itaps-parallel Overloading entity-set functions

[Devine, Karen D]

At bootcamp and in subsequent email, we discussed the idea of overloading
the entity set handle in many ITAPS functions with a part handle.  In light
of our recent decision to augment the interface with Carl's 16 functions,
do you think this overloading capability is still needed?   Talking points:

-  Carl's 16 functions accomplish many of the same capabilities when the
entity set passed to them is the root set.  If we did not allow the
overloading, would we need additional functions beyond Carl's sixteen?

-  If we pass part handles in place of entity set handles, do we also need
to pass partition handles in place of mesh instances?  Or would parts "know"
which partition they belong to?   (I raised this question before, thinking
that parts would be uniquely identified by a (partition_handle, part_handle)
pair, just as entities are identified by a (mesh_instance, entity_handle)
pair.  But maybe the pairing isn't necessary or is too inconvenient for
parts?)

-  Do all iMesh functions require the mesh instance as the first argument?
(Seems so for the multiplexer.)  Or could a substituted partition handle
"know" which mesh instance to use?  When creating a partition handle, we do
pass it a mesh instance and a communicator, so a partition handle could
"know" which mesh instance to use.

Karen