[Equest-users] DOE 2 Expressions

[Joe Huang via Equest-users]

Chris,

My intention was not to recommend using macros instead of expressions in eQUEST/DOE-2.2, 
but suggesting that if macros and expressions share the same syntax, then the DOE-2.1E 
manual would be a good place for documentation of the (common) syntax.

I've used DOE-2 macros extensively ever since they were developed in the early 1980's, and 
in fact I can't imagine how to manage parametric simulations without them. One thing I've 
noticed repeatedly has been that people who are unfamiliar with macros, especially those 
unfamiliar with DOE-2, tend to underestimate what macros can do.  For example, I remember 
a meeting at DOE in the early 2000's where someone from another National Lab dismissed 
macros as simply doing "sequential substitution".  However, macros (and presumably 
expressions as well) can import data from external files, do arithmetic operations 
including trigonometry and exponentials, as well as Boolean operations.

In fact, I got so worked up talking about this (kudos to Monty Python's killer rabbit 
scene in "Search for the Holy Grail" 
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=monty%20pythom%20holy%20grail%20rabbit%20scene 
:-) ) that I decided to cut out the section on macros from the 2.1E Supplement and have 
attached it with this post.

Joe

Joe Huang
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com for simulation-ready weather data
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"

On 9/1/2016 5:32 AM, Chris Jones wrote:
>
> eQUEST does use DOE-2 macros with the same syntax as DOE2.1e if you edit the .inp file 
> directly. The frustrating thing is that eQUEST evaluates the macros when you reopen the 
> project and strips out the macro definitions leaving the resultant value. So it is 
> useless if you hope to use macros for parametric runs in the eQUEST interface – at least 
> in the tests I have carried out. You can use parametric expressions but the statements 
> become much longer and, in my opinion, harder to use but that’s likely because I am so 
> used to the macro language.
>
> **
>
> *Christopher Jones, P. Eng.*
>
> *Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc.*
> /Consulting Engineers & Scientists/
> 901 King Street West, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3H5
> *T:* (519) 823-1311 ext 2052
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>
> *From:*Equest-users [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] *On Behalf Of 
> *Joe Huang via Equest-users
> *Sent:* Wednesday, August 31, 2016 10:33 PM
> *To:* equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Equest-users] DOE 2 Expressions
>
> People on the eQUEST/DOE-2.2 Development Team can correct me if I'm wrong, but IF DOE-2 
> expressions use the same syntax as DOE-2 macros, those are well-explained in the DOE-2 
> Supplement, Version 2.1E, by Winkelmann et al. 1993, LBL-34947, Lawrence Berkeley 
> National Laboratory, Berkeley CA pp. 1.42-1.77 .  You should be able to find a PDF 
> version of this document on the Web, since it's included in the DOE-2.1E release, but if 
> not, let me know and I'll see whether I could put my PDF version online somewhere.
>
> Joe
>
> Joe Huang
> White Box Technologies, Inc.
> 346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
> Moraga CA 94556
> yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com <mailto:yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com>
> http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com  for simulation-ready weather data
> (o) (925)388-0265
> (c) (510)928-2683
> "building energy simulations at your fingertips"
>
> On 2016/8/31 15:42, Saif A via Equest-users wrote:
>
>     Hi guys,
>
>     is there any materials (Books, websites, examples) to learn DOE 2 expressions beside
>     the "Overview of DOE-2.2".
>
>     Thank you,
>
>     Saif
>
>
>
>
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