1. Simulation Status for Year2 Running Charles F. Maguire Software Meeting May 8, 2001

2. Core Week Software 5/8/2001Charles F. Maguire, Vanderbilt 2 Present Simulation Responsibilities Support Global Event Generator Suite Established 1996 with HIJING, LUCIAE, HIJET, etc. New versions added, new event generators added (RQMD2.4, NEXUS) Interface to PISA and stand-alone browsing (ROOT I/O to replace ZEBRA) ===> Good project for a new student or post-doc learning simulation Maintain PISA and PHOOL interface to PISA Major Muon Arm changes for Year2 ===> Year1 phnx.par does not work for Year2 and vice-versa !! Output data structures have been stable for more than one year New slow neutron package (MICAP) activated for PISA, needs study ===> Good project for a new student or post-doc learning simulation Develop and Upgrade Simulation Macros in PHOOL for Year2 PISA-to-DST for Central Arms working PISA-to-PRDF and PRDF-to-DST for Muon Arms working PISA-to-DST doesn’t work for Muon Arms (MuTr coding structure effect) PISA-to-PRDF doesn’t work for Central Arms (Dch problem) Compromises goal of Muon MDC to have complete PRDFs

3. Core Week Software 5/8/2001Charles F. Maguire, Vanderbilt 3 Documentation in a Rapidly Evolving Environment Major simulation projects done for Year1, still in active use New simulation projects anticipated for Year2 Software environment significantly changed in Year2 Year 2 PISA control files different, non-interchangeable PISAs Year 2 Off-Line subsystem analysis different MVD installed and working PC2/PC3 in West Arm Muon Arms are new Which build is appropriate for a given configuration? Not to mention ROOT2.25 or ROOT3.00 Solution Separate “one-stop-shopping” WWW sites instructing people on how to run simulations in either Year1 or Year2 configurations Very good response from users -- confusion before, clarity after

4. Core Week Software 5/8/2001Charles F. Maguire, Vanderbilt 4 Obvious Simulation Infrastructure Needs Event Files Information Database Needed Which HIJING (VNI, RQMD, …) event files exist and where? Which PISA hits files exist and where? Which simulated PRDFs and simulated DSTs exist, where? Database effort by Indrani, Saskia, and Tim progressing ===> proof of working product to come for Muon MDC Macros Clean Up and Conversion (needs subsystem help) Simulation macros still use many ASCII files Are these obsolete relics, or really needed? Working macros need to be converted to compiled code Single integrated set (Central + Muon Arms) Four sets possible: PISA-to-DST, PISA-to-PRDF, PRDF-to-DST, DST-to-microDST (doesn’t yet exist) Separate evaluation macros from subsystems, e.g. padVertexCheck.C combines PISA, Rel files, and DST checks

5. Core Week Software 5/8/2001Charles F. Maguire, Vanderbilt 5 Simulated Events Production in Year2 Complete (PISA, PRDF and DST) Production at Remote Sites LSF rcas farm at RCF not supposed to be used for big simulations What are the available, off-site large scale CPU resources? Known sites at CC-J and LLNL; others may come on-line PISA hits files easy; Objectivity needed for DSTs (and PRDFs?) Procedures for shipping to RCF into HPSS, and out of HPSS? Management of Large Scale Simulation Production for Year2 Projects initiated and prioritized within a PWG; all PWGs equal Simulation events manager maintains a database of completed and pending large scale simulation projections PWG contact person interfaces directly with a remote farm site contact person to ensure proper simulation configuration is used PWG contact persons does QA, not the Simulation events manager

6. Core Week Software 5/8/2001Charles F. Maguire, Vanderbilt 6 Simulation and Quality Assurance Quality Assurance is a Natural Fact in Simulation We are ALWAYS being asked to solve user problems How do we know what is still good and what has become broken? How to Check that a PISA file is good? Run it through pisaRootRead first (readable, contains hits, etc.) Run it through the PISA-to-DST chain second (no crashes, etc.) How to Check that the PISA-to-DST Chain is Good? Use simple, known events with forced acceptance Single track/event check for efficiencies Look at single particle and pair mass resolutions Embed these same events in background HIJING files Check for changes in momentum resolution and efficiencies How to Check that an Upgrade is Good (MICAP, ROOT3.00, …) Do before and after checks under well-controlled conditions

7. Core Week Software 5/8/2001Charles F. Maguire, Vanderbilt 7 Current Software Problems: A Simulation Perspective ROOT 2.25 to ROOT3.00 Transition Very Painful Months of effort to verify code is working in ROOT3.00 Still not there yet; source of user confusion Probably went too soon into ROOT3.00/02 with DSTs Took a while to get rebuilds in ROOT2.25 as baselines Lessons (NOT criticisms) of this ROOT Transition Never do a major production with a “new” version of ROOT Set up liaison with ROOT team to pre-screen our software as part of the next ROOT generation internal testing -- make contact next month? Have in place solid before-and-after testing Many Changes Happening Rapidly Users complaint “I cannot keep up with all these E-Mails”, tunes-out Complex Mélange of Objectivity, ASCII, and Binary Files Needed