taichi-dev/taichi

[Lang] Deprecate ti.field(ti.f32), use ti.field(ti.f32, None) instead for advanced layouts

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#1,614 opened on Jul 30, 2020

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Description

Concisely describe the proposed feature I'd like to deprecate ti.field(ti.f32), use ti.field(ti.f32, shape=None) instead for advanced layout.

Why? Clarity matters:

  1. People who knows about advanced layouts definitely won't bother with adding a None.
  2. Beginners who just want to declare a dense field will be confused by Some variable(s) not placed and get busy seeking where a shape=xxx is missed. It would be great if we'd raise an argument 'shape' not specified error for them.

Describe the solution you'd like (if any) Since ti.field is a newly-added API, we are OK to tweak it as much as we want before v0.7.0 finally release, we'd only do this on ti.field, not ti.var, both ensuring backward-compatib and pushing refactoring forward. Simply change def field(dt, shape=None) -> def field(dt, shape) should be OK.

Additional comments @k-ye @yuanming-hu WDYT about this change?

Contributor guide

Tech stack
python
Domain
apideveloper experience
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
PythonTaichi API basics
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
70
Research direction
The change involves modifying the `field` function signature in the Taichi Python source code (likely `taichi/lang/impl.py` or similar) to remove the default value of `shape`. Additionally, ensure that existing uses of `ti.field(ti.f32)` are deprecated and updated in documentation and tests. Confirm with maintainers if any backward compatibility concerns exist.