scifor

Stop Writing Loops, Start Writing Analysis

scifor is the batch execution engine behind SciDB. It takes a function you've already written and runs it across every combination of experimental conditions — subjects, sessions, trials, whatever your data is organized by — automatically slicing your data to match each combination and collecting the results into a clean table.

It works in both Python and MATLAB, and it works standalone — no database required, just plain tables.

The Problem

Scientific data is almost always organized by conditions: subjects, sessions, trials, limbs, speeds. Processing it means writing nested loops that slice, call a function, and collect results:

for i = 1:numel(subjects)
    for j = 1:numel(sessions)
        rows = tbl(tbl.subject == subjects(i) & tbl.session == sessions(j), :);
        result = my_analysis(rows.emg);
        % ...now figure out where to put the result
    end
end

This gets worse as the number of conditions grows, and the loop logic buries the actual analysis. Every scientist writes some version of this, and it's never the interesting part.

How scifor Works

You tell scifor two things:

1. Schema — which columns in your tables represent experimental conditions (the things you iterate over)
2. Inputs — which tables to slice, and which values are just constants

Then scifor handles the rest: it loops over every combination, filters each table to the matching rows, calls your function, and collects the results.

MATLAB

scifor.set_schema(["subject", "session"]);

results = scifor.for_each(@my_analysis, ...
    struct('emg', data_table, 'cutoff_hz', 20), ...
    subject=[1, 2, 3], session=["pre", "post"]);

Python

from scifor import set_schema, for_each

set_schema(["subject", "session"])

results = for_each(
    my_analysis,
    inputs={"emg": data_table, "cutoff_hz": 20},
    subject=[1, 2, 3],
    session=["pre", "post"],
)

For each of the 6 combinations (3 subjects x 2 sessions), scifor filters data_table to the matching rows, passes the emg column to my_analysis along with the constant cutoff_hz=20, and collects the return value. The result is a table with subject, session, and output columns — one row per combination.

Your function doesn't need to know about looping, filtering, or metadata. It just receives data and returns a result.

What You Get Back

for_each returns a MATLAB table (or pandas DataFrame in Python) with one row per combination. Metadata columns come first, then the output:

If your function returns a table, its columns are flattened into the result alongside the metadata. If your function returns multiple outputs, you get multiple result tables.

Beyond the Basics

The examples above cover the most common case, but real pipelines have real-world complications. scifor has tools for each of them:

• Fixed inputs — Pin one input to a specific condition while the others iterate. The classic case: comparing every session against a fixed baseline.

• Merging tables — When your function needs columns from two separate tables (say, kinematics and force data), combine them into a single input per combination.

• Column selection — Extract just the columns you need from a multi-column table before your function sees it.

• File paths from metadata — When your data lives in files organized by condition (e.g., data/subject_1/trial_3.mat), generate the right file path for each combination automatically.

• Row filtering — Apply column-based filters (like "only right-side trials" or "speed > 1.5") on top of the metadata filtering.

• Dry run — Preview which combinations would be processed and what data would be passed, without actually running anything.

• Distribute — When a function returns a vector of values that should each become their own row at a deeper schema level (e.g., splitting a trial into individual gait cycles), scifor can expand the output automatically.

See the API reference and batch processing guide for details on all of these.

Relationship to SciDB

scifor is the engine that powers scidb.for_each(). When used through SciDB, inputs are loaded from the database and outputs are saved back automatically. When used standalone (as scifor.for_each()), it works with plain MATLAB tables or pandas DataFrames — no database needed.

If you're already using SciDB, you're already using scifor under the hood. If you just want the loop orchestration without the database, use the scifor namespace directly.

Logging

scifor logs through the shared scistacklog facade with layer="scifor". At the default (INFO) level a run produces a concise narrative: a banner with truncated value previews (subject=12 values [s01, …, s12]), a progress line each time the outermost iterated key advances (rate-limited so fast runs stay silent), and an end-of-run summary that aggregates failures by reason:

for_each(compute_psd) done in 74.0s: completed=114, failed=3, total=120
failed: 3 × "ValueError: bad channel count" — subject=s03, session=2; … (+N more)

The first occurrence of each distinct failure reason is logged at WARN with the full traceback. Per-iteration [run]/[skip]/[done] lines are DEBUG — enable them with Log.set_level("DEBUG") or SCIDB_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG. Dry-run output goes to stdout (it is the requested result, not logging).

Standalone (no scidb) usage gets the same console output automatically; when used through SciDB, the records also land in scidb.log.