About Solver Scripts

In HyperStudy, each model is associated with a solver execution script. The role of the solver script is to provide the name and location of the file that HyperStudy uses to execute the model.

A HyperStudy model is a construct that maps a set of independent input variables to a set of dependent output responses. The model consists of three separate steps: writing, executing, and extracting. The writing of the model files is the process of getting the independent input variable out of HyperStudy and into another format. Most of the time this corresponds to the writing of a file in some format. The opposite is true in the extraction step: data exists in some output files and must be absorbed into HyperStudy. The solver script is responsible for bridging the gap in moving the process along from the input file to the output files. So the question to ask is: “Given an input file, how do I generate the output files?”.

Knowing how to generate the output files will provide the directions on how to construct the solver script. Imagine being given the input file and asked to get the results file. If the process is as simple as submitting the file as direct input to some program’s executable, then the solver script could be as simple as a single line. The solver script should not finish and return control back to HyperStudy until both the process is completed and the output files are generated. If there are many steps involved, such as uploading the file to a server, submitting the file to a queue, waiting for it to finish, and then downloading the file, then the solver script must perform all these actions, too.

A solver script must be able to do everything you would do manually to create the outputs given the input file, but non-interactively.