Refactor BlockLengthSampler for Enhanced Type Safety, Validation, and Extensibility

[astrogilda]

Description

This pull request addresses and resolves multiple issues within the BlockLengthSampler class to enhance its reliability, maintainability, and usability. The key changes include:

1. Enhanced Type Safety and Validation:

   • Transitioned from manual property setters and getters to Pydantic's BaseModel for automatic data validation.
   • Defined block_length_distribution to accept both str and DistributionTypes enums, ensuring type consistency through validators.

2. Centralized Distribution Management:

   • Introduced the DistributionTypes enum to strictly define supported distribution types.
   • Implemented a DistributionRegistry class to manage and retrieve distribution sampling functions, promoting scalability and modularity.

3. Replacement of Lambdas with Named Functions:

   • Defined distribution sampling functions as named, standalone functions instead of lambdas to improve readability and maintainability.

4. Comprehensive Logging and Error Handling:

   • Integrated Python's logging module to provide detailed logs for debugging and monitoring.
   • Utilized warnings.warn to notify users about non-critical issues, such as adjusting avg_block_length.

5. Simplified Class Structure:

   • Removed unnecessary mixin classes, encapsulating all functionality within the BlockLengthSampler class for clarity and simplicity.

6. Improved Extensibility:

   • Facilitated easy addition of new distributions by registering them with the DistributionRegistry without altering the core sampler class.

7. Resolved Type Errors:

   • Defined RngTypes within the same module using TypeAlias to ensure recognition by type checkers like Pylance.
   • Adjusted the typing and validators for block_length_distribution to eliminate type mismatch errors.

These changes collectively improve the BlockLengthSampler class's robustness, type safety, and developer experience.

Type of change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)

How Has This Been Tested?

• Type Checking:

  • Verified that VSCode's Pylance no longer flags RngTypes as unknown.
  • Confirmed that passing both str and DistributionTypes to block_length_distribution no longer causes type mismatch errors.

• Functionality Testing:

  • Ensured that sample_block_length works correctly with various distributions and returns valid block lengths.
  • Tested with different Python versions to confirm compatibility.

• Logging Verification:

  • Checked that relevant log messages are produced during distribution registration and sampling processes.

Checklist:

• My code follows the style guidelines of this project
• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• My changes generate no new warnings
• Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream modules

Additional Information (if applicable)

No additional information.

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