\name{NEWS}
\title{dbarts News}
\encoding{UTF-8}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-19}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Samplers now have method \code{sampleNodeParametersFromPrior}.
            When used in conjunction with \code{sampleTreesFromPrior} allow
            the model to fully make predictions from the prior distribution.
      \item \code{dbartsControl} (and now \code{bart}/\code{bart2} through
            \code{...}) now accept \code{rngSeed} argument. This can be used
            to generate reproducible results with multiple threads. It should
            only be used for testing, as the thread-specific pRNGs are seeded
            using sequential draws from a pRNG created with the user-supplied
            seed.
      \item C interface supports \code{dbarts_createStateExpression} and 
            \code{dbarts_initializeState} which can be used to re-create
            samplers that were allocated using forked multithreading.
      \item C interface also supports \code{dbarts_predict},
            \code{dbarts_setControl}, and \code{dbarts_printTrees}.
      \item Exports \code{makeTestModelMatrix} to allow package authors to
            create test data at a later point from training data.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{varcount} for \code{bart} fits now has dimnames set.
      \item \code{residuals} feneric added to \code{bart} and \code{rbart_vi}.
    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Parallelization for \code{rbart} now creates the correct
            number of chains.
      \item Should now compile on non-x86 architectures. Report thanks to
            Lars Viklund.
      \item Fixed hang when \code{verbose = TRUE} for multiple threads and
            multiple chains. Report thanks to Noah Greifer.
      \item Fixed potential memory access errors when recreating sample from
            saved state.
      \item Correctly de-serializes saved tree structure.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-18}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Sampler now explicitly supports \code{setSigma} for use in 
            hierarchical models.
      \item Sampler function \code{setOffset} has an additional argument
            of \code{updateScale}. When the response is continuous and
            \code{updateScale} is \code{TRUE}, the implicit scaling,
            effecting the node parameters' variance, is adjusted to match
            the range of the new data. This optionally reverts the change
            of version 0.9-13 with the intention of being used only during
            warmup when using an offset that is itself being sampled.
    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG-FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Extraneous print line from debugging 0.9-17.
      \item Eliminated two race conditions from multithreaded crossvalidation.
            Report thanks to Ignacio Martinez.
      \item Eliminated garbage read on construction of crossvalidation sampler,
            removing inconsistencies across multiple runs with the same starting
            seed.
      \item \code{makeModelMatrixFromDataFrame} now converts character vectors
            to factors instead of dropping them. Report thanks to Colin Carlson.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-17}{
  \subsection{BUG-FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Memory leak for \code{predict} when \code{keepTrees} is \code{FALSE}.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-16}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Added \code{extract} and \code{fitted} generics for \code{bart}
            models. Respects \code{"train"} and \code{"test"} sets of
            observations while returning \code{"ev"} - samples from the
            posterior of the individual level expected value, \code{"bart"}
            - the sum of trees component; same as \code{"ev"} for linear
            models but on the probit scale for binary ones, and \code{"ppd"}
            - samples from the posterior predictive distribution. To synergize
            with \code{fitted.glm}, \code{"response"} can be used as a synonym
            for \code{"ev"} and \code{"link"} can be used as a synonym for
            \code{"bart"}.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{predict} for \code{bart} models with binary outcomes returns
            a result on the probability scale, not probit. The argument
            \code{value} is deprecated - use \code{type} instead.
      \item \code{predict} further conforms to the same system of arguments as
            \code{extract} and \code{fitted}.
    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG-FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{xbart} with a k-hyperprior should no longer crash. Report thanks
             to Colin Carlson.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-14}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Fits from \code{rbart_vi} now work with generics \code{fitted},
            \code{extract}, and \code{predict}. \code{extract} retrieves
            samples from the posterior distribution for the training and test
            samples, \code{fitted} applies averages across those samples,
            while \code{predict} can be used to obtain values for completely
            new observations.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{predict} for \code{rbart_vi} takes value "ev" instead of "post-mean"
            to clarify what is being returned, i.e. samples from the posterior 
            distribution of the observation-level expected values.

    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG-FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{save}/\code{load} should work correctly. Report thanks to Jeremy Coyle.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-13}{
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{predict} now works when trees aren't saved, for use in testing
            Metropolis-Hasting proposals.
      \item The \code{offset} slot no longer changes the relative scaling of the
            response. This stabilizes predictions across iterations. For a semantic
            where the scaling does change, use \code{setResponse} instead.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-12}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Varying intercepts model for probit regression.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-10}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item A hyperpriors for \code{k} has now been implemented. Passing
            \code{k = chi(degreesOfFreedom, scale)} now penalizes small values of
            \code{k}, encouraging more shrinkage.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Hyperprior of \code{chi(1.25, Inf)} is now default for \code{bart2}
            with binary outcomes. The default accuracy should improve substantially.
    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG-FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{xbart} divides data correctly with random subsampling.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-9}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item More control over cut points has been added. It is now possible to specify
            the cut points for a variable once and subsequently change that predictor
            without also modifying the cuts using \code{sampler$setCutPoints} and
            \code{sampler$setPredictor}.
      \item \code{sampler$getTrees} implemented to get a flattened, depth-first down
            left traversal of the trees.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item For \code{sampler$setPredictor}, an argument specifies whether or not to
            rollback or force the change if the new data would result in a leaf
            having 0 observations.
      \item \code{pdbart} and \code{pd2bart} now work with formula/data specifications,
            as well as taking models or samplers that have previously stored trees.
    }
  }
  \subsection{OPTIMIZATIONS}{
    \itemize{
      \item Stores \code{x} as integer matrix of the max of which cut point an observation is
            to the left of, by default using 16 bit integers. Limited to 65535 cut points.
            That can be increased with some special compilation instructions.
      \item Uses CPU dispatch and SIMD instructions for some operations. This and the integer
            \code{x} make BART about 30\% faster on datasets of around 10k observations.
      \item Saved trees are stored using significantly less memory.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-8}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{plot} now works for fits from \code{rbart_vi}.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{rbart_vi} new reports \code{varcount}.
      \item \code{bart2} now defaults to not storing trees due to the memory cost.
      \item \code{bart2} now defaults to using quantile rules to decide splits.
    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG-FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{predict} for binary outcomes now correct.
      \item Fix for verbose multithreading on Linux, reported by @ignacio82 on github.
      \item General improvements to slice sampler in \code{rbart_vi} thanks to reports from Yutao Liu.
      \item \code{sampler$plotTree} now handles multiple chains correctly.
      \item Negative log loss for \code{xbart} with binary outcomes should now be computed correctly.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-2}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{rbart_vi} fits a simple varying intercept, random effects model.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.9-0}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Now natively supports multiple chains running in parallel.
      \item Objects fit by \code{bart} can be used with the predict generic
      when instructed to save the trees.
      \item New function \code{bart2} introduced, similar to \code{bart} but with
      more efficient default parameters.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{dbartsControl} has had two parameters renamed: \code{numSamples}
      is now \code{defaultNumSamples} and \code{numBurnIn} is now
      \code{defaultNumBurnIn}.
      \item \code{dbartsControl} supports parameters \code{runMode},
      \code{n.chains}, \code{rngKind} and \code{rngNormalKind}.
      \item In the C interface, a new function (\code{setRNGState}) has been
      added to specify the states of the random number generators, of which there
      is now one for every chain.
      \item State objects saved by the handles no longer contain the total
      fits, since they can be rebuild from the tree fits. States are also lists
      of objects now, with one corresponding to each chain. Tree fits and strings
      are matrices corresponding to the number of trees and saved samples.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.8-6}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item random subsampling crossvalidation (\code{xbart}) has been implemented
      in C++. Refits model using current set of trees for changes in
      hyperparameters \code{n.trees}, \code{k}, \code{power}, and \code{base}.
      Natively parallelized.
      \item Rudimentary tree plotting added to sampler (\code{sampler$plotTree}).
      \item Exported \code{dbartsData} as a way of constructing data objects
      and setting the data seen by the sampler all at once. Sampler now supports
      \code{sampler$setData()}.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item \code{keepevery} argument to \code{bart} matches \code{BayesTree}.
      \item \code{bart} now has argument \code{keepcall} to suppress
      storing the call object.
      \item \code{bart} now accepts a \code{weights} argument.
      \item \code{MakeModelMatrixFromDataFrame} now implemented in C, supports
      an argument for tracking/keeping dropped values from factors.
    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG-FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Usage of weights was causing incorrect updates to posterior for
      \eqn{\sigma^2}.
      \item Should now JIT byte compile correctly.
      \item Cuts derived from quantiles should now be valid.
    }
  }
}    
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.8-4}{
  \subsection{NEW FEATURES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Uses a rejection sampler to simulated binary latent variables
      (CP Robert 2009, http://arxiv.org/pdf/0907.4010.pdf). Code thanks to
      Jared Murray.
      \item Now encapsulates its own random number generator, so that the C++
      objects can safely be used in parallel. Shouldn't affect pure-R users 
      unless their RNG has non-exported state (i.e. Box-Muller normal kind).
      \item Includes a \code{offset.test} vector that can be controlled 
      independently of the \code{offset} vector, but in general inherits
      behavior from it. Set at creation with \code{dbarts()} or after
      with \code{setTestOffset} or \code{setTestPredictorAndOffset}.
    }
  }
  \subsection{USER-VISIBLE CHANGES}{
    \itemize{
      \item By default, no longer attempts to obtain identical results as
      BayesTree. To recover this behavior, compile from source with 
      \code{configure.args = "--enable-match-bayes-tree"}.
      \item Changing the entirety of the test matrix using \code{setTestPredictor}
      no longer allowed. Use \code{setTestPredictors} instead.
      \item Changing the predictor can now result in failure if the covariates
      would leave an end-node empty. \code{setPredictor} returns a logical
      as to success.
      \item Saved \code{dbarts} objects may not be compatible and should be
      re-created to be sure of valdity.
      \item Now requires R versions >= 3.1.0.
    }
  }
  \subsection{BUG FIXES}{
    \itemize{
      \item Corrected binary latent variable sampler and no longer multiply
      adds offset (reported by Jared Murray).
      \item Relatively embarassing bug related to loop-unrolling when \code{n mod 5 != 0}
      fixed.
      \item Correct aggregation of results for multithreaded variance calculations.
      \item More equitably distributed tasks across multiple threads.
      \item Makevars tweaked to allow compilation on Ubuntu.
    }
  }
}
\section{CHANGES IN VERSION 0.8-3}{
  \itemize{
  	\item Initial public release.
  }
}
