Added Support for Python 3.13

[f-allian]

This pull request introduces several improvements to developer experience, code quality enforcement, and compatibility for the Causal Testing Framework. The most significant changes include the addition of pre-commit hooks for automated code checks, updates to documentation for contributing and code style, expanded Python version support, and enhancements to linter configuration for better flexibility and compatibility.

Developer tooling and automation:

• Added .pre-commit-config.yaml to enable automated code quality checks (trailing whitespace, end-of-file fixes, YAML/TOML validation, black formatting, isort sorting, pylint analysis) via pre-commit hooks.
• Updated CONTRIBUTING.md with detailed instructions for contributing, using pre-commit hooks, manual code quality checks, and compatibility testing with tox.

Python compatibility:

• Expanded Python version support to include 3.13 in CI (.github/workflows/ci-tests.yaml) and documentation build (.readthedocs.yaml). [1] [2]
• Updated README.md to reflect support for Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13, and clarified OS recommendations. [1] [2]

Code style and linting:

• Enhanced .pylintrc configuration: increased limits on arguments, attributes, locals, statements, and public methods; added more "good" variable names; improved handling for dynamically generated members and ignored classes; set Python version to 3.10; disabled deprecated options; and tailored checks for specific modules. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Documentation updates:

• Replaced and improved contributing documentation (CONTRIBUTING.md), and removed the old .github/CONTRIBUTING.md file for clarity and consistency. [1] [2]
• Revised README.md for clearer project description, requirements, and citation details.

[github-actions]

🦙 MegaLinter status: ✅ SUCCESS

Descriptor	Linter	Files	Fixed	Errors	Elapsed time
✅ PYTHON	black	33		0	0.97s
✅ PYTHON	pylint	33		0	5.72s

See detailed report in MegaLinter reports

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 96.28%. Comparing base (4f7b245) to head (204e58a).
⚠️ Report is 8 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##             main     #358   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   96.27%   96.28%           
=======================================
  Files          28       28           
  Lines        1584     1588    +4     
=======================================
+ Hits         1525     1529    +4     
  Misses         59       59           

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
causal_testing/__main__.py	97.61% <100.00%> (+0.18%)	⬆️
...esting/estimation/abstract_regression_estimator.py	95.83% <100.00%> (ø)
...ausal_testing/estimation/cubic_spline_estimator.py	96.66% <100.00%> (ø)
causal_testing/estimation/effect_estimate.py	100.00% <ø> (ø)
...ausal_testing/estimation/experimental_estimator.py	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
...stimation/genetic_programming_regression_fitter.py	98.86% <100.00%> (ø)
...ting/estimation/instrumental_variable_estimator.py	100.00% <ø> (ø)
causal_testing/estimation/ipcw_estimator.py	99.25% <100.00%> (ø)
..._testing/estimation/linear_regression_estimator.py	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
...esting/estimation/logistic_regression_estimator.py	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
... and 11 more

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[jmafoster1]

Will this block commits that aren't perfectly linted? I'm not sure I want this. Sometimes it takes a while to resolve and I need to commit something I know isn't right. I know you can disable checks, but I prefer not to have commits be blocked. Obviously if it can fix it itself, then that's fine, but if it's everything, then that could get annoying.

[f-allian]

@jmafoster1 - no, pre-commit doesn't completely block anything from being committed, it fixes it instead. The workflow is like this: 1) your script(s) contain unlinted, unformatted code 2) you commit files naively or run manually run pre-commit before committing 3) pre-commit identifies and initially "blocks" commits due to the rules defined in the pre-commit config 4) pre-commit formats and lints it for you 5) you commit as normal.

To avoid it "blocking" your commit from the get-go, just run pre-commit run --all-files before committing.

[jmafoster1]

Thanks @f-allian, this mostly looks good. Just a couple few suggestions...

[f-allian]

@jmafoster1 - thanks for the review - please see the revised changes