hsf / tricktrack Goto Github PK

is there an arxiv number or publication one can use to cite this software ?

In version 1.08 which was installed up to LCG_96c_LS the cmake configuration had a bug that is fixed with #17

Hello!
My name is Giorgio Pintaudi and I am a Ph.D. student based in Japan, working on the T2K experiment (the near detector side).

I am here because I am evaluating your library to see if it can fit our experiment requirements/configuration. Sorry for the long message, but before asking questions I would like to describe our background a little.

We have been using for many years the cellular automaton algorithm to find tracks. However, as is usually the case in HEP, our C++ codebase is of dubious quality, to say the least. I mean no version control, no documentation, no unit tests, no OO design, etc... This year, we added some new subdetectors so we have to update the track finding software anyway, and I am faced with three options.

1. Use the old framework (not really an option because it is a spaghetti code mess)
2. Develop my own library (I have experience in professional software development, so I know how to write good maintainable code, however, I would like to avoid reinventing the wheel)
3. Use a good external library like yours (I am leaning towards this option)

So my questions are:

• Is this software still actively maintained?
• Other than the doxygen documentation (very good), is there any other source of documentation? Like websites, articles, reviews, anything. I found this link (cern.ch/tricktrack) but I could not get access to it because I am not CERN based. Does that website contain any useful documentation?
• I noticed that you provide some Python bindings (very good). As any developer in his right mind, I would always prefer Python over C++ if there is not a specific reason to do otherwise. So, is all the C++ functionality accessible through the Python bindings, or the support is only partial? Do you support or plan to support Python 3?
• If and only if I happen to make any sizable contribution to the project, can I make a pull request? Will my contribution get any credit? On the other hand, I promise to quote the software in any publication that I might author.

Thank you
Giorgio

isOuterHitOfCell, currently a member of CMLayer, could be moved to the Doublets class

The code for the traversal of the layer graph, needed for connecting the cells and finding tracklets, is duplicate here: https://github.com/HEP-SF/TrickTrack/blob/master/include/tricktrack/HitChainMaker.ipp#L25 It could be refactored, with some small improvements