Plugins

Plugins are extensions that are used to process online the data flowing through the connections of the model during the simulation. These tools are specialized tools that are used for specialized data processing. In addition to the plugins that are provided by Causal, it is also possible to write new plugins that focus on different specialized data processing. The fundamental importance of Plugins is that they make the online simulation data processing possible.

The Plugins are mostly used with Sinks. In Causal, the Sinks are used to sink simulation data flowing through the connections of the model. When a Sink is equipped with a proper Plugin according to the data processing desired, then the data flowing into the Sink is processed. For example, consider that a Writer is equipped with a Lyapunov plugin. During the simulation, data flowing into the Writer is processed to compute the maximum Lyapunov exponent, and these computed maximum Lyapunov exponents are recorded in the file of the Writer. Similarly, if a Printer is equipped with an Fft plugin, then Fast Fourier transform of the data flowing into the Printer is printed on the console.

Data processing via Plugins

Each Plugin must have a process function which does the data processing. The first argument of the process function is the Plugin and the second argument is the data to be processed. Here are some of the methods of process function

Defining New Plugins

New plugins can be defined in Causal and having they are defined properly they can work just expected. To define a new plugin, we must first define the plugin type

julia> using Causal # hide

julia> struct NewPlugin <: AbstractPlugin
           # Parameters of NewPlugin
       end

Since each plugin must have implement a process method, and for that Causal.process function must be imported.

julia> import Causal.process

julia> function process(plg::NewPlugin, x)
           # Define the process according to plg
       end
process (generic function with 1 method)

At this point, NewPlugin is ready to be used.