@setfilename internals.info
@settitle LilyPond internals
-@node Top, LilyPond internals, (dir), (dir)
-@top
-
-
-@menu
-* LilyPond internals::
-* Overview::
-* mudela::
-* Request_engraver::
-* Graphic elements::
-* Score elements::
-* Items::
-* Spanners::
-* Future work::
-* Coding standards::
-* Making patches::
-
-@end menu
-
-@node LilyPond internals, , Top, Top
-@menu
-* Overview:: Overview
-* mudela:: mudela
-* Request_engraver:: Request_engraver
-@end menu
-
-
-@chapter Getting involved
-
-Please help us make LilyPond a better program. You can help LilyPond in
-several ways. Not all tasks requiring programming or understanding the
-full source code. You can write to the mailing list
-(@email{gnu-music-discuss@@gnu.org} for more information)
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Users
-
-Mutopia needs your help. The mutopia project is a collection of public
-domain sheet music. You can help the project by entering music and
-submitting. Point your browser to the
-@uref{http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/Mutopia, Mutopia webpage}
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Font designers
-
-Our set of glyphs (the Feta font) is far from complete. If you know a
-little MetaFont you can contribute a glyph
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Writers
-
-The documentation of LilyPond and related utilities needs a lot of work.
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Translators
-
-LilyPond is completely ready for internationalized messages, but there
-are only three translations so far.
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Hackers
-
-There are lots of possibilities of improving the program itself. There are
-both small projects and big ones. Most of them are listed in the TODO
-file. A interesting and very big project is writing a GUI frontend to
-LilyPond.
-
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Website designers
-
-The current website for LilyPond is neat and simple, but it is not very
-pretty. We would like to have a website with pretty pictures, one that
-looks appealing to new users.
-
-
-@chapter LilyPond internals
-
-
-This documents some aspects of the internals of GNU LilyPond. Some of
-this stuff comes from e-mail I wrote, some from e-mail others wrote,
-some are large comments taken away from the headers. This page may be
-a little incoherent. Unfortunately, it is also quite outdated. A
-more thorough and understandable document is in the works.
-
-You should use @code{doc++} to take a peek at the sources.
-
-@node Overview, mudela, Top, Top
-@section Overview
-
-GNU LilyPond is a "multi-pass" system. The different passes have been
-created so that they do not depend on each other. In a later stage
-some parts may be moved into libraries, or seperate programs, or they
-might be integrated in larger systems.
-
-@table @samp
-
-@item Parsing:
-
-No difficult algorithms. 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
-
-The music is walked through in time-order. The iterators which do the
-walking report Music to Translators which use this information to
-create elements, either MIDI or "visual" elements. The translators
-form a hierarchy; the ones for paper output are Engravers, for MIDI
-Performers.
-
-The translators swallow Music (mostly atomic gobs called Requests),
-create elements, broadcast them to other translators on higher or same
-level in the hierarchy:
-
-The stem of a voice A is broadcast to the staff which contains A, but
-not to the stems, beams and noteheads of a different voice (say B) or
-a different staff. The stem and noteheads of A are coupled, because
-the the Note_heads_engraver broadcasts its heads, and the Stem_engraver catches
-these.
-
-The engraver which agrees to handle a request decides whether to to
-honor the request, ignore it, or merge it with other requests. Merging
-of requests is preferably done with other requests done by members of
-the same voicegroups (beams, brackets, stems). In this way you can put
-the voices of 2 instruments in a conductor's score so they make chords
-(the Beam requests of both instruments will be merged).
-
-@item Prebreaking
-
-Breakable stuff (eg. clefs and bars) are copied into pre and
-postbreaks.
-
-@item Preprocessing
-
-Some dependencies are resolved, such as the direction of stems, beams,
-and "horizontal" placement issues (the order of clefs, keys etc,
-placement of chords in multi-voice music),
-
-@item Break calculation:
-
-The lines and horizontal positions of the columns are determined.
-
-@item Breaking
-
-Through some magical interactions with Line_of_score and Super_elem
-(check out the source) the "lines" are produced.
-
-All other spanners can figure across which lines they are spread. If
-applicable, they break themselves into pieces. After this, each piece
-(or, if there are no pieces, the original spanner itself) throws out
-any dependencies which are in the wrong line.
-
-@item Postprocesing:
-
-Some items and all spanners need computation after the Paper_column
-positions are determined. Examples: slurs, vertical positions of
-staffs.
-
-@item Output paper
-
-@end table
-
-@node mudela, Request_engraver, Overview, Top
-@section mudela
-
-Most information is stored in the form of a request. In music
-typesetting, the user might want to cram a lot more symbols on the
-paper than actually fits. To reflect this idea (the user asks more
-than we can do), the container for this data is called Request.
-
-In a lot of other formats this would be called an 'Event'
-
-@table @samp
-@item @code{Barcheck_req}
- Checks during music processing if start of this voice element
- coincides with the start of a measure. Handy to check if you left out
- some voice elts.
-@item @code{Note_req}
- LilyPond has to decide if the ball should be hanging left or
- right. This influences the horizontal dimensions of a column, and this
- is why request processing should be done before horizontal spacing.
- Other voices' frivolities may cause the need for accidentals, so this
- is also for the to decide. The engraver can decide on positioning based on
- ottava commands and the appropriate clef.
-@item @code{Rest_req}
- Typeset a rest.
-@item @code{Span_req}
- This type of request typically results in the creation of a @code{Spanner}
-@item @code{Beam_req}
- Start/stop a beam.
- Engraver has to combine this request with the stem_request, since the
- number of flags that a stem wants to carry will determine the
- number of beams.
-@item @code{Dynamic}
- Each dynamic is bound to one note (a crescendo spanning multiple
- notes is thought to be made of two "dynamics": a start and a stop).
- Dynamic changes can occur in a smaller time than the length of its
- note, therefore each @code{Dynamic} request carries a time, measured
- from the start of its note.
-@end table
-
-@node Request_engraver, , mudela, Top
-@section Request_engraver
-
-In the previous section the idea of Request has been explained, but
-this only solves one half of the problem. The other half is deciding
-which requests should be honored, which should merged with other
-requests, and which should be ignored. Consider this input
-
-@example
-
- \type Staff < % chord
- @{ \meter 2/4; [c8 c8] @}
- @{\meter 2/4; [e8 e8] @}
- >
-
-@end example
-
-Both the cs and es are part of a staff (they are in the same
-Voice_group), so they should share meters, but the two [ ] pairs
-should be merged.
-
-The judge in this "allocation" problem a set of brokers: the requests
-are transmitted to so-called engravers which respond if they want to
-accept a request eg, the @code{Notehead_engraver} will accept
-@code{Note_req}s, and turn down @code{Slur_req}s. If the Music_iterator
-cannot find a engraver that wants the request, it is junked (with a
-warning message).
-
-After all requests have been either assigned, or junked, the Engraver
-will process the requests (which usually means creating an @code{Item}
-or @code{Spanner}). If a @code{Request_engraver} creates something, it
-tells the enclosing context. If all items/spanners have been created,
-then each Engraver is notified of any created Score_element, via a
-broadcasting system.
-
-@unnumberedsubsec example:
-
-@example
-
- c4
-
-@end example
-
-produces:
-
-@example
-
- Note_request (duration 1/4)
- Stem_request (duration 1/4)
-
-@end example
-
-Note_request will be taken by a @code{Notehead_engraver}, stem_request
-will be taken by a @code{Stem_beam_engraver}. @code{Notehead_engraver}
-creates a @code{Notehead}, @code{Stem_beam_engraver} creates a
-@code{Stem}. Both announce this to the Staff_engraver. Staff_engraver
-will tell @code{Stem_beam_engraver} about the @code{Notehead}, which
-will add the @code{Notehead} to the @code{Stem} it just created.
-
-To decide on merging, several engravers have been grouped. Please
-check @file{init/engraver.ly}.
-
-
-
-@node Graphic elements, , , Top
-@section Graphic elements
-
-
-Music notation is composed of a sets of interrelated glyphs. In
-Lilypond every glyph usually is represented by one object, a so-called
-Graphic Object. The primary relations between graphic objects involve
-positions:
-
-@itemize @asis
-@item consecutive notes are printed left to right, grouped in a staff
-@item simultaneous notes are horizontally aligned (internally grouped in
-a paper column).
-@item the staccato mark is horizontally centered on the note it applies
-to.
-@end itemize
-
-The abstract encoding of such relations is done with the concept
-@dfn{reference point}. The reference point (in X direction) of the
-staccato mark is the note it applies to. The (X) position of the
-staccato mark is stored relative to the position of the note head. This
-means that the staccato will always maintain a fixed offset wrt to the
-note head, whereever the head is moved to.
-
-In the same vein, all notes on a staff have their Y positions stored
-relative to an abstract object called Axis_group_spanner. If the
-Axis_group_spanner of one staff is moved, the absolute Y positions of
-all objects in that spanner change along, in effect causing the staff
-and all its contents to move as a whole.
-
-Each graphic object stores a pointer and an relative offset for each
-direction: one for the X-axis, one for the Y-axis. For example, the X
-parent of a Note_head usually is a Note_column. The X parent of a
-Note_column usually is either a Collision or a Paper_column. The X
-parent of a Collision usually is a Paper_column. If the Collision
-moves, all Note_heads that have that Collision as parent also move, but
-the absolute position of the Paper_column does not change.
-
-To build a graphical score with Graphic_elements, conceptually, one
-needs to have one Root object (in Lilypond: Line_of_score), and
-recursively attach objects to the Root. However, due to the nature
-of the context selection mechanisms, it turns out to be more
-advantageous to construct the tree the other way around: first small
-trees (note heads, barlines etc.) are created, and these are
-subsequently composed into larger trees, which are finally hung on a
-Paper_column (in X direction) or Line_of_score (in Y direction).
-
-The structure of the X,Y parent relations are determined by the
-engravers and notation contexts:
-
-The most important X-axis parent relation depends on the timing: notes
-that come earlier are attached to Paper_column that will be positioned
-more to the left.
-
-The most important Y-axis relation depends on containment of contexts:
-notes (created in a Thread or Voice context) are put in the staff where
-the originating context lives in.
-
-Graphical_axis_groups are special graphic objects, that are designed to
-function as a parent. The size of a Graphical_axis_groups group is the
-union of its children.
-
-@node Score elements, , , Top
-
-Besides relative positions there are lots of other relations between
-elements. Lilypond does not contain other specialized relation
-management (Like the relative positioning code). Instead, objects can
-be connected through dependencies, which sets the order in which objects
-are to be processed.
-
-Example: the direction of a beamed stem should equal the direction of
-the beam. When the stem is a added to the beam, a dependency on the
-beam is set in the stem: this means that @code{Beam::do_pre_processing
-()} (which does various direction related things) will be called before
-@code{Stem::do_pre_processing ()}.
-
-The code that manages dependencies resides in the class
-@code{Score_element}, a derived class of @code{Graphical_element}. The
-bulk of the code handles line breaking related issues.
-
-To sketch the problems with line breaking: suppose a slur spans a line
-break,
-@example
-
-c4( c'''' c | \break d d )d
-
-@end example
-In this case, the slur will appear as two parts, the first part spanning
-the first three notes (the @code{c}s), the second spanning the last
-three (the @code{d}s). Within Lilypond this is modeled as breaking the
-slur in parts: from the Original slur, two new clones of the old slur
-are made. Initially both clones depend on the six notes. After the
-hairy code in Score_element, Spanner and Item which does substitutions
-in sets of dependencies, the first clone depends on the first three
-notes, the second on the last three.
-
-The major derived classes of Score_element are Item and Spanner.
-An item has one horizontal position. A spanner hangs on two items.
-
-@node Items, , , Top
-@section Items
-
-
-
-An item is a score element that is associated with only one
-Paper_column. Examples are note heads, clefs, super and superscripts, etc.
-Item is a derived class of Score_element.
-
-The shape of an item is known before the break calculations, and line
-spacing depends on the size of items: very wide items need more space
-than very small ones.
-
-An additional complication is the behavior of items at linebreaks. For
-example, when you do a time signature change, you get only one symbol.
-If it occurs at a linebreak, the new time signature must be printed both
-before and after the linebreak. Other `breakable symbols' such as
-clefs, and bar lines also exhibit this behavior.
-
-if a line of music is broken, the next line usually gets a clef. So in
-TeX terms, the clef is a postbreak. The same thing happens with meter
-signs: Normally the meter follows the bar. If a line is broken at that
-bar, the bar along with the meter stays on the "last" line, but the next
-line also gets a meter sign after the clef. To support this,
-breakable items are generated in the three versions: original
-(unbroken), left (before line break) and right (after line break).
-During the line spacing, these versions are used to try how the spacing
-of a line works out.
-
-Once the definitive spacing is determined, dependencies (and various
-other pointers) are substituted such that all dependencies point at the
-active items: either they point at the original, or they point at left
-and right.
-
-@node Spanners, , , Top
-@section Spanners
-
-Spanners are symbols that are of variable shape, eg. Slurs, beams, etc.
-Spanners is a derived class of Score_element.
-
-The final shape can only be determined after the line breaking process.
-All spanners are spanned on two items, called the left and right
-boundary item. The X reference point is the left boundary item.
-
-
-@node Future work, , , Top
-@section Future work
-
-There are plans to unify Spanner and Item, so there will no longer be
-such a clear distinction between the two. Right now, Score_elements are
-always either Item or either Spanner.
-
-Most of the properties of a graphic object are now member variables of
-the classes involved. To offer configurability, we want to move these
-variables to scheme (GUILE) variables, and no longer use C++ code to
-calculate them, but use Scheme functions.
-
-@node Coding standards, , , Top
-
-@chapter CodingStyle - standards while programming for GNU
-LilyPond
-
-Functions and methods do not return errorcodes.
-
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Languages
-
-C++ and Python are preferred. Perl is not. 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_abbreviation is coded in @file{class-name-abbr.*}
-
-@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
-
-Macros should be written completely in uppercase
-
-The code should not be compilable if proper macro declarations are not
-included.
-
-Don't laugh. It took us a whole evening/night to figure out one of
-these bugs, because we had a macro that looked like
-@code{DECLARE_VIRTUAL_FUNCTIONS ()}.
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Broken code
-
-Broken code (hardwired dependencies, hardwired constants, slow
-algorithms and obvious limitations) should be marked as such: either
-with a verbose TODO, or with a short "ugh" comment.
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Comments
-
-The source is commented in the DOC++ style. Check out doc++ at
-@uref{http://www.zib.de/Visual/software/doc++/index.html}
-
-@example
-
- /*
- C style comments for multiline comments.
- They come before the thing to document.
- [...]
- */
-
- /**
- short description.
- Long class documentation.
- (Hungarian postfix)
-
- TODO Fix boring_member ()
- */
- class Class @{
- /**
- short description.
- long description
- */
-
- Data data_member_;
-
- /**
- short memo. long doco of member ()
- @@param description of arguments
- @@return Rettype
- */
- Rettype member (Argtype);
-
- /// memo only
- boring_member () @{
- data_member_ = 121; // ugh
- @}
- @};
-
-@end example
-
-
-Unfortunately most of the code isn't really documented that good.
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Members (2)
-
-Standard methods:
-
-@example
-
- ///check that *this satisfies its invariants, abort if not.
- void OK () const
-
- /// print *this (and substructures) to debugging log
- void print () const
-
- /**
- protected member. Usually invoked by non-virtual XXXX ()
- */
- virtual do_XXXX ()
-
- /**add some data to *this.
- Presence of these methods usually imply that it is not feasible to this
- via a constructor
- */
- add (..)
-
- /// replace some data of *this
- set (..)
-
-@end example
-
-@unnumberedsubsec Constructor
-
-Every class should have a default constructor.
-
-Don't use non-default constructors if this can be avoided:
-
-@example
-
- Foo f(1)
-
-@end example
-
-is less readable than
-
-@example
-
- Foo f;
- f.x = 1
-
-@end example
-
-or
-
-@example
-
- Foo f(Foo_convert::int_to_foo (1))
-
-@end example
-
-@unnumberedsec Hungarian notation naming convention
-
-Proposed is 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.
- (slur)
- */
- 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{array}
- user built array.
-@item @code{c}
- const. Note that the proper order is @code{Type const}
- i.s.o. @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, , , Top
-
-
-@unnumberedsec name
-
-
-PATCHES - 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
- pl 0.1.73.jcn1
- - added PATCHES.texi
-@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
-
-(Some scripts also assume this lives in @file{$HOME/usr/src}).
-
-
-@unnumberedsec Applying patches
-
-
-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
-
-
-@bye
+@node Top, , (dir), (dir)
+@top