Bender is LHCb Python-based Physics Analysis Environment. It combines the physics content of DaVinci/Phys/Analysis/Rec/Hlt projects with interactive python abilities provided by GaudiPython package. It also could be considered as "Interactive LoKi". Bender is organized as CMT project. Top-level python modules reside in Phys/Bender package which collect the necessary functionality. The major functionality comes from ROOT/Reflex dictionaries for basic C++ classes and interfaces. These dictionaries are used primary for POOL persistency and reused for interactivity. The main purpose of top-level scripts is the coherent orchestration of the Reflex dictionaries and the proper decoration of the available interfaces.  For further details one can consult the Bender pages designed by Lena Mayatskaya

Bender News

Supported platforms and compilers

Source code and binaries for supported platforms are available on disk (in AFS directory /afs/cern.ch/lhcb/software/releases/BENDER - ${LHCBRELEASES}/BENDER), and in the form of tar file distribution kits. The current list of supported platforms and compilers can be found in the LHCb TWiki pages

Bender Savannah portal

Savannah portal is established for Bender project. Please use it for bug reports,  browsing bugs histories, submission and browsing of  the patches. Please, register on Savannah to be able to use all useful functionality of Savannah, including the important notification concerning the project development and evolution. See the list of current project members.  How to register?

Reference documentation

Documentation for available releases can be found by following the links at the top of this page. The environment for working with a given version of Bender should be set up with the setenvBender script (setenvProject Bender on Windows XP platform). For very old, DC04 compatible versions of Bender the deprecated script BenderEnv should be used

Additional documentation

• Bender documentation pages: manuals, tutorials and presentations
• Documentation  pages for DaVinci project with DaVinci FAQ
• Documentation pages for LoKi
• GaudiPython TWiki pages
• Bender paper
• Bender mailing list archive

Bender FAQ

• under construction: help and kind advices are welcome!

Bender TWiki

• under construction: help and kind advices are welcome!

Reporting bugs

You can report bugs or view bug histories via the Bender Savannah portal. Also Bender  mailing list  could be used for bug-reports.

Next steps & tasks

• Further releases will follow the releases of underlying projects, like  DaVinci
•  Better  integration with new Panoramix is expected
• Partial reorganization and repackaging is expected following the repackaging of LoKi
• Better and extended support for "hybrid" C++/Python solutions (see Phys/LoKiHybrid package) is expected, in particular the extension of hybrid solution for other event model classes from LHCb project, like MCParticles etc.. 
• Better integration with GRID:  DIRAC and Ganga
• Better integration with Feicim - nice tool developed in Dublin by Zsolt Lazar and Ronan McNulty
• Bender User Manual

Help is required:

• Better  integration with Panoramix
  • Some development on the boundary in between Panoramix and Bender is required for the smooth  integration of Bender and Panoramix into the global interactive analysis and vizualization environment. No significant difficulties are expected. Some mismatch in conventions needs to be resolved 
• Better integration with GRID:  DIRAC and Ganga
  • There are nice developments by Ying Ying Li in DIRAC and Karol Hennessy  in Ganga for support of Bender@GRID, however both these approaches do not look very natural for me. E.g. usage of the helper C++-executable or specification of input data in the form of opts-files look as very artificial approach. I would like to see something much more simple, e.g.
    • # data files from bookkeeping API:  LFNs or PFNs, in a form of python list:
    •   files = [...]
    •   myJob=BenderJob( script=myscript, data=files , backend=... , .... )
    •   myJob.submit()
• Setup of Bender FAQ
• Setup of Bender TWiki pages
• Emacs template for Bender-based scripts

Project History

The history of dependencies and included packages can be viewed for any tagged version (including the ones that have been removed) from the CVS web interface. Check for the versions with the relevant CVS tags. For project dependencies see the BENDER project.csh file. For the versions of the packages included in the BENDER project see the BenderSys requirements file. Some more dependencies can be read from the Phys/Bender requirements file.