Qcodes

The September 2020 release of QCoDeS.

Breaking Changes:

There are no breaking changes in this release of QCoDeS.

New:

- Support nested ``Measurement`` context managers; in particular, only create
one background writer thread for multiple datasets (2124)
- Interactive widget to explore datasets in Jupyter Notebooks (1967, 2163)

Improved:

- Jump to value when trying to set a parameter that cannot be set in steps
(can't be swept) (2128)
- Raise exception if ``get_cmd`` is not defined in a ``Group`` of
``GroupParameter`` s (2133)
- Add new ``set_parameters`` method to ``Group`` and remove the old deprecated
``set`` method (2137)
- Update ArrayParameter Docs (2126)
- Add a docs page listing projects to QCoDeS project (2142)

Improved drivers:

- Keysight B1500: fix measure range bug, ``measure_config`` method is deprecated (2150)
- Remove warning about complex numbers in R&S ZNB driver (2140)

Under the hood:

- Simplify instrument destructor (2132)
- Add types to ``RunDescriber`` dict representations (2134)
- Rework ``RunDescriber`` and update to version 2 (2135)
- Allow ``from_dict_to_current`` to deserialize ``RunDescriber`` from new versions (2144)
- Add ``python_requires`` as key to ``setup.py`` (2123)


Dependencies:

- Constrain all requirements and their dependencies in requirements.txt (2164)
- Use ``pip`` s new resolver when installing dependencies (2168)
- Fix docs and test requirements to minor version (2148)
- Restrict pyvisa to less than 1.11 (2162)
- Install pyqt for python 3.8 (2157)
- Require latest opencensus packages (2141)
- Remove no longer needed apt dependecies from travis (1843)
- Update nbconvert requirement from 5.6.1 to ~=6.0.3 (2146, 2152, 2160)
- Update pytest requirement from ~=6.0.1 to ~=6.0.2 (2151)
- Update coverage requirement from ~=5.2.1 to ~=5.3 (2154)
- Update sphinx-jsonschema requirement from ~=1.16.1 to ~=1.16.2 (2155)
- Update hypothesis requirement from ~=5.5.5 to ~=5.35.3 (2158)

===========================

The August 2020 release of QCoDeS.

Note: QCoDeS no longer officially supports Python ``3.6``.


Breaking Changes:
_________________

There are no breaking changes in this release of QCoDeS.


New:
____

- Add in-memory cache representation for data of ``DataSet`` (2062)


Improved drivers:
_________________

- Keithley 2600: Add linefreq to pyvisa-sim yml file (2100)
- Keysight B1500: convert dummy values to NaN for spot measurement (2108)


Improved:
_________

- Station: Pass name as kwarg so that its order in instrument class is not relevant (2099)
- Add support for matplotlib 3.3 (2101)
- fix matplotlib deprecation warning (2120)
- Docs: update qcodes usage link (2091)
- Docs: Python version 3.6 is updated to 3.7 in ``Getting Started->Requirements`` (2107)
- Docs: Updating the broken link for conda-environment-update in Qcodes documentation (2111)
- Update error message for instruments pickling (2094)
- Fix: convert spyder kernels site print statement to logging message (2097)


Under the hood:
_______________

- Move write cache to from ``DataSaver`` to ``DataSet`` (2112, 2114)
- remove conda ruamel package to fix pipelines build (2104)
- Add Codacy and PyPi badges to readme (2110)
- Add supported python versions badge (2113)
- Bump sphinx from 3.1.2 to 3.2.1 (2117)

==============================================

The July 2020 release of QCoDeS.

Note: this will be the **last** QCoDeS release to support python 3.6


Breaking Changes:
_________________

* ``math`` has been renamed to ``math_utils`` (2040).
* The deprecated `default_measurement` of the `Station` is now removed (2058)
* The deprecated methods `get_data` and `get_values` of the `DataSet` have now been removed (2067)
* The `get_setpoints` method of the `DataSet` has been deprecated (2068)


New drivers:
____________


Improved drivers:
_________________
* The Keithley 2450 driver got a bunch of new parameters and methods (1970, 2052)
* The Keysight B1500 driver now checks errors after setting each parameter (2041) and outputs `NaN` instead of `199.999e99` when compliance is reached (2074)
* The Keysight B1520A driver saw a bunch of improvements:
* sweep API was restructured more logically (2044)
* the driver now supports all possible impedance models (2047)
* the measurement status is retrieved after each sweep (2050)
* added `get_cmds` for `sweep_auto_abort` and `post_sweep_auto_abort` (2049)
* The Keysight B1517A driver had the following improvements:
* the measurement status is retrieved after each sweep (2050).
* added `get_cmds` for `sweep_auto_abort` and `post_sweep_auto_abort` (2049)
* added measurement status to current/voltage parameters (2051)

Improved:
_________
* All master-slave references from drivers have been removed or deprecated (2066)
* QCoDeS now comes with a code of conduct (2078)

Under the hood:
_______________

* Better execution of the test suite and hardening of tests (2016, 2037, 2038, 2039, 2040, 2042, 2045, 2056, 2057, 2063, 2064, 2070, 2073, 2077, 2076). Special highlights from this massive work:
* The test suite now runs in parallel, a major win for all developers
* Much better handling of the QCoDeS config system as a result
* Update of dependencies to `mypy` 0.782 (2034, 2075) and `pyqtgraph` 0.11.0 (2036)
* The `measurements.py` module is now slightly better type-annotated (2065)
* Documentation is built with Spinx 3.1.2 (2069, 2072)
* Added support for (upcoming) `pytest` 6 and explicit dependency on `packaging` (2076)

What's Changed
* QDevil QDAC2: BUS and HOLD take up internal triggers 15 and 16 by jpsecher in https://github.com/QCoDeS/Qcodes_contrib_drivers/pull/137


**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/QCoDeS/Qcodes_contrib_drivers/compare/v0.15.1...v0.15.2

What's Changed
* QDevil QDAC2: Remove current limit until fully implemented in instrument by jpsecher in https://github.com/QCoDeS/Qcodes_contrib_drivers/pull/136


**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/QCoDeS/Qcodes_contrib_drivers/compare/v0.15.0...v0.15.1

The June 2020 release of QCoDeS. This release also includes all the changes
mentioned in alpha release of June 2020 (`0.15.0a1`).

Breaking Changes:

* ``GroupParameter.group``, ``Group.parameters`` and ``Group.instrument`` are now all read only properties (2031).
* The public attributes ``Group.get_cmd`` and ``Group.get_cmd`` have been removed (2031).
* It is now an error to supply get/set_cmd, if get/set_raw is not abstract (2015).
* The sweep parameters such as 'sweep_mode', 'sweep_start', 'sweep_end', 'sweep_steps' in Keysight B1520A driver is moved from class is moved from B1520A class to CVSweeper class (2044).

New drivers:

* Add Zurich Instruments drivers. The old ZIUHFLI driver is deprecated. The actual implementation is in [`zhinst-qcodes`](https://github.com/zhinst/zhinst-qcodes/) as described in [this blog](https://blogs.zhinst.com/andrea/2020/05/24/control-your-measurements-with-qcodes-and-labber/) (#2025).

Improved drivers:

* New features are added to Keysight B1517A driver to allow IV staircase sweep measurements (2028).
* Various improvements are done on Keysight B1520A driver, such as, parsing correctly the wrong output floats ('-0.-1') from the instrument until new firmware release (2023), improved testing (2027), fixing spot measurement of capacitance checking for wrong impedance model, and working with ac_dc_volt_monitor=True (2020), CVSweepMeasurements supports all impedance models (2047).
* The measurement status are added to current and voltage parameters of B1517A driver (2051).
* Added a method to obtain the measurement status summary of IV and CV Sweep measurements (2050).
* The get functionality for sweep_auto_abort and post_sweep_auto_abort parameters is added in Keysight B1517A and B1520A driver (2049).
* The error handling of Keysight B1500 driver is improved. Now each time a parameter is set the instruments queries for the error and throws exception is an error is received (2041).
* Now on_off_val_mapping is used instead of a custom parser in Agilent E8527D (2030).
* The parameter limits are added for the R&S ZNB-40 VNA R&S (2029).
* Add a few system functions to the Keithley 2450 driver (2052)

Improved:

* The DelegateParameter is now allowed to change source and also support a `None` source (2005).
* The GroupParameter now correctly update their cache when a single parameter in the group has been set or captured (2031).
* The GroupParameter now correctly implements mappings between ``value`` and ``raw_value`` e.g. ``scale`` and ``offset`` (2031).
* Snapshot_base introduce new `update=None`, and use cache in parameter's `snapshot_base` (1833).
* Now initial cache value can be set to the Parameter using kwarg ``initial_cache_val`` (1840).
* The snapshots of stations and instruments can also be diffed now using diff_param_values (2021).

Under the hood:

* New lines are now handled correctly on windows (2026).
* In the ``Parameter`` class, the gettable/settable have become read only property (2024).
* Parameter cache.get is refactored to make the logic a bit more clear. Its functionality remains the same (2008).
* The loop data location in channels test is changed for pytest-xdist to work (2010).
* Added new dependency: "typing_extensions" (2048)