CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to DICE

Thank you for your interest in contributing to DICE (Diffusion Insight Computation Engine)! This tool helps researchers quantify noise effects in optical transport imaging measurements.

Ways to Contribute

🐛 Report Bugs

• Use the GitHub issue tracker
• Include experimental parameters, error messages, and expected vs. actual behavior
• Provide minimal reproducible examples when possible

💡 Suggest Enhancements

• New fitting models or diffusion functions
• Additional noise models or experimental conditions
• Performance improvements
• Documentation improvements

🔬 Submit Examples

• Real experimental use cases
• Validation studies comparing DICE predictions to experimental results
• Tutorials for specific materials systems

📖 Improve Documentation

• API documentation
• Usage examples
• Scientific background explanations

Code Contributions

Getting Started

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Update documentation as needed
6. Submit a pull request

Code Standards

• Follow PEP 8 style guidelines
• Include docstrings for new functions/classes
• Add type hints where appropriate
• Ensure compatibility with existing dependencies (NumPy, SciPy, etc.)

Testing

• Add tests for new features
• Verify that existing tests still pass
• Include validation against known analytical solutions where possible

Scientific Rigor

• Provide references for new models or algorithms
• Include parameter validation and error handling
• Document assumptions and limitations
• Consider edge cases and boundary conditions

Questions?

Open an issue for discussion or reach out to the maintainers.