Pyomo expressions can be constructed using native binary operators in Python. For example, a sum can be created in a simple loop:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_loop1.spy
Additionally, Pyomo expressions can be constructed using functions that iteratively apply Python binary operators. For example, the Python :func:`sum` function can be used to replace the previous loop:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_loop2.spy
The :func:`sum` function is both more compact and more efficient. Using :func:`sum` avoids the creation of temporary variables, and the summation logic is executed in the Python interpreter while the loop is interpreted.
Pyomo can express a very wide range of algebraic expressions, and there are three general classes of expressions that are recognized by Pyomo:
- linear polynomials
- quadratic polynomials
- nonlinear expressions, including higher-order polynomials and expressions with intrinsic functions
These classes of expressions are leveraged to efficiently generate compact representations of expressions, and to transform expression trees into standard forms used to interface with solvers. Note that There not all quadratic polynomials are recognized by Pyomo; in other words, some quadratic expressions are treated as nonlinear expressions.
For example, consider the following quadratic polynomial:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_loop3.spy
This quadratic polynomial is treated as a nonlinear expression unless the expression is explicitly processed to identify quadratic terms. This lazy identification of of quadratic terms allows Pyomo to tailor the search for quadratic terms only when they are explicitly needed.
Pyomo includes several similar functions that can be used to create expressions:
- :func:`prod <pyomo.core.util.prod>`
- A function to compute a product of Pyomo expressions.
- :func:`quicksum <pyomo.core.util.quicksum>`
- A function to efficiently compute a sum of Pyomo expressions.
- :func:`sum_product <pyomo.core.util.sum_product>`
- A function that computes a generalized dot product.
The :func:`prod <pyomo.core.util.prod>` function is analogous to the builtin :func:`sum` function. Its main argument is a variable length argument list, :attr:`args`, which represents expressions that are multiplied together. For example:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_prod.spy
The behavior of the :func:`quicksum <pyomo.core.util.quicksum>` function is similar to the builtin :func:`sum` function, but this function often generates a more compact Pyomo expression. Its main argument is a variable length argument list, :attr:`args`, which represents expressions that are summed together. For example:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_quicksum.spy
The summation is customized based on the :attr:`start` and :attr:`linear` arguments. The :attr:`start` defines the initial value for summation, which defaults to zero. If :attr:`start` is a numeric value, then the :attr:`linear` argument determines how the sum is processed:
- If :attr:`linear` is :const:`False`, then the terms in :attr:`args` are assumed to be nonlinear.
- If :attr:`linear` is :const:`True`, then the terms in :attr:`args` are assumed to be linear.
- If :attr:`linear` is :const:`None`, the first term in :attr:`args` is analyze to determine whether the terms are linear or nonlinear.
This argument allows the :func:`quicksum <pyomo.core.util.quicksum>` function to customize the expression representation used, and specifically a more compact representation is used for linear polynomials. The :func:`quicksum <pyomo.core.util.quicksum>` function can be slower than the builtin :func:`sum` function, but this compact representation can generate problem representations more quickly.
Consider the following example:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/quicksum_runtime.spy
The sum consists of linear terms because the exponents are one. The following output illustrates that quicksum can identify this linear structure to generate expressions more quickly:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/quicksum.log
:language: none
If :attr:`start` is not a numeric value, then the :func:`quicksum <pyomo.core.util.quicksum>` sets the initial value to :attr:`start` and executes a simple loop to sum the terms. This allows the sum to be stored in an object that is passed into the function (e.g. the linear context manager :data:`linear_expression <pyomo.core.expr.current.linear_expression>`).
Warning
By default, :attr:`linear` is :const:`None`. While this allows for efficient expression generation in normal cases, there are circumstances where the inspection of the first term in :attr:`args` is misleading. Consider the following example:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_warning.spy
The first term created by the generator is linear, but the subsequent terms are nonlinear. Pyomo gracefully transitions to a nonlinear sum, but in this case :func:`quicksum <pyomo.core.util.quicksum>` is doing additional work that is not useful.
The :func:`sum_product <pyomo.core.util.sum_product>` function supports a generalized dot product. The :attr:`args` argument contains one or more components that are used to create terms in the summation. If the :attr:`args` argument contains a single components, then its sequence of terms are summed together; the sum is equivalent to calling :func:`quicksum <pyomo.core.util.quicksum>`. If two or more components are provided, then the result is the summation of their terms multiplied together. For example:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_sum_product1.spy
The :attr:`denom` argument specifies components whose terms are in the denominator. For example:
.. literalinclude:: ../../tests/expr/performance_sum_product2.spy
The terms summed by this function are explicitly specified, so :func:`sum_product <pyomo.core.util.sum_product>` can identify whether the resulting expression is linear, quadratic or nonlinear. Consequently, this function is typically faster than simple loops, and it generates compact representations of expressions..
Finally, note that the :func:`dot_product <pyomo.core.util.dot_product>` function is an alias for :func:`sum_product <pyomo.core.util.sum_product>`.