PALS-PALS "converters"

[danielkallendorf]

Just a thought about how to actually use PALS and slightly related to the answer here pals-project/pals-python#7

We have properties that can be simplified and afterwards still be represented by a pals file. This includes tilts, coordinates, repetition and taylor maps.
A program reading pals can handle some parameters and will need a specific form in other parameters.

My suggestion is to abstract this into "PALS-converters" (for the lack of a better name) which then convert pals-file to pals-file and can be applied on demand.

The PALS however defines the converter types and their IN/OUT parameters.
Examples that are established/ came to my mind:

• Coordinate Converter (part of PALS reference implementation?)
• Lattice expansion (part of PALS reference implementation)
• Surrogate Taylor-map converter (replaces every element with it's taylor-map; useful for Monte-Carlo codes)
• Material lookup (To convert names into chemical information, as suggested in Matter Element and MaterialP #79)

The PALS-valiator would also be a module like this.

[DavidSagan]

Yes I agree that coordinate conversion, lattice expansion, and material lookup should be part of any PALS translator and this is discussed in #33. A Taylor map calculator is problematical since constructing a Taylor map involves tracking (and any Taylor maps will depend upon how the tracking is done) so I don't think this is practical. Rather, the standard should allow Taylor maps, calculated by the User, to be included in an any element definition.

[danielkallendorf]

Ah yes this is mostly covered in the discussion #33