped functions. I will then move the functions one by one
from the untyped section to the typed section. When the untyped
section is empty, I will convert the language of the entire module
to Typed Racket and remove the submodule.
*** TODO Remove the artifacts of conversion to Typed Racket
Since I am converting =dds= to Typed Racket gradually, I need to
leave a couple artifacts to ensure that older code compiles with
newer code. These artifacts are marked with the keywords =TODO:=
in the source.
*** TODO Think about splitting the library into lib and doc
*** TODO Implement a shorter syntax for defining Boolean functions
Right now, this is how one defines the Boolean function:
#+BEGIN_SRC racket :results output silent
(define (update-go st)
(auto-hash-ref/:
st
(or (and (not :Go) :new-x) (and :Go :old-x))))
#+END_SRC
It would be nice and probably not too difficult to implement
a macro allowing for a syntax like the following one:
#+BEGIN_SRC racket :results output silent
(define-pbf my-pbf (or (and (not :Go) :new-x) (and :Go :old-x)))
#+END_SRC
*** TODO Implement =monotone?=
=monotone?= would verify whether a given Boolean function is
monotone according to the definition in the book /Boolean
Functions: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications/ by Crama
and Hammer.
*** TODO Submit =update-graph= to =stchang=
*** TODO Split =networks= into general networks and threshold Boolean networks
*** TODO Implement the BN \to RS conversion
*** TODO Implement the minimisation of TBF/SBF
*** TODO Contribute to Racket
- Make sequence-filter allow multivalued sequences, provided the
arity of the predicate is consistent with the arity of
the sequence.
- Add a sequence->hash function that accepts a multivalued
sequence of keys and values (exactly like what in-hash produces)
and copies them into a hash table.
*** TODO Test network inference with [[https://docs.racket-lang.org/racklog/index.html][Racklog]]