implement Sofomore.active(kernel) method

[nikohansen]

The Sofomore.activate method should be implemented, in order to be able to refine a kernel.

• we probably want to call, maybe optionally, kernel._stopdict.clear() during activation
• @cheikhToure I don't understand the tentative code (see above link)

       new_list = [callback for callback in self.kernels[ikernel].opts['termination_callback']\
               if callback(kernel) == 'kernel turned off']
       kernel.opts['termination_callback'] = new_list

  Was the == mean to read != such that the turned off termination is removed?

[nikohansen]

Another question: why don't we activate the kernel unconditionally?

[nikohansen]

Tentative code:

    def activate(self, kernel, reset_termination=True, reset_stagnation=False):
        if reset_termination:
            kernel._stopdict.clear()
        if reset_stagnation:
            kernel.fit.histbest.clear()  # reset opts['tolstagnation']
            kernel.fit.histmedian.clear()  # ditto
        ikernel = self.kernels.index(kernel)  # kernel must be in self.kernels
        if ikernel in self._active_indices:
            return
        self._active_indices += [ikernel]
        # remove "turned off" status
        if kernel.opts['termination_callback']:
            kernel.opts['termination_callback'] = [c for c in kernel.opts['termination_callback']
                                                   if c(kernel) != 'kernel turned off']

[cheikhToure]

The Sofomore.activate method should be implemented, in order to be able to refine a kernel.

• we probably want to call, maybe optionally, kernel._stopdict.clear() during activation

• @cheikhToure I don't understand the tentative code (see above link)

       new_list = [callback for callback in self.kernels[ikernel].opts['termination_callback']\
               if callback(kernel) == 'kernel turned off']
       kernel.opts['termination_callback'] = new_list

  Was the == mean to read != such that the turned off termination is removed?

Yes it was meant to read !=.

[cheikhToure]

Another question: why don't we activate the kernel unconditionally?

The tentative code was meant to activate a kernel that we inactivated beforehand, mainly for budget allocation.

When we do:

import cma
es = cma.CMAEvolutionStrategy(10 * [1], 0.2)
es.optimize(cma.ff.sphere)

The optimization is done in ~ 2000 function evaluations with a tolfun stopping criterion.
If we then do

es.optimize(lambda x: cma.ff.sphere(x - 1))

The step-size of es increases for 1000 more function evaluations before decreasing for another 2000 function evaluations and we hit a tolstagnation criterion.

The idea was to avoid this adaptive phase that costs 1000 function evaluations when activating a kernel that we did not turn off on purpose (mainly for budget allocation) during the optimization of a changing fitness.

[nikohansen]

Maybe we want a method that checks for deactivation status, like

    def inactivated(self, kernel):
        """return `True` if kernel was deactivated with `Sofomore.inactivate`, else `False`
        """
        try:
            for c in kernel.opts['termination_callback']:
                if c(kernel) == 'kernel turned off':
                    return True
        except TypeError: # termination callback options were not iterable
            pass
        return False
# or:
    def inactivated(self, kernel):
        s = kernel.stop(check=False)
        for k in s:
            if k == 'callback' and 'kernel turned off' in s[k]:
                return True
        return False

which would allow to write

    moes.activate(kernel) if moes.inactivated(kernel) else None

to activate the kernel only when it was inactivated before.