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Explicit Disciplines

The previous section described how data is represented by Philote. Individual disciplines are described as a service. This section describes the conventions for the ExplicitDiscipline:

service ExplicitService {
    // Calls the discipline Compute function
    rpc ComputeFunction(stream Array) returns (stream Array) {}

    // Calls the discipline ComputePartials function
    rpc ComputeGradient(stream Array) returns (stream Array) {}
}

ComputeFunction​

The most basic RPC required by an MDO framework is a function evaluation. The Compute RPC sends the input variables (Variables, chunked) to the analysis server. The server then conducts a function evaluation and assigns output data to a Variables datatype, chunks it, and streams the chunks back over the wire to the MDO framework.

Compute Gradient​

This RPC enables the MDO framework to query the discipline derivatives. Naturally, not all disciplines are differentiable or meant to be used in gradient-based optimization. As such, this function is optional.

Inputs are sent to the analysis server as a stream of chunks containing a Variables datatype. After the analysis server has evaluated and assigned the derivatives, the are returned (chunked) as a Partials datatypes.