PRIOR_CHECK#

Name#

PRIOR_CHECK

Purpose#

Checks the Lightning configuration prior substructures to make sure all inputs are correctly formatted and can be understood by Lightning. If they are not, an error message is printed.

Calling Sequence#

prior_check, prior_struct, param_name, npriors, $
             param_range, prior_options, prior_options_narg

Inputs#

prior_structstructure

The prior structure for a parameter as generated from the Lightning configuration. The full description of the structure is as follows:

TAG

TYPE

DESCRIPTION

PRIOR

string(Npriors)

Chosen prior distribution type

PRIOR_ARG

int/float/double/string(Npriors, Narg)

Distribution shape arguments

INITIALIZATION_RANGE

int/float/double(Npriors, 2)

Parameter initialization range
param_namestring scalar

The name of the parameter associated with the prior structure.

npriorsint, float, or double scalar

The number of priors that should be specified for the parameter.

param_rangeint, float, or double array(2)

The allowed range of the parameter contained within the prior substructure, given in terms of [min, max].

prior_optionsstring array(Nprior_options)

The allowed names of the types of priors that the parameter can be set (e.g., 'uniform' or 'normal').

prior_options_nargint, float, or double array(Nprior_options)

The number of arguments associated with each with each prior option.

Output#

An error message is output if any errors are found within the prior substructures. Error messages are relatively specific and should help users resolve any issues.

Modification History#

  • 2022/04/26: Created (Keith Doore)

  • 2022/05/19: Added check to ensure tabulated directory exists (Keith Doore)

  • 2022/06/02: Added additional checks to confirm parameters do not result in priors with machine over/underflow (Keith Doore)

  • 2022/06/27: Renamed inputs for consistent naming scheme (Keith Doore)

  • 2022/08/01: Added check for initialization range (Keith Doore)

  • 2022/08/01: Fixed bug if input multiple priors and not all had same Narg (Keith Doore)