To use Execution framework, in the main of you entry point, the first line should be


 edu.umass.nlp.exec.Execution.init(pathToConfigFile);

The pathToConfigFile should be a string to a yaml file that stores global options. Global options are used to populate objects with public mutable fields using reflection. The purpose of this is to provide easy (but not secure or robust) option management. The Execution framework does many thing, here's a summmary

Global Option Configuration

Options are grouped together in a hierarchichal fashion. For instance, the main Execution option would be given in yaml by

   
   exec:
    execPoolDir: execs
    loggerPattern: %-5p [%c]: %m%n

So in your code when you call:

  
    Execution.Opts execOpts = Execution.fillOptions("exec", new Execution.Opts());

We reflectively look up options under the exec part of the configuration file and fills in fields of the passed in objects. You can fill in different instances of the same options object by using different group names (e.g. exec1, exec2, ...). You can also do hierarchical option filling.

Store Execution Log and Options in a Directory

Another feature of the Execution framework is that the log of every run goes to a directory specified in the exec.execDir directory. Typically, you shouldn't specify the directory and instead use the option exec.execPoolDir which will automatically make a new directory for each execution run by adding 0.exec,1.exec,2.exec,... as needed. The directory will store everything sent to the logger as well as a copy of configuration needed to re-run the experiment (modulo code changes obviously). If you want to store other output in the execution directory, you have access to it in Execution.getExecutionDirectry. You can add option processing behavior using Execution.addOptionHandler. See StandardOptionHandlers for example option handlers.

Apache Logger Configuration

The Execution framework also configures the log4j logger (the pattern for the logger prefix is configurable via the exec.loggerPattern option in your global config file. This means in your code you should probably not use System.out.println and opt instead to use the logger. You can read about the Apache Logger system here. Two relevant configurable options are: Execution.Opts.loggerPattern and Execution.Opts.logLevel.