changes for PetscMap

[Matthew Knepley]

I wanted that 10 years ago.

  Matt

On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 4:37 PM, Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> wrote:

>
>   PetscMap is a strange beast in PETSc.
>
> 1) it is not a PetscObject (that is it has no PETSc header)
> 2) it is used as a PetscMap* instead of PetscMap like most objects
> 3) it does not have a PetscMapCreate() instead it has a
> PetscMapInitialize() which is like a create except it does not malloc its
> memory
> 4) It does have a PetscMapDestroy() that DOES free the space.
> 5) Sometimes a PetscMalloc() is called before PetscMapInitialize() and
> sometimes a PetscMap is declared and a & of the variable is passed in
>    In this case it will crash if one calls PetscMapDestroy() is called on
> it. So instead one must call PetscFree(map->range); to free the interior
> space.
>
>  This strange creature evolved over time because I did not want PetscMap to
> be a full heavy weight object, but it pretty much ended up being one anyways
> (for example it has reference counting). For a long time I hid PetscMap in
> the less public part of PETSc didn't want most people to have to deal with
> it.
>
>   I still don't want it to be something most PETSc users need ever see, but
> it is time to fix it up and make it more consistent with other objects. So I
> propose to make a PetscMap just like other PETSc objects, with create(),
> destroy(), opaque definition except I will still not make it have a PETSc
> header. This will not require much change in the code but will simplify its
> usage.
>
>
>  Any comments.
>
>   Barry
>
>


-- 
What most experimenters take for granted before they begin their experiments
is infinitely more interesting than any results to which their experiments
lead.
-- Norbert Wiener
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