List of PluginPlay Features

This page is intended to collect the major selling points of PluginPlay. This necessarilly is not a complete list; the complete list can be garnered by reviewing the list of merged pull requests on GitHub.

Fundamental Features

The features listed in this section essentially define an inversion-of-control framework. So while they have been available since version 1.0.0, their fundamental nature makes them almost assumed; nonetheless, we list them here for completeness.

• Algorithms are written as modules, self-contained encapsulated units of code.

• Interfaces defining how modules exchange data are defined via “property types”. Users can dynamically choose how to call a module by selecting from the property types it satisfies.

• Property types are developed downstream of PluginPlay and may thus contain domain-specific data structures, i.e., no need to serialize or use a restricted set of types.

• Module distribution is facilitated by creating packages called “plugins.”

• Plugins can be loaded at runtime to dynamically change the features of the codes built on PluginPlay.

• Dependency injection. PluginPlay allows modules to use other modules without either module knowing of the other’s existence, so long as their property types are compatible.

Features available in PluginPlay 1.0.0

• Memoization of the call graph.

• RocksDB as a cache backend.

• Ability to automatically generate reStructured Text documentation for modules.

• Annotated module bounds checking.