John Stilley

Bad Default: Assembly.getArea() is 1.0

3

Over on [this PR](https://github.com/terrapower/armi/pull/1670), I noted a strange point in the ARMI API. When an `Assembly` has no children/`Blocks`, this method returns a "default area" of `1.0`. Surely that should...

Renaming Database3 to Database, but creating API stubs

1

## What is the change? This PR nominally renames `Database3` to `Database`. But, since that is a big API-breaking change, this PR also creates API stubs for `database3.py` to fully...

New Setting to swap in different Nuclide data

2

We recently [updated our RIPL nuclides](https://github.com/terrapower/armi/pull/998). But some people are asking for the ability to use different [nuclide data files](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_data) in ARMI: * [armi/resources/nuclides.dat](https://github.com/terrapower/armi/blob/3e47ec6e6359870866502c9356747cf1da4f9515/armi/resources/nuclides.dat) * [armi/resources/elements.dat](https://github.com/terrapower/armi/blob/3e47ec6e6359870866502c9356747cf1da4f9515/armi/resources/elements.dat) Reasons for this include...

> This is a big, complex change that will have to be done in phases. It is an unfortunate fluke of history that ARMI's database class is called `Database3`. This...

ARMI has several plotting tools scattered throughout the codebase: * [ ] `armi/bookkeeping/report/newReports.py` : `def plot` * [ ] `armi/nuclearDataIO/xsNuclides.py` : `def plotScatterMatrix` * [ ] `armi/nuclearDataIO/xsNuclides.py` : `def plotCompareScatterMatrix`...

Improve the High-Level Introduction to ARMI in the Docs

1

* [ ] Right now, ARMI technically has a high-level introduction in two places: * [REAME.rst](https://github.com/terrapower/armi/blob/b9f1f1330b6b4354e2e27455402a7e641003a323/README.rst) - Covers everything from installation to core concepts * [doc/developer/guide.rst](https://github.com/terrapower/armi/blob/b9f1f1330b6b4354e2e27455402a7e641003a323/doc/developer/guide.rst) - It feels strange...

Removing unused setting

1

## What is the change? This `debug` setting is entirely unused in the ecosystem, and so is being removed. ## Why is the change being made? This setting also has...

Force Settings to have descriptions

2

I have [often](https://github.com/terrapower/armi/issues/1727) had to field questions about settings, because they did not have proper descriptions. This is a sign that settings without descriptions are problematic for our user base....

Add Guide to Docs for ARMI Testing Tools

18

Based on recent questions I've gotten, I think it would be useful to add a guide to the ARMI-specific testing tools to the "dev" section of the ARMI docs. Below...

The unit tests in `test_axialExpansionChanger.py` are the slowest in ARMI. For instance, these three tests alone take 30 seconds to run: * `TestInputHeightsConsideredHot::test_coldAssemblyExpansion` - 15.84 seconds * `TestConservation::test_thermalExpansionContractionConservation_complex` - 6.75...