[Dev] Naming and consistency

[ocots]

We have:

• is_autonomous
• has_fixed_final_time
• has_fixed_initial_time
• has_free_final_time
• has_free_initial_time
• has_lagrange_cost
• has_mayer_cost

Maybe complete with:

• is_final_time_fixed
• is_initial_time_fixed
• is_final_time_free
• is_initial_time_free
• has_autonomous_dynamics
• has_autonomous_lagrange_cost

[ocots]

Naming and Consistency Planning for CTModels.jl

Issue: #169 - Naming and consistency
Date: 2025-12-16
Status: Planning Complete ✅

TL;DR

Add alias functions so both is_* and has_* naming conventions are available for boolean predicates. No breaking changes - existing API remains, new aliases added.

---

1. Current State

Existing predicate functions

Function	Location	Pattern
is_autonomous	model.jl, time_dependence.jl	is_* ✅
has_fixed_initial_time	times.jl, model.jl	has_*
has_free_initial_time	times.jl, model.jl	has_*
has_fixed_final_time	times.jl, model.jl	has_*
has_free_final_time	times.jl, model.jl	has_*
has_mayer_cost	objective.jl, model.jl	has_*
has_lagrange_cost	objective.jl, model.jl	has_*

---

2. Proposed Aliases

Time-related predicates

Existing function	New alias (is_* style)
has_fixed_initial_time	is_initial_time_fixed
has_free_initial_time	is_initial_time_free
has_fixed_final_time	is_final_time_fixed
has_free_final_time	is_final_time_free

Autonomy-related

Existing function	New alias (has_* style)
is_autonomous	has_autonomous_dynamics

Cost-related

Existing function	New alias (is_* style)
has_mayer_cost	is_mayer_cost_defined
has_lagrange_cost	is_lagrange_cost_defined

---

3. Implementation

T1: Add time aliases

File: src/ocp/times.jl (add after existing functions)

# Aliases for naming consistency (is_* style)
const is_initial_time_fixed = has_fixed_initial_time
const is_initial_time_free = has_free_initial_time
const is_final_time_fixed = has_fixed_final_time
const is_final_time_free = has_free_final_time

T2: Add cost aliases

File: src/ocp/objective.jl (add after existing functions)

# Aliases for naming consistency (is_* style)
const is_mayer_cost_defined = has_mayer_cost
const is_lagrange_cost_defined = has_lagrange_cost

T3: Add autonomy alias

File: src/ocp/time_dependence.jl

# Aliases for naming consistency (has_* style)
const has_autonomous_dynamics = is_autonomous

T4: Add docstrings

Add @doc to alias constants or use """...""" before each.

T5: Add tests

File: test/ocp/test_times.jl, test/ocp/test_objective.jl, test/ocp/test_variable.jl (or similar)

Test that aliases return same values as original functions.

---

4. Tasks Summary

Task	Description	Effort
T1	Add time aliases in times.jl	Low
T2	Add cost aliases in objective.jl	Low
T3	Add autonomy alias in time_dependence.jl	Low
T4	Add docstrings	Low
T5	Add tests	Low

Total effort: Small

---

5. Test Commands

# Run time-related tests
julia --project=. -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.test("CTModels"; test_args=["times"]);'

# All tests
julia --project=. -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.test("CTModels");'

---

6. GitHub Workflow

Single PR to close issue #169.

Checklist for Issue #169

• T1: Add time aliases in times.jl
• T2: Add time aliases in model.jl
• T3: Add autonomy alias
• T4: Export aliases
• T5: Add docstrings
• T6: Add tests