release: 1.3.120

[lilypond.git] / Documentation / user / development.itexi

@node Internals, , , top

@menu
* Conversion stages::              Lilypond is a multi-pass program.

* Grobs::                          Graphical object  
* Engraver::
* Music_iterator::
* Music::
* Molecules::                       Molecules are stand-alone descriptions of output
@end menu


@node Conversion stages, , , Internals

When translating the input to notation, there are number of distinct
phases.  We list them here:


@table @samp

@item Parsing:

The .ly file is read, and converted to a list of @code{Scores}, which
each contain @code{Music} and paper/midi-definitions.

@item Interpreting music

All music events are "read" in the same order as they would be played
(or read from paper). At every step of the interpretation, musical
events are delivered to
interpretation contexts,
@cindex engraver
which use them to build grobs (or MIDI objects, for MIDI output).

@item Prebreaking

At places where line breaks may occur, clefs and bars are prepared for
a possible line break. 

@item Preprocessing

In this stage, all information that is needed to determine line breaking
is computed. 

@item Break calculation:

The lines and horizontal positions of the columns are determined.

@item Breaking

Relations between all grobs are modified to reflect line breaks. See
also @ref{Pointer substitution}.

@item Outputting:

All vertical dimensions and spanning objects are computed, and all grobs
are output, line by line.

@end table


@node Grobs, , , Internals
@section Grobs

This section is about Grobs (short for Graphical Objects), which are
formatting objects used to create the final output. This material is
normally the domain of LilyPond gurus, but occasionally, a normal user
also has to deal with grobs.

The most simple interaction with Grobs are when you use
@code{\override}:

@example
        \property Voice.Stem \override #'direction = #1
@end example

This piece of lily input causes all stem objects to be stem-up
henceforth.  In effect, you are telling lilypond to extend the defintion
of the "Stem" grob with the setting @code{direction := 1}.  Of course
there are many more ways of customizing Lily output, and since most of
them involve Grobs in some form, this section explains some details of
how grobs work.

@menu
* What is a grob?::
* Callbacks::
* Setting grob properties::
* Items and Spanners::
* Pointer substitution::
@end menu

@node What is a grob?, , , Grobs

In music notation, lots of symbols are related in some way.  You can
think of music notation as a graph where nodes are formed by the
symbols, and the arcs by their relations. A grob is node in that
graph. A grob stores references to other grobs, the directed edges in
the graph.

The objective of this big graph of grobs, is to specify the notation
problem. The solution of this problem is a description of the printout
that is in closed form, i.e. but a list of values.  These values are
Molecules. (see @ref{Molecules})

All grobs have an X and Y-position on the page.  These X and Y positions
are stored in a relative format, so they can easily be combined by
stacking them, hanging one grob to the side of another, and coupling
them into a grouping-grob.

Each grob has a reference point, or parent: the position of a grob is
stored relative to that reference point. For example the X-reference
point of a staccato dot usually is the note head that it applies
to. Whenever the note head is moved, the staccato dot moves along
automatically.

If you keep following offset reference points, you will always end up at
the root-object. This root object is called @code{Line_of_score}
@ref{(lilypond-internals)Element Line_of_score}, and it represents a
system (ie. a line of music).

All grobs carry a set of grob-properties.  In the Stem example above,
the property @code{direction} is set to value @code{1}.  The function
that draws the symbol (@code{Stem::brew_molecule}) uses the value of
@code{direction} to determine how to print the stem and the flag.  The
appearance of a grob is determined solely by the values of its
properties.

Often, a grob also is associated with a symbol. On the other hand,
Some grobs do not print any symbols, but take care of grouping
objects. For example, there is a separate grob that stacks staffs
vertically, so they are not printed in overstrike. The NoteCollision
@ref{(lilypond-internals)Element NoteCollision} is another example of
an abstract grob.  It only moves around chords, but doesn't print
anything.

A complete list of grob types is found in
@ref{(lilypond-internals)Elements}

Grobs are created in the "Interpreting music" phase, by things in
LilyPond called engravers.  In this phase of the translation, a load of
grobs are created, and they are linked into a giant network of objects.
This network of grobs forms the "specification" of the print
problem. This problem is then solved: configurations, directions,
dimensions, line breaks, etc.  are calculated. Finally,   the printing
description in the form of Molecules (@ref{Molecules})  is extracted from
the network. These are then dumped into the output file

@node Callbacks, , , Grobs

Offsets of grobs are relative to a parent reference point. Most
positions are not known when an object is created, so these are
calculated as needed. This is done by adding a callback for a specific
direction.

Suppose you have the following code in a .ly file.
@example
        #(define (my-callback gr axis)
                (*  2.0 (get-gr-property grob 'direction))
        )

....

        \property Voice.Stem \override #'Y-offset-callbacks = #(list
                        my-callback)
@end example

When the Y-offset of a Stem object is needed, LilyPond will
automatically execute all callbacks for that object. In this case, it
will find @code{my-callback}, and execute that. The result is that the
stem is translated by two staff spaces in its direction.

(note: Y-offset-callbacks is also a property) 


Offset callbacks can be stacked, ie.

@example
        \property .... \override #'Y-offset-callbacks = #(list
                callback1 callback2 callback3)

@end example

The callbacks will be executed in the order callback3 callback2
callback1. This is used for quantized positioning: the staccato dot is
above or below a note head, and it must not be on a staff-line.

To achieve this, for the staccato there are two callbacks: one callback
that positions the grob above or below the note head, and one callback
that rounds the Y-position of the grob to the nearest open space.

Similarly, the size of a grob are determined through callbacks, settable
with grob properties @code{X-extent-callback} and @code{Y-extent-callback}.
There can be only one extent-callback for each axis. No callback (value #f)
means: "empty in this direction". If you fill in a pair, that pair
hard-codes the extent in that coordinate.


@node Setting grob properties, , , Grobs

Grob properties are stored as GUILE association lists, with symbols as
keys.   From C++, element properties can be accessed using the functions

@example
  SCM  get_grob_property (SCM) const;
  void set_grob_property (const char * , SCM val);
  void set_immutable_grob_property (const char * , SCM val);
  void set_immutable_grob_property (SCM key, SCM val);  
  void set_grob_property (SCM , SCM val);  
  void set_grob_pointer (const char*, SCM val);
  SCM  remove_grob_property (const char* nm);
@end example

In GUILE, LilyPond provides

@example
        ly-get-grob-property GROB SYMBOL
        ly-set-grob-property GROB SYMBOL VALUE
@end example

All lookup functions identify undefined properties with 
end-of-list (ie. @code{'()} in Scheme or @code{SCM_EOL} in C)

Properties are stored in two ways:
@itemize @bullet
@item mutable properties:
element properties that change from object to object. The storage of
these are private to a grob. Typically this is used to store lists of
pointers to other grobs

@item immutable properties:
element properties that are shared across different grobs of the same
type. The storage is shared, and hence it is read-only. Typically, this
is used to store function callbacks, and values for shared element
properties are read from @file{scm/element-description.scm}.
@end itemize

There are two ways to manually set grob properties.

You can change immutable grob properties. This is done with the
\override syntax:

@example
        \property Voice.Stem \override #'direction = #1
@end example

This will push the entry @code{'(direction . 1)} on the immutable
property list for stems, in effect overriding the setting from
@file{scm/element-description.scm}. This can be undone by 

@example
        \property Voice.stem \revert #'direction
@end example

If you use this a lot, this gets old quickly. So we also have a
shorthand,

@example
        \property Context.GrobType \set #'prop = #VAL
@end example

this does a @code{\revert} followed by a @code{\override}

The second way is \outputproperty. This construct looks like

@example
        \context ContextName \outputproperty @var{pred} #@var{sym} = #@var{val}
@end example

In this case, in every grob that satisfies @var{pred}, the property
assignment @var{sym} = @var{val} is done.  For example

@example
        \outputproperty
                #(lambda (gr) (string? (ly-get-grob-property gr
                        'text)))
                #'extra-offset = #'(-1.0 . 0.0)
@end example

This shifts all elements that have a @code{text} property one staff
space to the left. This mechanism is rather clumsy to use, but it allows
you tweak any setting of any grob.

@node Items and Spanners, , , Grobs
@unnumberedsubsec Items and Spanners

Grobs can also be distinguished in their role in the horizontal spacing.
A lot of grobs define constraints on the spacing by their sizes. For
example, note heads, clefs, stems, and all other symbols with a fixed
shape.  These grobs form a subtype called @code{Item}.

Other grobs have a shape that depends on the horizontal spacing. For
example, slur, beam, tie, etc. These grobs form a subtype called
@code{Spanner}. All spanners have two span-points (these must be
@code{Item}s), one on the left and one on the right. The left bound is
also the X-reference point.

Some items need special treatment for line breaking. For example, a
clef is normally only printed at the start of a line (ie. after a line
break).  To model this, `breakable' items (clef, key signature, bar lines,
etc.) are copied twice. Then we have three versions of each breakable
item: one version if there is no line break, one version that is printed
before the line break (at the end of a system), one version that is
printed after the line break.

Whether these versions are visible and take up space, is determined by
the outcome of the visibility-lambda. This is a function taking a
direction (-1, 0 or 1) and returns a cons of booleans, signifying wether
this grob should be transparent and invisible.

@node Pointer substitution, , , Grobs
@unnumberedsubsec Pointer substitution


Symbols that cross line-breaks (such as slurs) cause some more
complications. When a  spanner crosses a line-break, then the spanner is
"broken into pieces", for every line that the spanner is in, a copy of
the grob is made. A substitution process redirects all grob-reference
so that spanner grob will only reference other grobs in the same line.

@node Engraver, , , Internals

@node Music_iterator, , , Internals

@node Music, , , Internals

@node Molecules, , , Internals

The objective of any typesetting system is to put ink on paper in the
right places. For LilyPond, this final stage is left to the TeX and the
printer subsystem. For lily, the last stage in processing a score is
outputting a description of what to put where.  This description roughly
looks like

@example
        PUT glyph AT (x,y)
        PUT glyph AT (x,y)
        PUT glyph AT (x,y) 
@end example

you merely have to look at the tex output of lily to see this.
Internally these instructions are encoded in Molecules:@footnote{At some
point LilyPond also contained Atom-objects, but they have been replaced
by Scheme expressions.}.  A molecule is an object that combines
dimension information (how large is this glyph ?) with
what-to-print-where.

Conceptually, Molecules can be constructed from Scheme code, by
translating a Molecule and by combining two molecules. In BNF notation:

@example
 Molecule = COMBINE Molecule Molecule
           | TRANSLATE Offset Molecule
           | GLYPH-DESCRIPTION
           ;
@end example

(refer to the C++ code for more details). All visible,
ie. non-transparent, grobs have a callback to create a Molecule. The
name of the property is @code{molecule-callback}, and its value should
be a Scheme function taking one argument (the grob) and returning a
Molecule.



@node Development, , , top
@chapter Development

@menu
* CodingStyle::
* Making patches::
* Localisation::
@end menu

@node CodingStyle, , , Development
@section CodingStyle - standards while programming for GNU LilyPond

As a general rule, you should always try to continue computations, even
if there is some kind of error. When the program stops, it is often very
hard for a user to pinpoint what part of the input causes an
error. Finding the culprit is much easier if there is some viewable
output.

So functions and methods do not return errorcodes, they never crash, but
report a programming_error and try to carry on.

@unnumberedsubsec Languages

C++ and Python are preferred.  Python code should use an indent of 8,
using TAB characters.

@unnumberedsubsec Filenames

Definitions of classes that are only accessed via pointers
(*) or references (&) shall not be included as include files.

filenames

@example 
        ".hh"   Include files
        ".cc"   Implementation files
        ".icc"  Inline definition files
        ".tcc"  non inline Template defs
@end example 

in emacs:

@example 
        (setq auto-mode-alist
              (append '(("\\.make$" . makefile-mode)
                        ("\\.cc$" . c++-mode)
                        ("\\.icc$" . c++-mode)
                        ("\\.tcc$" . c++-mode)
                        ("\\.hh$" . c++-mode)
                        ("\\.pod$" . text-mode)         
                        )
                      auto-mode-alist))
@end example 


The class Class_name is coded in @file{class-name.*}

@unnumberedsubsec Indentation

Standard GNU coding style is used.   In emacs:

@example 
        (add-hook 'c++-mode-hook
                  '(lambda() (c-set-style "gnu")
                     )
                  )
@end example 

If you like using font-lock, you can also add this to your @file{.emacs}:

@example 
        (setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t)
        (setq c++-font-lock-keywords-3 
              (append
               c++-font-lock-keywords-3
               '(("\\b\\([a-zA-Z_]+_\\)\\b" 1 font-lock-variable-name-face)
               ("\\b\\([A-Z]+[a-z_]+\\)\\b" 1 font-lock-type-face))
               ))
@end example 

@unnumberedsubsec Classes and Types

@example 
        This_is_a_class
@end example 

@unnumberedsubsec Members

@example 
        Class::member ()
        Type Class::member_type_
        Type Class::member_type ()
@end example 

the @code{type} is a Hungarian notation postfix for @code{Type}. See below

@unnumberedsubsec Macros

Macro names should be written in uppercase completely.

@unnumberedsubsec Broken code

Try not to write broken code. This includes hardwired dependencies,
hardwired constants, slow algorithms and obvious limitations. If you can
not avoid it, mark the place clearly, and add a comment explaining
shortcomings of the code.

@unnumberedsec Hungarian notation naming convention

The C++ part of LilyPond uses a naming convention derived from the
so-called @emph{Hungarian Notation}.  Macros, @code{enum}s and
@code{const}s are all uppercase, with the parts of the names separated
by underscores.

The hungarian notation  is to be used when variables are not declared
near usage (mostly in member variables and functions).

@unnumberedsubsec Types

@table @samp
@item @code{byte}
    unsigned char. (The postfix _by is ambiguous)
@item @code{b}
    bool
@item @code{bi}
    bit
@item @code{ch}
    char
@item @code{f}
    float
@item @code{i}
    signed integer
@item @code{str}
    string class
@item @code{sz}
    Zero terminated c string
@item @code{u}
    unsigned integer
@end table

@unnumberedsubsec User defined types

@example 

        /*
                Slur blah. blah.
        */
        class Slur @{
                ...
        @};
        Slur* slur_p = new Slur;
 
@end example 

@unnumberedsubsec Modifiers

The following types modify the meaning of the prefix. 
These are preceded by the prefixes:

@table @samp
@item @code{a}
    array
@item @code{arr}
    user built array.
@item @code{c}
    const. Note that the proper order is @code{Type const}
        and not @code{const Type}
@item @code{C}
    A const pointer. This would be equivalent to @code{_c_l}, but since any
    "const" pointer has to be a link (you can't delete a const pointer),
    it is superfluous.
@item @code{l}
    temporary pointer to object (link)
@item @code{p}
    pointer to newed object
@item @code{r}
    reference
@end table

@unnumberedsubsec Adjective

Adjectives such as global and static should be spelled out in full.
They come before the noun that they refer to, just as in normal english.

@example 

foo_global_i: a global variable of type int commonly called "foo".
 
@end example 

static class members do not need the static_ prefix in the name (the
Class::var notation usually makes it clear that it is static)

@table @samp
@item @code{loop_i}
    Variable loop: an integer
@item @code{u}
    Temporary variable: an unsigned integer
@item @code{test_ch}
    Variable test: a character
@item @code{first_name_str}
    Variable first_name: a String class object
@item @code{last_name_ch_a}
    Variable last_name: a @code{char} array
@item @code{foo_i_p}
    Variable foo: an @code{Int*} that you must delete
@item @code{bar_i_l}
    Variable bar: an @code{Int*} that you must not delete
@end table

Generally default arguments are taboo, except for nil pointers.

The naming convention can be quite conveniently memorised, by
expressing the type in english, and abbreviating it

@example 

        static Array<int*> foo
 
@end example 

@code{foo} can be described as "the static int-pointer user-array", so you get

@example 

        foo_static_l_arr
 
@end example 


@unnumberedsec Miscellaneous
    
For some tasks, some scripts are supplied, notably creating patches, a
mirror of the website, generating the header to put over cc and hh
files, doing a release.

Use them.

@node Making patches, , , Development


@unnumberedsec  Track and distribute your code changes

This page documents how to distribute your changes to GNU lilypond
    
We would like to have unified context diffs with full pathnames.  A
script automating supplied with Lily.

Distributing a change normally goes like this:

@itemize @bullet
@item make your fix/add your code 
@item Add changes to CHANGES, and add yourself to Documentation/topdocs/AUTHORS.texi
@item generate a patch, 
@item e-mail your patch to one of the mailing lists
    gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org or bug-gnu-music@@gnu.org
@end itemize

Please do not send entire files, even if the patch is bigger than the
original.  A patch makes it clear what is changed, and it won't
overwrite previous (not yet released) changes.

@unnumberedsec Generating a patch

Simple version: run

@example
        make -C lilypond-x.y.z/ distclean
        make -C lilypond-x.y.z.NEW/ distclean
        diff -urN lilypond-x.y.z/ lilypond-x.y.z.NEW/
@end example

Complicated (but automated) version:

In @file{VERSION}, set MY_PATCH_LEVEL:

@example 

    VERSION:
        ...
        MY_PATCH_LEVEL=jcn1
 
@end example 

In @file{CHANGES}, enter a summary of changes:

@example 
        0.1.73.jcn1
        ===========

        * A concise, yet clearly readable description of what changed.

@end example 

Then, from the top of Lily's source tree, type

@example 
    make release
@end example 

These handy python scripts assume a directory structure which looks
like:

@example 

    lilypond -> lilypond-x.y.z   # symlink to development directory
    lilypond-x.y.z/              # current development
    patches/                     # patches between different releases
    releases/                    # .tar.gz releases

@end example 

@unnumberedsec Applying patches

[outdated: please use xdeltas]

If you're following LilyPond development regularly, you probably want to
download just the patch for each subsequent release.
After downloading the patch (into the patches directory, of course), simply 
apply it:

@example 

    gzip -dc ../patches/lilypond-0.1.74.diff.gz | patch -p1 -E
 
@end example 

and don't forget to make automatically generated files:

@example 

    autoconf footnote(patches don't include automatically generated files, 
    i.e. file(configure) and files generated by file(configure).)

    configure
 
@end example 

@node Localisation, , , Development

@chapter Localisation - User messages in LilyPond

@section Introduction

This document provides some guidelines for uniformising user messages.
In the absence of other standards, we'll be using these rules when coding
 for LilyPond.  Hopefully, this can be replaced by general GNU
guidelines in the future.

Not-preferred messages are marked with @code{+}.  By convention,
agrammatical examples are marked with @code{*}.

@section Guidelines

@itemize @bullet

@item
Every message to the user should be localised (and thus be marked
for localisation).  This includes warning and error messages.

@item
Don't localise/gettextify:

@itemize @minus
@item @code{programming_error ()}s
@item @code{programming_warning ()}s
@item debug strings
@item output strings (PostScript, TeX)
@end itemize

@item
Messages to be localised must be encapsulated in @code{_ (STRING)}
or @code{_f (FORMAT, ...)}.  Eg:

@example
warning (_ ("Need music in a score"));
error (_f ("Can't open file: `%s'", file_name));
@end example

In some rare cases you may need to call @code{gettext ()} by hand.
This happens when you pre-define (a list of) string constants for later
use.  In that case, you'll probably also need to mark these string
constants for translation, using @code{_i (STRING)}.  The @code{_i}
macro is a no-op, it only serves as a marker for @file{xgettext}.

@example
char const* messages[] = @{
  _i ("enable debugging output"),
  _i ("ignore lilypond version"),
  0
@};

void
foo (int i)
@{
  puts (gettext (messages [i]));
@}
@end example

See also
@file{flower/getopt-long.cc} and @file{lily/main.cc}.

@item
Don't use leading or trailing whitespace in messages.

@item
Messages containing a final verb, or a gerund (@code{-ing}-form)
always start with a capital.  Other (simpler) messages start with
a lowercase letter:

@example
The word `foo' is not declared.
`foo': not declared.
Not declaring: `foo'.
@end example

@item
To avoid having a number of different messages for the same situation,
we'll use quoting like this @code{"message: `%s'"} for all strings.
Numbers are not quoted:

@example
_f ("Can't open file: `%s'", name_str)
_f ("Can't find charater number: %d", i)
@end example

@item
Think about translation issues.  In a lot of cases, it is better to
translate a whole message.  The english grammar mustn't be imposed on
the translator.  So, iso

@example
_ ("Stem at ") + moment.str () + _(" doen't fit in beam")
@end example

@noindent
have

@example
_f ("Stem at %s doen't fit in beam", moment.str ())
@end example

@item
Split up multi-sentence messages, whenever possible.  Instead of

@example
warning (_f ("out of tune!  Can't find: `%s', "Key_engraver"));

warning (_f ("Can't find font `%s', loading default", 
             font_name));
@end example

@noindent
rather say:

@example
warning (_ ("out of tune:");
warning (_f ("Can't find: `%s', "Key_engraver"));

warning (_f ("Can't find font: `%s', font_name));
warning (_f ("Loading default font"));
@end example

@item
If you must have multiple-sentence messages, use full punctuation.
Use two spaces after end of sentence punctuation.
No punctuation (esp. period) is used at the end of simple messages.

@example
   _f ("Non-matching braces in text `%s', adding braces", text)
   _ ("Debug output disabled.  Compiled with NPRINT.")
   _f ("Huh?  Not a Request: `%s'.  Ignoring.", request)
@end example

@item
Don't modularise too much; a lot of words cannot be translated
without context.
It's probably safe to treat most occurences of words like
stem, beam, crescendo as separately translatable words.

@item
When translating, it is preferrable to put interesting information 
at the end of the message, rather than embedded in the middle.
This especially applies to frequently used messages, even if this
would mean sacrificing a bit of eloquency.  This holds for original
messages too, of course.

@example
    en: can't open: `foo.ly'
+   nl: kan `foo.ly' niet openen (1)
    kan niet openen: `foo.ly'*   (2)
    niet te openen: `foo.ly'*    (3)
@end example

The first nl message, although gramatically and stylishly correct,
is not friendly for parsing by humans (even if they speak dutch).
I guess we'd prefer something like (2) or (3).

@item
Please don't run make po/po-update with GNU gettext < 0.10.35

@end itemize