Source code for qnet.algebra.core.abstract_algebra

r"""Base classes for all Expressions and Operations.

The abstract algebra package provides the foundation for
symbolic algebra of quantum objects or circuits. All symbolic objects are
an instance of :class:`Expression`. Algebraic combinations of atomic
expressions are instances of :class:`Operation`. In this way, any symbolic
expression is a tree of operations, with children of each node defined through
the :attr:`Operation.operands` attribute, and the leaves being atomic
expressions.

See :ref:`abstract_algebra` for design details and usage.
"""
import logging
import inspect
import textwrap
from collections import OrderedDict
from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod

from sympy import (
    Basic as SympyBasic)
from sympy.core.sympify import SympifyError

from .exceptions import CannotSimplify
from ..pattern_matching import ProtoExpr
from ...utils.singleton import Singleton
from ...utils.containers import nested_tuple

__all__ = [
    'Expression', 'Operation', 'substitute']

__private__ = []  # anything not in __all__ must be in __private__

LEVEL = 0  # for debugging create method

LOG = False  # emit debug logging messages?
LOG_NO_MATCH = False  # also log non-matching rules? (very verbose!)
# Note: you may manually set the above variables to True for debugging. Some
# tests (e.g. the tests for the algebraic rules) will also automatically
# activate this logging functionality, as they rely on inspecting the debug
# messages from object creation.


[docs]class Expression(metaclass=ABCMeta): """Base class for all QNET Expressions Expressions should generally be instantiated using the :meth:`create` class method, which takes into account the algebraic properties of the Expression and and applies simplifications. It also uses memoization to cache all known (sub-)expression. This is possible because expressions are intended to be immutable. Any changes to an expression should be made through e.g. :meth:`substitute` or :meth:`apply_rule`, which returns a new modified expression. Every expression has a well-defined list of positional and keyword arguments that uniquely determine the expression and that may be accessed through the :attr:`args` and :attr:`kwargs` property. That is, :: expr.__class__(*expr.args, **expr.kwargs) will return and object identical to `expr`. Class attributes: instance_caching (bool): Flag to indicate whether the :meth:`create` class method should cache the instantiation of instances. If True, repeated calls to :meth:`create` with the same arguments return instantly, instead of re-evaluating all simplifications and rules. simplifications (list): List of callable simplifications that :meth:`create` will use to process its positional and keyword arguments. Each callable must take three parameters (the class, the list `args` of positional arguments given to :meth:`create` and a dictionary `kwargs` of keyword arguments given to :meth:`create`) and return either a tuple of new `args` and `kwargs` (which are then handed to the next callable), or an :class:`Expression` (which is directly returned as the result of the call to :meth:`create`). The built-in available simplification callables are in :mod:`~qnet.algebra.core.algebraic_properties` """ # Note: all subclasses of Exression that override `__init__` or `create` # *must* call the corresponding superclass method *at the end*. Otherwise, # caching will not work correctly simplifications = [] # we cache all instances of Expressions for fast construction _instances = {} instance_caching = True # eventually, we should ensure that the create method is idempotent, i.e. # expr.create(*expr.args, **expr.kwargs) == expr(*expr.args, **expr.kwargs) _create_idempotent = False # At this point, match_replace_binary does not yet guarantee this def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): self._hash = None self._free_symbols = None self._bound_symbols = None self._all_symbols = None self._instance_key = self._get_instance_key(args, kwargs)
[docs] @classmethod def create(cls, *args, **kwargs): """Instantiate while applying automatic simplifications Instead of directly instantiating `cls`, it is recommended to use :meth:`create`, which applies simplifications to the args and keyword arguments according to the :attr:`simplifications` class attribute, and returns an appropriate object (which may or may not be an instance of the original `cls`). Two simplifications of particular importance are :func:`.match_replace` and :func:`.match_replace_binary` which apply rule-based simplifications. The :func:`.temporary_rules` context manager may be used to allow temporary modification of the automatic simplifications that :meth:`create` uses, in particular the rules for :func:`.match_replace` and :func:`.match_replace_binary`. Inside the managed context, the :attr:`simplifications` class attribute may be modified and rules can be managed with :meth:`add_rule` and :meth:`del_rules`. """ global LEVEL if LOG: logger = logging.getLogger('QNET.create') logger.debug( "%s%s.create(*args, **kwargs); args = %s, kwargs = %s", (" " * LEVEL), cls.__name__, args, kwargs) LEVEL += 1 key = cls._get_instance_key(args, kwargs) try: if cls.instance_caching: instance = cls._instances[key] if LOG: LEVEL -= 1 logger.debug("%s(cached)-> %s", (" " * LEVEL), instance) return instance except KeyError: pass for i, simplification in enumerate(cls.simplifications): if LOG: try: simpl_name = simplification.__name__ except AttributeError: simpl_name = "simpl%d" % i simplified = simplification(cls, args, kwargs) try: args, kwargs = simplified if LOG: logger.debug( "%s(%s)-> args = %s, kwargs = %s", (" " * LEVEL), simpl_name, args, kwargs) except (TypeError, ValueError): # We assume that if the simplification didn't return a tuple, # the result is a fully instantiated object if cls.instance_caching: cls._instances[key] = simplified if cls._create_idempotent and cls.instance_caching: try: key2 = simplified._instance_key if key2 != key: cls._instances[key2] = simplified # simplified key except AttributeError: # simplified might e.g. be a scalar and not have # _instance_key pass if LOG: LEVEL -= 1 logger.debug( "%s(%s)-> %s", (" " * LEVEL), simpl_name, simplified) return simplified if len(kwargs) > 0: cls._has_kwargs = True instance = cls(*args, **kwargs) if cls.instance_caching: cls._instances[key] = instance if cls._create_idempotent and cls.instance_caching: key2 = cls._get_instance_key(args, kwargs) if key2 != key: cls._instances[key2] = instance # instantiated key if LOG: LEVEL -= 1 logger.debug("%s -> %s", (" " * LEVEL), instance) return instance
@classmethod def _get_instance_key(cls, args, kwargs): """Function that calculates a unique "key" (as a tuple) for the given args and kwargs. It is the basis of the hash of an Expression, and is used for the internal caching of instances. Every Expression stores this key in the `_instance_key` attribute. Two expressions for which `expr._instance_key` is the same are identical by definition (although `expr1 is expr2` generally only holds for explicit Singleton instances) """ return (cls,) + nested_tuple(args) + nested_tuple(kwargs) @classmethod def _rules_attr(cls): """Return the name of the attribute with rules for :meth:`create`""" from qnet.algebra.core.algebraic_properties import ( match_replace, match_replace_binary) if match_replace in cls.simplifications: return '_rules' elif match_replace_binary in cls.simplifications: return '_binary_rules' else: raise TypeError( "class %s does not have match_replace or " "match_replace_binary in its simplifications" % cls.__name__)
[docs] @classmethod def add_rule(cls, name, pattern, replacement, attr=None): """Add an algebraic rule for :meth:`create` to the class Args: name (str): Name of the rule. This is used for debug logging to allow an analysis of which rules where applied when creating an expression. The `name` can be arbitrary, but it must be unique. Built-in rules have names ``'Rxxx'`` where ``x`` is a digit pattern (.Pattern): A pattern constructed by :func:`.pattern_head` to match a :class:`.ProtoExpr` replacement (callable): callable that takes the wildcard names defined in `pattern` as keyword arguments and returns an evaluated expression. attr (None or str): Name of the class attribute to which to add the rule. If None, one of ``'_rules'``, ``'_binary_rules'`` is automatically chosen Raises: TypeError: if `name` is not a :class:`str` or `pattern` is not a :class:`.Pattern` instance ValueError: if `pattern` is not set up to match a :class:`.ProtoExpr`; if there there is already a rule with the same `name`; if `replacement` is not a callable or does not take all the wildcard names in `pattern` as arguments AttributeError: If invalid `attr` Note: The "automatic" rules added by this method are applied *before* expressions are instantiated (against a corresponding :class:`.ProtoExpr`). In contrast, :meth:`apply_rules`/:meth:`apply_rule` are applied to fully instantiated objects. The :func:`.temporary_rules` context manager may be used to create a context in which rules may be defined locally. """ from qnet.utils.check_rules import check_rules_dict if attr is None: attr = cls._rules_attr() if name in getattr(cls, attr): raise ValueError( "Duplicate key '%s': rule already exists" % name) getattr(cls, attr).update(check_rules_dict( [(name, (pattern, replacement))]))
[docs] @classmethod def show_rules(cls, *names, attr=None): """Print algebraic rules used by :class:`create` Print a summary of the algebraic rules with the given names, or all rules if not names a given. Args: names (str): Names of rules to show attr (None or str): Name of the class attribute from which to get the rules. Cf. :meth:`add_rule`. Raises: AttributeError: If invalid `attr` """ from qnet.printing import srepr try: if attr is None: attr = cls._rules_attr() rules = getattr(cls, attr) except TypeError: rules = {} for (name, rule) in rules.items(): if len(names) > 0 and name not in names: continue pat, repl = rule print(name) print(" PATTERN:") print(textwrap.indent( textwrap.dedent(srepr(pat, indented=True)), prefix=" "*8)) print(" REPLACEMENT:") print(textwrap.indent( textwrap.dedent(inspect.getsource(repl).rstrip()), prefix=" "*8))
[docs] @classmethod def del_rules(cls, *names, attr=None): """Delete algebraic rules used by :meth:`create` Remove the rules with the given `names`, or all rules if no names are given Args: names (str): Names of rules to delete attr (None or str): Name of the class attribute from which to delete the rules. Cf. :meth:`add_rule`. Raises: KeyError: If any rules in `names` does not exist AttributeError: If invalid `attr` """ if attr is None: attr = cls._rules_attr() if len(names) == 0: getattr(cls, attr) # raise AttributeError if wrong attr setattr(cls, attr, OrderedDict()) else: for name in names: del getattr(cls, attr)[name]
[docs] @classmethod def rules(cls, attr=None): """Iterable of rule names used by :meth:`create` Args: attr (None or str): Name of the class attribute to which to get the names. If None, one of ``'_rules'``, ``'_binary_rules'`` is automatically chosen """ try: if attr is None: attr = cls._rules_attr() return getattr(cls, attr).keys() except TypeError: return ()
@property @abstractmethod def args(self): """The tuple of positional arguments for the instantiation of the Expression""" raise NotImplementedError(self.__class__.__name__) @property def kwargs(self): """The dictionary of keyword-only arguments for the instantiation of the Expression""" # Subclasses must override this property if and only if they define # keyword-only arguments in their __init__ method if hasattr(self, '_has_kwargs') and self._has_kwargs: raise NotImplementedError( "Class %s does not provide a kwargs property" % str(self.__class__.__name__)) return {} @property def minimal_kwargs(self): """A "minimal" dictionary of keyword-only arguments, i.e. a subset of `kwargs` that may exclude default options""" return self.kwargs def __eq__(self, other): try: return ((self is other) or (self._instance_key == other._instance_key)) except AttributeError: return False def __hash__(self): if self._hash is None: self._hash = hash(self._instance_key) return self._hash def __repr__(self): # This method will be replaced by init_printing() from qnet.printing import init_printing init_printing() return repr(self) def __str__(self): # This method will be replaced by init_printing() from qnet.printing import init_printing init_printing() return str(self)
[docs] def substitute(self, var_map): """Substitute sub-expressions Args: var_map (dict): Dictionary with entries of the form ``{expr: substitution}`` """ if self in var_map: return var_map[self] return self._substitute(var_map)
def _substitute(self, var_map, safe=False): """Implementation of :meth:`substitute`. For internal use, the `safe` keyword argument allows to perform a substitution on the `args` and `kwargs` of the expression only, guaranteeing that the type of the expression does not change, at the cost of possibly not returning a maximally simplified expression. The `safe` keyword is not handled recursively, i.e. any `args`/`kwargs` will be fully simplified, possibly changing their types. """ if self in var_map: if not safe or (type(var_map[self]) == type(self)): return var_map[self] if isinstance(self.__class__, Singleton): return self new_args = [substitute(arg, var_map) for arg in self.args] new_kwargs = {key: substitute(val, var_map) for (key, val) in self.kwargs.items()} if safe: return self.__class__(*new_args, **new_kwargs) else: return self.create(*new_args, **new_kwargs)
[docs] def doit(self, classes=None, recursive=True, **kwargs): """Rewrite (sub-)expressions in a more explicit form Return a modified expression that is more explicit than the original expression. The definition of "more explicit" is decided by the relevant subclass, e.g. a :meth:`Commutator <.Commutator.doit>` is written out according to its definition. Args: classes (None or list): an optional list of classes. If given, only (sub-)expressions that an instance of one of the classes in the list will be rewritten. recursive (bool): If True, also rewrite any sub-expressions of any rewritten expression. Note that :meth:`doit` always recurses into sub-expressions of expressions not affected by it. kwargs: Any remaining keyword arguments may be used by the :meth:`doit` method of a particular expression. Example: Consider the following expression:: >>> from sympy import IndexedBase >>> i = IdxSym('i'); N = symbols('N') >>> Asym, Csym = symbols('A, C', cls=IndexedBase) >>> A = lambda i: OperatorSymbol(StrLabel(Asym[i]), hs=0) >>> B = OperatorSymbol('B', hs=0) >>> C = lambda i: OperatorSymbol(StrLabel(Csym[i]), hs=0) >>> def show(expr): ... print(unicode(expr, show_hs_label=False)) >>> expr = Sum(i, 1, 3)(Commutator(A(i), B) + C(i)) / N >>> show(expr) 1/N (∑_{i=1}^{3} (Ĉ_i + [Â_i, B̂])) Calling :meth:`doit` without parameters rewrites both the indexed sum and the commutator:: >>> show(expr.doit()) 1/N (Ĉ₁ + Ĉ₂ + Ĉ₃ + Â₁ B̂ + Â₂ B̂ + Â₃ B̂ - B̂ Â₁ - B̂ Â₂ - B̂ Â₃) A non-recursive call only expands the sum, as it does not recurse into the expanded summands:: >>> show(expr.doit(recursive=False)) 1/N (Ĉ₁ + Ĉ₂ + Ĉ₃ + [Â₁, B̂] + [Â₂, B̂] + [Â₃, B̂]) We can selectively expand only the sum or only the commutator:: >>> show(expr.doit(classes=[IndexedSum])) 1/N (Ĉ₁ + Ĉ₂ + Ĉ₃ + [Â₁, B̂] + [Â₂, B̂] + [Â₃, B̂]) >>> show(expr.doit(classes=[Commutator])) 1/N (∑_{i=1}^{3} (Ĉ_i - B̂ Â_i + Â_i B̂)) Also we can pass a keyword argument that expands the sum only to the 2nd term, as documented in :meth:`.Commutator.doit` >>> show(expr.doit(classes=[IndexedSum], max_terms=2)) 1/N (Ĉ₁ + Ĉ₂ + [Â₁, B̂] + [Â₂, B̂]) """ in_classes = ( (classes is None) or any([isinstance(self, cls) for cls in classes])) if in_classes: new = self._doit(**kwargs) else: new = self if (new == self) or recursive: new_args = [] for arg in new.args: if isinstance(arg, Expression): new_args.append(arg.doit( classes=classes, recursive=recursive, **kwargs)) else: new_args.append(arg) new_kwargs = OrderedDict([]) for (key, val) in new.kwargs.items(): if isinstance(val, Expression): new_kwargs[key] = val.doit( classes=classes, recursive=recursive, **kwargs) else: new_kwargs[key] = val new = new.__class__.create(*new_args, **new_kwargs) if new != self and recursive: new = new.doit(classes=classes, recursive=True, **kwargs) return new
def _doit(self, **kwargs): """Non-recursively rewrite expression in a more explicit form""" # Any subclass that overrides :meth:`_doit` should also override # :meth:`doit` with a stub (calling ``super().doit`` only), but # also provide the documentation for :meth:`_doit` (since :meth:`_doit` # won't be rendered by Sphinx) return self
[docs] def apply(self, func, *args, **kwargs): """Apply `func` to expression. Equivalent to ``func(self, *args, **kwargs)``. This method exists for easy chaining:: >>> A, B, C, D = ( ... OperatorSymbol(s, hs=1) for s in ('A', 'B', 'C', 'D')) >>> expr = ( ... Commutator(A * B, C * D) ... .apply(lambda expr: expr**2) ... .apply(expand_commutators_leibniz, expand_expr=False) ... .substitute({A: IdentityOperator})) """ return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
[docs] def apply_rules(self, rules, recursive=True): """Rebuild the expression while applying a list of rules The rules are applied against the instantiated expression, and any sub-expressions if `recursive` is True. Rule application is best though of as a pattern-based substitution. This is different from the *automatic* rules that :meth:`create` uses (see :meth:`add_rule`), which are applied *before* expressions are instantiated. Args: rules (list or ~collections.OrderedDict): List of rules or dictionary mapping names to rules, where each rule is a tuple (:class:`Pattern`, replacement callable), cf. :meth:`apply_rule` recursive (bool): If true (default), apply rules to all arguments and keyword arguments of the expression. Otherwise, only the expression itself will be re-instantiated. If `rules` is a dictionary, the keys (rules names) are used only for debug logging, to allow an analysis of which rules lead to the final form of an expression. """ if recursive: new_args = [_apply_rules(arg, rules) for arg in self.args] new_kwargs = { key: _apply_rules(val, rules) for (key, val) in self.kwargs.items()} else: new_args = self.args new_kwargs = self.kwargs simplified = self.create(*new_args, **new_kwargs) return _apply_rules_no_recurse(simplified, rules)
[docs] def apply_rule(self, pattern, replacement, recursive=True): """Apply a single rules to the expression This is equivalent to :meth:`apply_rules` with ``rules=[(pattern, replacement)]`` Args: pattern (.Pattern): A pattern containing one or more wildcards replacement (callable): A callable that takes the wildcard names in `pattern` as keyword arguments, and returns a replacement for any expression that `pattern` matches. Example: Consider the following Heisenberg Hamiltonian:: >>> tls = SpinSpace(label='s', spin='1/2') >>> i, j, n = symbols('i, j, n', cls=IdxSym) >>> J = symbols('J', cls=sympy.IndexedBase) >>> def Sig(i): ... return OperatorSymbol( ... StrLabel(sympy.Indexed('sigma', i)), hs=tls) >>> H = - Sum(i, tls)(Sum(j, tls)( ... J[i, j] * Sig(i) * Sig(j))) >>> unicode(H) '- (∑_{i,j ∈ ℌₛ} J_ij σ̂_i^(s) σ̂_j^(s))' We can transform this into a classical Hamiltonian by replacing the operators with scalars:: >>> H_classical = H.apply_rule( ... pattern(OperatorSymbol, wc('label', head=StrLabel)), ... lambda label: label.expr * IdentityOperator) >>> unicode(H_classical) '- (∑_{i,j ∈ ℌₛ} J_ij σ_i σ_j)' """ return self.apply_rules([(pattern, replacement)], recursive=recursive)
[docs] def rebuild(self): """Recursively re-instantiate the expression This is generally used within a managed context such as :func:`.extra_rules`, :func:`.extra_binary_rules`, or :func:`.no_rules`. """ return self.apply_rules(rules={})
def _repr_latex_(self): """For compatibility with the IPython notebook, generate TeX expression and surround it with $'s. """ # This method will be replaced by init_printing() from qnet.printing import init_printing init_printing() return self._repr_latex_() def _sympy_(self): # By default, when a QNET expression occurring in a SymPy context (e.g. # when converting a QNET Matrix to a Sympy Matrix), sympify will try to # parse the string representation of the Expression. This will usually # fail, but when it doesn't, it always produces nonsense. Thus, we make # it fail explicitly raise SympifyError("QNET expressions cannot be converted to SymPy") @property def free_symbols(self): """Set of free SymPy symbols contained within the expression.""" if self._free_symbols is None: res = set.union( set([]), # dummy arg (union fails without arguments) *[_free_symbols(val) for val in self.kwargs.values()]) res.update( set([]), # dummy arg (update fails without arguments) *[_free_symbols(arg) for arg in self.args]) self._free_symbols = res return self._free_symbols @property def bound_symbols(self): """Set of bound SymPy symbols in the expression""" if self._bound_symbols is None: res = set.union( set([]), # dummy arg (union fails without arguments) *[_bound_symbols(val) for val in self.kwargs.values()]) res.update( set([]), # dummy arg (update fails without arguments) *[_bound_symbols(arg) for arg in self.args]) self._bound_symbols = res return self._bound_symbols @property def all_symbols(self): """Combination of :attr:`free_symbols` and :attr:`bound_symbols`""" if self._all_symbols is None: self._all_symbols = self.free_symbols | self.bound_symbols return self._all_symbols
[docs] def __ne__(self, other): """If it is well-defined (i.e. boolean), simply return the negation of ``self.__eq__(other)`` Otherwise return NotImplemented. """ eq = self.__eq__(other) if type(eq) is bool: return not eq return NotImplemented
[docs]def substitute(expr, var_map): """Substitute symbols or (sub-)expressions with the given replacements and re-evalute the result Args: expr: The expression in which to perform the substitution var_map (dict): The substitution dictionary. """ try: if isinstance(expr, SympyBasic): sympy_var_map = { k: v for (k, v) in var_map.items() if isinstance(k, SympyBasic)} return expr.subs(sympy_var_map) else: return expr.substitute(var_map) except AttributeError: if expr in var_map: return var_map[expr] return expr
def _apply_rules_no_recurse(expr, rules): """Non-recursively match expr again all rules""" try: # `rules` is an OrderedDict key => (pattern, replacement) items = rules.items() except AttributeError: # `rules` is a list of (pattern, replacement) tuples items = enumerate(rules) for key, (pat, replacement) in items: matched = pat.match(expr) if matched: try: return replacement(**matched) except CannotSimplify: pass return expr def _apply_rules(expr, rules): """Recursively re-instantiate the expression, while applying all of the given `rules` to all encountered (sub-) expressions Args: expr: Any Expression or scalar object rules (list, ~collections.OrderedDict): A list of rules dictionary mapping names to rules, where each rule is a tuple ``(pattern, replacement)`` where `pattern` is an instance of :class:`.Pattern`) and `replacement` is a callable. The pattern will be matched against any expression that is encountered during the re-instantiation. If the `pattern` matches, then the (sub-)expression is replaced by the result of calling `replacement` while passing any wildcards from `pattern` as keyword arguments. If `replacement` raises :exc:`.CannotSimplify`, it will be ignored Note: Instead of or in addition to passing `rules`, `simplify` can often be combined with e.g. `extra_rules` / `extra_binary_rules` context managers. If a simplification can be handled through these context managers, this is usually more efficient than an equivalent rule. However, both really are complementary: the rules defined in the context managers are applied *before* instantiation (hence these these patterns are instantiated through `pattern_head`). In contrast, the patterns defined in `rules` are applied against instantiated expressions. """ if LOG: logger = logging.getLogger('QNET.create') stack = [] path = [] if isinstance(expr, Expression): stack.append(ProtoExpr.from_expr(expr)) path.append(0) if LOG: logger.debug( "Starting at level 1: placing expr on stack: %s", expr) while True: i = path[-1] try: arg = stack[-1][i] if LOG: logger.debug( "At level %d: considering arg %d: %s", len(stack), i+1, arg) except IndexError: # done at this level path.pop() expr = stack.pop().instantiate() expr = _apply_rules_no_recurse(expr, rules) if len(stack) == 0: if LOG: logger.debug( "Complete level 1: returning simplified expr: %s", expr) return expr else: stack[-1][path[-1]] = expr path[-1] += 1 if LOG: logger.debug( "Complete level %d. At level %d, setting arg %d " "to simplified expr: %s", len(stack)+1, len(stack), path[-1], expr) else: if isinstance(arg, Expression): stack.append(ProtoExpr.from_expr(arg)) path.append(0) if LOG: logger.debug(" placing arg on stack") else: # scalar stack[-1][i] = _apply_rules_no_recurse(arg, rules) if LOG: logger.debug( " arg is leaf, replacing with simplified expr: " "%s", stack[-1][i]) path[-1] += 1 else: return _apply_rules_no_recurse(expr, rules) def _free_symbols(expr): try: return expr.free_symbols except AttributeError: return set() def _bound_symbols(expr): try: return expr.bound_symbols except AttributeError: return set()
[docs]class Operation(Expression, metaclass=ABCMeta): """Base class for "operations" Operations are Expressions that act algebraically on other expressions (their "operands"). Operations differ from more general Expressions by the convention that the arguments of the Operator are exactly the operands (which must be members of the algebra!) Any other parameters (non-operands) that may be required must be given as keyword-arguments. """ def __init__(self, *operands, **kwargs): self._operands = operands super().__init__(*operands, **kwargs) @property def operands(self): """Tuple of operands of the operation""" return self._operands @property def args(self): """Alias for operands""" return self._operands