Add Object to defined types in code generation and some documentation

dace/codegen/dispatcher.py

@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ class DefinedType(aenum.AutoNumberEnum):
 
         :see: DefinedMemlets
     """
-    Pointer = ()
-    Scalar = ()
-    Stream = ()
-    StreamArray = ()
-    FPGA_ShiftRegister = ()
-    ArrayInterface = ()
+    Pointer = ()  # Pointer
+    Scalar = ()   # A copyable scalar moved by value (e.g., POD)
+    Object = ()   # An object moved by reference
+    Stream = ()   # A stream object moved by reference and accessed via a push/pop API
+    StreamArray = ()  # An array of Streams
+    FPGA_ShiftRegister = ()  # A shift-register object used in FPGA code generation
+    ArrayInterface = ()  # An object representing an interface to an array, used mostly in FPGA
 
 
 class DefinedMemlets:

dace/codegen/targets/cpp.py

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ def copy_expr(
     elif def_type == DefinedType.FPGA_ShiftRegister:
         return expr
 
-    elif def_type in [DefinedType.Scalar, DefinedType.Stream]:
+    elif def_type in [DefinedType.Scalar, DefinedType.Stream, DefinedType.Object]:
 
         if add_offset:
             raise TypeError("Tried to offset address of scalar {}: {}".format(data_name, offset_cppstr))
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ def make_const(expr: str) -> str:
         ref = '&' if is_scalar else ''
         defined_type = DefinedType.Scalar if is_scalar else DefinedType.Pointer
         offset_expr = ''
-    elif defined_type == DefinedType.Stream:
+    elif defined_type in (DefinedType.Stream, DefinedType.Object):
         typedef = defined_ctype
         ref = '&'
         offset_expr = ''
@@ -1232,7 +1232,7 @@ def visit_Name(self, node: ast.Name):
             defined_type = None
         if (self.allow_casts and isinstance(dtype, dtypes.pointer) and memlet.subset.num_elements() == 1):
             return ast.parse(f"{name}[0]").body[0].value
-        elif (self.allow_casts and (defined_type == DefinedType.Stream or defined_type == DefinedType.StreamArray)
+        elif (self.allow_casts and (defined_type in (DefinedType.Stream, DefinedType.StreamArray))
               and memlet.dynamic):
             return ast.parse(f"{name}.pop()").body[0].value
         else:

dace/codegen/targets/cpu.py

@@ -1228,7 +1228,7 @@ def memlet_ctor(self, sdfg, memlet, dtype, is_output):
         ptrname = cpp.ptr(memlet.data, sdfg.arrays[memlet.data], sdfg, self._frame)
         def_type, _ = self._dispatcher.defined_vars.get(ptrname)
 
-        if def_type in [DefinedType.Stream, DefinedType.StreamArray]:
+        if def_type in [DefinedType.Stream, DefinedType.Object, DefinedType.StreamArray]:
             return self.memlet_stream_ctor(sdfg, memlet)
 
         elif def_type in [DefinedType.Pointer, DefinedType.Scalar]:

samples/codegen/tensor_cores.py

@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ def allocate_array(self, sdfg: dace.SDFG, dfg: StateSubgraphView, state_id: int,
 
         # Add the ctype to defined_vars so that the codegen can properly pass
         # fragments to functions as an object reference.
-        self._dispatcher.defined_vars.add(name, DefinedType.Stream, ctype)
+        self._dispatcher.defined_vars.add(name, DefinedType.Object, ctype)
 
     def deallocate_array(self, sdfg: dace.SDFG, dfg: StateSubgraphView, state_id: int, node: nodes.AccessNode,
                          nodedesc: dt.Array, function_stream: CodeIOStream, callsite_stream: CodeIOStream):