I tried to do another code review for MB-System is morning. It's been many years since I dug deep into the system. Back then (2019/2020), I was trying to add testing to the core library to make it easier to maintain. I made progress, but didn't get traction from the community. The review today reminded me how much friction there is in the old code. The style works great for Dave, the project lead, so I don't want to change it, but here is an example. It's pure C.
int mb_sonarsettings(int verbose, void *mbio_ptr, void *store_ptr, int *kind, double *frequency,
double *sample_rate, double *tx_pulse_width, double *power_selection, double *gain_selection,
double *absorption, double *spreading, double *sound_velocity, double *beamwidth_tx,
double *beamwidth_rx, int *error) {
if (verbose >= 2) {
fprintf(stderr, "\ndbg2 MBIO function <%s> called\n", __func__);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 Input arguments:\n");
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 verbose: %d\n", verbose);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 mb_ptr: %p\n", (void *)mbio_ptr);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 store_ptr: %p\n", (void *)store_ptr);
}
struct mb_io_struct *mb_io_ptr = (struct mb_io_struct *)mbio_ptr;
/* call the appropriate mbsys_ extraction routine (NULL for formats that do not
record per-ping sonar settings; reson7k3 is the first to implement it) */
int status = MB_SUCCESS;
if (mb_io_ptr->mb_io_sonarsettings != NULL) {
status = (*mb_io_ptr->mb_io_sonarsettings)(verbose, mbio_ptr, store_ptr, kind, frequency, sample_rate,
tx_pulse_width, power_selection, gain_selection, absorption,
spreading, sound_velocity, beamwidth_tx, beamwidth_rx, error);
}
else {
status = MB_FAILURE;
*error = MB_ERROR_BAD_SYSTEM;
}
if (verbose >= 2) {
fprintf(stderr, "\ndbg2 MBIO function <%s> completed\n", __func__);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 Return values:\n");
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 kind: %d\n", *kind);
}
if (verbose >= 2 && *error == MB_ERROR_NO_ERROR) {
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 frequency: %f\n", *frequency);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 sample_rate: %f\n", *sample_rate);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 tx_pulse_width: %f\n", *tx_pulse_width);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 power_selection: %f\n", *power_selection);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 gain_selection: %f\n", *gain_selection);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 absorption: %f\n", *absorption);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 spreading: %f\n", *spreading);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 sound_velocity: %f\n", *sound_velocity);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 beamwidth_tx: %f\n", *beamwidth_tx);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 beamwidth_rx: %f\n", *beamwidth_rx);
}
if (verbose >= 2) {
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 error: %d\n", *error);
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 Return status:\n");
fprintf(stderr, "dbg2 status: %d\n", status);
}
return (status);
}
That really boils down to this:
int mb_sonarsettings(int verbose, void *mbio_ptr, void *store_ptr, int *kind, double *frequency,
double *sample_rate, double *tx_pulse_width, double *power_selection, double *gain_selection,
double *absorption, double *spreading, double *sound_velocity, double *beamwidth_tx,
double *beamwidth_rx, int *error) {
struct mb_io_struct *mb_io_ptr = (struct mb_io_struct *)mbio_ptr;
if (mb_io_ptr->mb_io_sonarsettings == NULL) {
*error = MB_ERROR_BAD_SYSTEM;
return MB_FAILURE;
}
// Call the appropriate mbsys_ extraction routine. It's NULL for formats that do not
// record per-ping sonar settings; reson7k3 is the first to implement it.
return (*mb_io_ptr->mb_io_sonarsettings)(
verbose, mbio_ptr, store_ptr, kind, frequency, sample_rate,
tx_pulse_width, power_selection, gain_selection, absorption,
spreading, sound_velocity, beamwidth_tx, beamwidth_rx, error);
}
Now imagine that spread across a huge amount of drivers. It adds up really quickly.
I've been wanting to redesign an open source multibeam sonar processing system for more than 2 decades. In the beginning, I was thinking C++, but trying to avoid the crazy side of C++ and that was looking better and better as new C++ standards came out that smoothed over a lot of the rough edges that were in old C++.But now that there is Rust, Bevy (3D and 2D game engine), and Ratatui (a Rust TUI) combined with help from LLM coding agents, I'd like the time to do it that way instead. I don't yet have the intuition of how best to build the core IO library. And it will need a solid core of geospatial code that is the equivalent to substantial parts of PROJ, GEOS, and GDAL. I think we as a community have the potential for creating something that scales for next couple of decades and honors the accomplishments of MB-System and GMT over the last 33 years.
