cholla-hydro/cholla

Convert all indexing variables to `size_t`/`ptrdiff_t`

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#271 opened on Mar 21, 2023

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code cleanupenhancementgood first issuerefactor

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Description

Currently many of the indexing variables we use are of type 'int' when they should be size_t (or ptrdiff_t if they're a difference). This could potentially lead to issues with the range of int as the size of VRAM on GPUs grows and this change would allow us to enable the following clang-tidy checks:

  • bugprone-implicit-widening-of-multiplication-result
  • bugprone-narrowing-conversions (alias of cppcoreguidelines-narrowing-conversions)

This conversion wouldn't be too difficult but would be time consuming and would be a good project for a new student/collaborator to become familiar with the code.

See this discussion for the original discussion on the topic.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Identify all int variables used as indexes or sizes in the codebase and change them to size t or ptrdiff t where appropriate, ensuring no narrowing conversions occur. Start with the most commonly used index patterns.
Tech stack
cpp
Domain
backend
Issue type
Refactor
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C++
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
85