Make Node a subclass of Tensor?

[repst]

Having not followed the recent PRs, our group became aware of the new Tensor class with the release of 0.4.2. We found that tensornetwork.ncon, tensornetwork.conj and tensornetwork.node now take Tensor objects and throw errors when passed Node objects. If Node inherited from Tensor they could share such functionality. I think of a node as a tensor with extra ability to connect to other nodes.

What do you think of this solution rather than wrapping Node around Tensor as discussed in #848?

[mganahl]

Hi Ryan, great suggestion! I think that would make sense. @Thenerdstation @alewis, what are your thoughts?

[alewis]

It seems fine to me. I don't know how Node works well enough to decide how hard it would be.

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On Tue, Oct 27, 2020 at 3:15 AM Martin Ganahl ***@***.***> wrote: Hi Ryan, great suggestion! I think that would make sense. @Thenerdstation <https://github.com/Thenerdstation> @alewis <https://github.com/alewis>, what are your thoughts? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#858 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAINHBUYOISOGBOZQJ3NYODSMZXRXANCNFSM4S77AMAA> .

[mganahl]

Hey @repst to give you some perspective: we added Tensor specifically for use in traditional tensor network calculations where the Node API becomes cumbersome to use. We are currently working to move the DMRG implementation towards a consistent use of Tensor.

[alewis]

Nevertheless, it would be a nice simplification to the interface if all the tn. functions worked on Node

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On Tue, Oct 27, 2020 at 11:02 AM Martin Ganahl ***@***.***> wrote: Hey @repst <https://github.com/repst> to give you some perspective: we added Tensor specifically for use in traditional tensor network calculations where the Node API becomes cumbersome to use. We are currently working to move the DMRG implementation towards a consistent use of Tensor. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#858 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAINHBRAG56SVAWNEQTTVKDSM3OIRANCNFSM4S77AMAA> .

[chaserileyroberts]

Yeah, as long as all of the nodes created by these methods always return with dangling legs, i think that would be fine.