Thomas Sarkanen 6ebe619fe5 Initial prototype of data interfaces and data interface graphs ...

Data interfaces are designed to be the basis for a functional, compositional framework, allowing loose bindings (a typed return value) between functional units (data interfaces). They incorporate the following main features:
- Simple call to 'get a value' from a data interface.
- Most communication is done via the UE::DataInterface::FContext, which handles data management.
- Type-erased values (UE::DataInterface::FParam) for results, parameters and state. These can be promoted to typed values (UE::DataInterface::TParam<T>) with runtime validation.
- 'Hidden state', allocated on-demand via a context, to support functional units that require statefulness. State is allocated according to the calling context, currently a hash of the 'callstack' and call site, so subsequent calls to the same data interface can reuse state.
- Batch processing of multiple state representations at once (e.g. processing multiple characters at one), via a chunked allocation strategy.

Also includes data interface graphs - a proof-of-concept implementation using RigVM to construct scripted data interface logic. This is still very early!

Still lots to do:
- Removal of typed interfaces (e.g. IDataInterface_Float)
- Validation of hidden state approach on a wider scale
- Validation of kernel processing approach
- Chunked branching (probably via a masking strategy) so branches can be handled within chunks
- Reworked type system incorporating type promotion/conversion
- UI work to allow for mixing instanced sub-objects and asset references with using TScriptInterface<IDataInterface>
- Expansion or RigVM usage and a ton of UI/UX work to get graph editing up to scratch
- Many many more things

#preflight 625e86873e0f6f80ada98290

[CL 19806109 by Thomas Sarkanen in ue5-main branch]

2022-04-19 06:28:48 -04:00

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