Improve the HALG file format

[shawnmjones]

In v0.5, we introduced the HALG file format for executing Hypercane recipes.

To start, Hypercane needs two bash functions to make HALG more compact: cache_hc and move_output.

Consider the following script, simplified to illustrate a point:

#!/bin/bash

input_type=$1
input_argument=$2
working_directory=$3
output_file=$4

cd ${working_directory}

if [ ! -e identified-mementos.tsv ]; then
  hc identify mementos -i $input_type -a $input_argument -o identified-mementos.tsv
fi

if [ ! -e sample-mementos.tsv ]; then
  hc sample true-random -k 2000 -i mementos -a identified-mementos.tsv -o sample-mementos.tsv
fi

if [ ! -e image-report.json ]; then
  hc report imagedata -i mementos -a identified-mementos.tsv -o image-report.json
fi

if [ ! -e terms.tsv ]; then
  hc report terms -i mementos -a identified-mementos.tsv -o terms.tsv
fi

if [ ! -e story.json ]; then
  hc synthesize raintale-story -i mementos -a identified-mementos --imagedata image-report.json --term-report terms.tsv -o story.json
fi

cp ${working_directory}/story.json ${output_file}

which could be simplified to something like this:

#!/bin/bash

input_type=$1
input_argument=$2
working_directory=$3
output_file=$4

function cache_hc() { ... }

function move_output() { ... }

cache_hc "identify mementos" "${input_type}=${input_argument}" "694-mementos.tsv"
cache_hc "sample true-random -k 2000" "694-mementos.tsv" "sample-mementos.tsv"
cache_hc "report imagedata" "sample-mementos.tsv" "image-report.json"
cache_hc "report terms --use-sumgrams" "sample-mementos.tsv" "terms.tsv"
cache_hc "synthesize raintale-story --imagedata image-report.json --term-report terms.tsv" "sample-mementos.tsv" "story.json"
move_output "story.json" "${output_file}

and we can even make the cache_hc and move_output functions available as part of the Hypercane installation itself.

This issue is the start of a conversation/documentation of thinking about this idea with the goal of making HALG more applicable as v0.6 development unfolds.

We also need to document HALG. So far, it differs from a regular shell script by offering comments in the following format:

#!/bin/bash
# algorithm name: DSA1
# algorithm description: An implementation of the algorithm from AlNoamany's dissertation.

These comments are used by Hypercane when displaying the possible algorithms. Getting HALG straight is an important step toward the Recipe Builder.

[shawnmjones]

And after saying all of that, I wonder if there is some way we can make a generic file format that the WUI can consume and create an appropriate Wooey script.