
.. _extending_theano:

================
Extending Theano
================

Theano Graphs
=============

- Theano works with symbolic graphs.
- Those graphs are bi-partite graphs (graphs with 2 types of nodes).
- The two types of nodes are ``Apply`` and ``Variable`` nodes.
- Each ``Apply`` node has a link to the op that it executes.

Inputs and Outputs are lists of Theano variables.

.. image:: ../hpcs2011_tutorial/pics/apply_node.png
    :width: 500 px

.. note::

    This tutorial does not cover how to make an op that returns a view or
    modifies the values in its inputs. Thus, all ops created with the 
    instructions described here MUST return newly allocated
    memory or reuse the memory provided in the parameter
    ``output_storage`` of the :func:`perform` function. See :ref:`views_and_inplace`
    for an explanation on how to do this.

    If your op returns a view or changes the value of its inputs
    without doing as prescribed in that page, Theano will run, but will
    return correct results for some graphs and wrong results for others.

    It is recommended that you run your tests in DebugMode (Theano *flag*
    ``mode=DebugMode``) since it verifies if your op behaves correctly in this
    regard.

.. note::

   See the :ref:`dev_start_guide` for information regarding the versioning
   framework, namely about *git* and *GitHub*, regarding the development workflow and
   how to make a quality contribution.


Op Structure
============

This an overview of the methods you typically have to implement to
make a new op.  It does not provide extensive coverage of all the
possibilities you may encounter or need.  For that refer to
:ref:`op_contract`.

.. code-block:: python

    import theano

    class MyOp(theano.Op):
        __props__ = ()

        def make_node(self, *inputs):
            pass

        # Python implementation:
        def perform(self, node, inputs_storage, output_storage):
            pass

        # C implementation: [see theano web site for other functions]
        def c_code(...):
            # ...
            pass

        # Other implementations (pycuda, ...):
        def make_thunk(self, node, storage_map, _, _2):
            pass

        # optional:
        check_input = True

        def __init__(self, ...):
            pass

        def grad(self, inputs, g):
            pass

        def R_op(self, inputs, eval_points):
            pass

        def infer_shape(node, (i0_shapes, ...)):
            pass

.. ../extending/op.txt

There are two mandatory methods that one needs to implement.  The
first one is :func:`make_node`. The second one would describe the
computations that are required to be done at run time. Currently there
are 2 different possibilites: implement the :func:`perform` and/or
:func:`c_code <Op.c_code>` methods (and other related :ref:`c methods
<cop>`), or the :func:`make_thunk` method. ``perform`` allows to
easily wrap an existing Python function into Theano. ``c_code`` and
the related methods allow the op to generate C code that will be
compiled and linked by Theano. On the other hand, ``make_thunk`` will
be called only once during compilation and should generate a
``thunk``: a standalone function that when called will do the wanted
computations.  This is useful if you want to generate code and compile
it yourself. For example, this allows you to use PyCUDA to compile GPU
code.

The :attr:`__props__` attribute serves to make Op generate an
appropriate :func:`__eq__` and :func:`__hash__` for your Op.  It must
be a tuple that lists the properties that influence how the
computation is performed (Ususally these are those that you set in
:func:`__init__`). If you don't have any properties, then you should
set this attribute to the emtpy tuple `()`. It will also generate a
suitable :func:`__str__` for your op. This requires development
version after September 1st, 2014 or version 0.7.

:func:`__eq__` and :func:`__hash__` will be used by the optimization
phase to merge nodes that are doing a equivalent compuation (same
inputs, same operation).  It is especially important that two Ops that
compare equal (have the same values for all the properties listed in
__props__ and the same type) compute the same thing when presented
with the same inputs.

Also note that this attribute will also generate a suitable
:func:`__str__` method for your Op.  You may override this default
with a custom one if you want another format for the output.

The :func:`infer_shape` method allows to infer the shape of some variable, somewhere in the
middle of the computational graph without actually computing the outputs (when possible).
This could be helpful if one only needs the shape of the output instead of the actual outputs.

The :func:`grad` method is required if you want to differentiate some cost whose expression
includes your op.

The :func:`__str__` method is useful in order to provide a more meaningful
string representation of your op.

The :func:`R_op` method is needed if you want ``theano.tensor.Rop`` to
work with your op.

The optional boolean :attr:`check_input` attribute is used to specify
if you want the types used in your op to check their inputs in their
c_code. It can be used to speed up compilation, reduce overhead
(particularly for scalars) and reduce the number of generated C files.

Op Example
==========

.. code-block:: python

    import theano

    class DoubleOp(theano.Op):
        __props__ = ()

        def make_node(self, x):
            # check that the theano version has support for __props__
            assert hasattr(self, '_props')
            x = theano.tensor.as_tensor_variable(x)
            return theano.Apply(self, [x], [x.type()])

        def perform(self, node, inputs, output_storage):
            x = inputs[0]
            z = output_storage[0]
            z[0] = x * 2

        def infer_shape(self, node, i0_shapes):
            return i0_shapes

        def grad(self, inputs, output_grads):
            return [output_grads[0] * 2]

        def R_op(self, inputs, eval_points):
            # R_op can receive None as eval_points.
            # That mean there is no diferientiable path through that input
            # If this imply that you cannot compute some outputs,
            # return None for those.
            if eval_points[0] is None:
                return eval_points
            return self.grad(inputs, eval_points)

You can try it as follows:

.. code-block:: python

    x = theano.tensor.matrix()
    f = theano.function([x], DoubleOp()(x))
    import numpy
    inp = numpy.random.rand(5, 4)
    out = f(inp)
    assert numpy.allclose(inp * 2, out)
    print inp
    print out


How To Test it
==============

Theano has some functionalities to simplify testing. These help test the
``infer_shape``, ``grad`` and ``R_op`` methods. Put the following code
in a file and execute it with the ``theano-nose`` program.

Basic Tests
-----------

Basic tests are done by you just by using the op and checking that it
returns the right answer. If you detect an error, you must raise an
*exception*. You can use the ``assert`` keyword to automatically raise an
``AssertionError``.

.. code-block:: python

    from theano.tests import unittest_tools as utt
    from theano import config
    class test_Double(utt.InferShapeTester):
        def setUp(self):
            super(test_Double, self).setUp()
            self.op_class = DoubleOp
            self.op = DoubleOp()

        def test_basic(self):
            x = theano.tensor.matrix()
            f = theano.function([x], self.op(x))
            inp = numpy.asarray(numpy.random.rand(5, 4), dtype=config.floatX)
            out = f(inp)
            # Compare the result computed to the expected value.
            utt.assert_allclose(inp * 2, out)

We call ``utt.assert_allclose(expected_value, value)`` to compare
NumPy ndarray.This raise an error message with more information. Also,
the default tolerance can be changed with the Theano flags
``config.tensor.cmp_sloppy`` that take values in 0, 1 and 2. The
defaul value do the most strict comparison, 1 and 2 make less strict
comparison.

Testing the infer_shape
-----------------------

When a class inherits from the ``InferShapeTester`` class, it gets the
``self._compile_and_check`` method that tests the op's ``infer_shape``
method. It tests that the op gets optimized out of the graph if only
the shape of the output is needed and not the output
itself. Additionally, it checks that the optimized graph computes
the correct shape, by comparing it to the actual shape of the computed
output.

``self._compile_and_check`` compiles a Theano function. It takes as
parameters the lists of input and output Theano variables, as would be
provided to ``theano.function``, and a list of real values to pass to the
compiled function. It also takes the op class as a parameter
in order to verify that no instance of it appears in the shape-optimized graph.

If there is an error, the function raises an exception. If you want to
see it fail, you can implement an incorrect ``infer_shape``.

When testing with input values with shapes that take the same value
over different dimensions (for instance, a square matrix, or a tensor3
with shape (n, n, n), or (m, n, m)), it is not possible to detect if
the output shape was computed correctly, or if some shapes with the
same value have been mixed up. For instance, if the infer_shape uses
the width of a matrix instead of its height, then testing with only
square matrices will not detect the problem. This is why the
``self._compile_and_check`` method prints a warning in such a case. If
your op works only with such matrices, you can disable the warning with the
``warn=False`` parameter.

.. code-block:: python

    from theano.tests import unittest_tools as utt
    from theano import config
    class test_Double(utt.InferShapeTester):
        # [...] as previous tests.
        def test_infer_shape(self):
            x = theano.tensor.matrix()
            self._compile_and_check([x],  # theano.function inputs
                                    [self.op(x)],  # theano.function outputs
                                    # Always use not square matrix!
                                    # inputs data
                                    [numpy.asarray(numpy.random.rand(5, 4),
                                                   dtype=config.floatX)],
                                    # Op that should be removed from the graph.
                                    self.op_class)

Testing the gradient
--------------------

The function :ref:`verify_grad <validating_grad>`
verifies the gradient of an op or Theano graph. It compares the
analytic (symbolically computed) gradient and the numeric
gradient (computed through the Finite Difference Method).

If there is an error, the function raises an exception. If you want to
see it fail, you can implement an incorrect gradient (for instance, by removing
the multiplication by 2).

.. code-block:: python

        def test_grad(self):
            theano.tests.unittest_tools.verify_grad(self.op,
                                                    [numpy.random.rand(5, 7, 2)])

Testing the Rop
---------------

.. TODO: repair defective links in the following paragraph

The class :class:`RopLop_checker` defines the functions
:func:`RopLop_checker.check_mat_rop_lop`, :func:`RopLop_checker.check_rop_lop` and
:func:`RopLop_checker.check_nondiff_rop`. These allow to test the
implementation of the Rop method of a particular op.

For instance, to verify the Rop method of the DoubleOp, you can use this:

.. code-block:: python

   import numpy
   import theano.tests
   from theano.tests.test_rop import RopLop_checker
   class test_DoubleRop(RopLop_checker):
       def setUp(self):
           super(test_DoubleRop, self).setUp()
       def test_double_rop(self):
           self.check_rop_lop(DoubleRop()(self.x), self.in_shape)


Testing GPU Ops
---------------

Ops to be executed on the GPU should inherit from the
``theano.sandbox.cuda.GpuOp`` and not ``theano.Op``. This allows
Theano to distinguish them. Currently, we use this to test if the
NVIDIA driver works correctly with our sum reduction code on the GPU.


Running Your Tests
==================

To perform your tests, you may select either one of the three
following methods:

theano-nose
-----------

The method of choice to conduct tests is to run the file
``theano-nose``. In a regular Theano installation, the latter will be
on the operating system's path and directly accessible from any
folder. Otherwise, it can be accessed in the ``Theano/bin``
folder. The following command lines may be used for the corresponding
purposes:

* ``theano-nose --theano``: Run every test found in Theano's path.

* ``theano-nose folder_name``: Run every test found in the folder *folder_name*.

* ``theano-nose test_file.py``: Run every test found in the file *test_file.py*.

The following are particularly useful for development purposes since
they call for particular classes or even for particular tests:

* ``theano-nose test_file.py:test_DoubleRop``: Run every test found inside the class *test_DoubleRop*.

* ``theano-nose test_file.py:test_DoubleRop.test_double_op``: Run only the test *test_double_op*
  in the class *test_DoubleRop*.

Help with the use and functionalities of ``theano-nose`` may be
obtained by running it with the command line parameter ``--help
(-h)``.

nosetests
---------

The command ``nosetests`` can also be used.  Although it lacks the
useful functionalities that ``theano-nose`` provides, ``nosetests``
can be called similarly to ``theano-nose`` from any folder in Python's
path like so:

``nosetests [suffix similar to the above]``.

More documentation on ``nosetests`` is available here:
`nosetests <http://readthedocs.org/docs/nose/en/latest/>`_.

In-file
-------

One may also add a block of code similar to the following at the end
of the file containing a specific test of interest and run the
file. In this example, the test *test_DoubleRop* in the class
*test_double_op* would be performed.

.. code-block:: python

    if __name__ == '__main__':
       t = test_DoubleRop("test_double_rop")
       t.setUp()
       t.test_double_rop()

We recommend that when we execute a file, we run all tests in that
file. This can be done by adding this at the end of your test files:

.. code-block:: python

    if __name__ == '__main__':
        unittest.main()


Exercise
========

Run the code of the *DoubleOp* example above.

Modify and execute to compute: x * y.

Modify and execute the example to return two outputs: x + y and x - y.

You can omit the Rop functions. Try to implement the testing apparatus
described above.

(Notice that Theano's current *elemwise fusion* optimization is
only applicable to computations involving a single output. Hence, to gain
efficiency over the basic solution that is asked here, the two operations would
have to be jointly optimized explicitly in the code.)


as_op
=====

as_op is a python decorator that converts a python function into a
basic Theano op that will call the supplied function during execution.

This isn't the recommended way to build an op, but allows for a quick
implementation.

It takes an optional :func:`infer_shape` parameter that must have this
signature:

  .. code-block:: python

           def infer_shape(node, input_shapes):
                # ...
                return output_shapes

  - `input_shapes` and `output_shapes` are lists of tuples that
    represent the shape of the corresponding inputs/outputs.

.. note::

    Not providing the `infer_shape` method cause shapes-related
    optimization to not work with that op. For example
    `your_op(inputs, ...).shape` will need the op to be executed just
    to get the shape.

.. note::

    As no grad is defined, this means you won't be able to
    differentiate paths that include this op.

.. note::

    It converts the python function to a callable object that takes as
    inputs Theano variables that were declared.


as_op Example
-------------

.. code-block:: python

    import theano
    import numpy
    from theano.compile.ops import as_op

    def infer_shape_numpy_dot(node, input_shapes):
        ashp, bshp = input_shapes
        return [ashp[:-1] + bshp[-1:]]

    @as_op(itypes=[theano.tensor.fmatrix, theano.tensor.fmatrix],
           otypes=[theano.tensor.fmatrix], infer_shape=infer_shape_numpy_dot)
    def numpy_dot(a, b):
       return numpy.dot(a, b)

You can try it as follows:

.. code-block:: python

    x = theano.tensor.fmatrix()
    y = theano.tensor.fmatrix()
    f = function([x, y], numpy_dot(x, y))
    inp1 = numpy.random.rand(5, 4)
    inp2 = numpy.random.rand(4, 7)
    out = f(inp1, inp2)


Exercise
--------

Run the code of the *numpy_dot* example above.

Modify and execute to compute: numpy.add and numpy.subtract.

Modify and execute the example to return two outputs: x + y
    and x - y.


Random numbers in tests
=======================

Making tests errors more reproducible is a good practice. To make your
tests more reproducible, you need a way to get the same random
numbers. You can do this by seeding NumPy's random number
generator.

For convenience, the classes InferShapeTester and RopLop_checker
already do this for you. If you implement your own ``setUp`` function,
don't forget to call the parent ``setUp`` function.

For more details see :ref:`random_value_in_tests`.


:download:`Solution<extending_theano_solution_1.py>`

Documentation
=============

See :ref:`metadocumentation`, for some information on how to generate
the documentation.

Here is an example how to add docstring to a class.

.. code-block:: python

    import theano

    class DoubleOp(theano.Op):
    """ Double each element of a tensor.

    :param x: input tensor.

    :return: a tensor of the same shape and dtype as the input with all
        values doubled.

    :note:
        this is a test note

    :seealso:
        You can use the elemwise op to replace this example.
        Just execute `x * 2` with x being a Theano variable.

    .. versionadded:: 0.6
    """

This is how it will show up for files that we auto-list in the library
documentation:


.. automodule:: theano.misc.doubleop
    :members:

Final Note
==========

A more extensive discussion of this section's content may be found in
the advanced tutorial :ref:`Extending Theano<extending>`.

The section :ref:`Other ops <other_ops>` includes more instructions for
the following specific cases:

 - :ref:`scalar_ops`
 - :ref:`scipy_ops`
 - :ref:`sparse_ops`
 - :ref:`Random ops <random_ops>`
 - :ref:`openmp_ops`
 - :ref:`numba_ops`
