Are you a beginner?

This page provides a links to a series of Overviews that serve 3 purposes:-

1. To provide the essential concepts of the key elements of our software and support tools plus, where appropriate, additional information allowing novice users to put theory into practise.
2. As an index into our documentation on the 3 click principle:-
   1. Click the required topic link on the table of contents below to move down the page to a section on that topic.
   2. Click the appropriate subtopic link to go to a separate page on the subtopic.
   3. The subtopic page starts with one or more slides followed by a Notes and Further References which should have links to all relevant WebDoc materials
   This isn't fully working yet but if you cannot get to an existing WedDoc document in 3 clicks then please email Nick West saying where you were trying to get to and where you tried looking on this page. Remember click,click,click or email Nick!
3. As the base material for a Set of Tutorials

There is also a set of Package Overviews that are aimed specfically at people running loon jobs.

Table of Contents

1. Background
   Looking at OO, and C++ and the tools we use to build OO programs in C++
2. Organisation
   Who are the people involved in the off-line software and on what platforms does it run?
3. Software Structure
   Our Monte Carlo is currently in Fortran and our reconstruction and analysis is in C++.
4. Accessing the Repository
   How do we get the software from FNAL?
5. Installing the Base Release
   How do we install the software for the first time?
6. Updating the Base Release
   How do we get updates when the software changes?
7. Running Standard Jobs
   How do we run standard jobs?
8. Working with ROOT
   How can ROOT be used to analyse job output?
9. The Framework
   How is the C++ code organised and what are the main services it offers?
10. MySQL Database
    What type of database do we have and how to we manage and access it?
11. Private Program Development
    How do we extend the functionality of our code?
12. Public Program Development
    How do we add code to the code base?
13. Getting Help
    Where can we find help when something goes wrong or we just want to know more?

Background

Language

• The OO Paradigm
  The Object Oriented approach to software breaks a program into objects, which are bundles of data embedded in a protective software coat.
• The C++ Language
  C++ supports OO. The class statement defines how objects are created, behave and are finally destroyed.

Tools

• make
  The is the low-level tool for program building. The user provides a set of rules, one for each step in the build process and then make optimizes the build process.
• cvs
  The Concurrent Versioning System allows a distributed group to develop a software collectively, catching, and helping resolve, conflicts and tracking the full development history.
• srt
  Software Release Tools is the high-level tool used by MINOS build releases. It simplifies and standardises the use of make and supports builds both of the current code and frozen releases.

Organisation

• Global Organisation
  Globally we are organised into a Core Group who support both Physicist Programmers who develop physics applications and End Users who run these applications. Platform support is strictly limited.
• Local Organisation
  Each site needs to elect a Software Librarian to install the standard software and identify Mentors to help local users.

Software Structure

• gminos and reco_minos
  gminos is the Fortran77 Monte Carlo and reco_minos a framework for user analysis of its results. It comes with LABYRINTH - its own updating and build system.
• minossoft
  This is the C++ Framework used to develop reconstruction and analysis applications. Eventually it will host the Monte Carlo as well.
• Data Flows
  gminos and reco_minos output cannot be directly read by minossoft applications but have to go through the converter reroot.

Accessing the Repository

• Remote cvs access
  We use a server client cvs model. The cvs server is at FNAL and talks to local cvs clients giving everyone access to our code.

Installing the Base Release

• Installing the Base Release
  Our software requires a number of free 3rd party libraries be installed by local software librarians before it can be built. Initial installation of our libraries is via a tar file that provides the basic srt tools to load the latest code release. The local software librarian is responsible for adding a site specific configuration file to customise it to the local site.

Updating the Base Release

• Tracking Changes
  The code base at FNAL is constantly being updated and its up to the local software librarian to use an srt tool to get the latest updates and rebuild libraries and executables.

Running Standard Jobs

• Preparation
  Before End Users can run jobs they have to ensure that the base release has been installed locally and that their environmental variables are correctly set to point to it.
• The Standard Jobs
  Currently the standard jobs are minfastjob , for looking at MC output, MIDAD for data display and demojob for user analysis.
• Configuring Jobs
  MIDAD and demojob are both native framework applications which means that the user can specify the job flow and configure the individual modules at execution time via a .jcm file.
• Writing ROOT macros
  This is a very simple way to add software to extend what our software can do.

Working with ROOT

• The ROOT Program
  root is an interactive program that allows you to call our software and analyse our data using C++ as the command language.
• ROOT as a replacement for PAW
  ROOT supports all the analysis tools of PAW and more besides.
• ROOT as a Framework
  The minossoft framework uses ROOT for much of its low-level services such as I/O

The Framework

• The Package
  This is the basic Framework component. Each develops in response to a set of Requirements and is described, for developer and maintainer purposes by its PACKRAT.

  Framework Packages

  See the Framework Package Overviews

  Reconstruction Packages

• Reconstruction Packages carry out reconstruction and analysis tasks. They both use Framework services and provide interfaces for framework calls, which is why a Framework is more than a set low level libraries.

  See the Reconstruction Package Overviews

• In July 2002 Roy Lee has provided a set of talks on the CandXxxSP packages Although obsolete it still has useful information
• In January 2002 David Petyt has provided a talk on Monitoring

MySQL Database

Private Program Development

• Creating a test release
  Eventually running standard jobs augmented with macros will not suffice and then its time to write code but to do that you need a test release.
• Using Demojob
  Demojob demonstrates many key features of our framework and is a good place to start private code development.

Public Program Development

• Coding to our Standard
  We have a set of standards for our code. They are worth following even for code that is private!
• Committing Code to the Repository
  For code that will eventually be part of the code base commit early and often so that others can help.
• Prepare to be Reviewed
  Not as daunting as it sounds, people only want to help!

Getting Help

• When you get stuck or want to know more
  The build system is considerably more complex than the old FORTRAN days and there are a number of ways to get help solving errors. WebDocs is our off-line documentation base with pages on every aspect of our code and with useful links into the wider web
• Browsing the Code if all else fails!