Feature: Support running SaltProc from notebooks

[yardasol]

Background and motivation

When we implement #109 and have more fleshed out examples, it would be nice to be able to have .ipynb files that users can download and run on their own machines.

Description of idea

We should add functionality in app.py to allow users to run SaltProc inside a python environment while maintaining the current capability to run from the command line.

Implementation details

SaltProc is locked into the command line in the App.parse_arguments function, as App.parse_arguments only looks for input from the command line.

I propose the following:

• Add a new function in app.py that will handle inputs within a python context OR add control flow to the current App.parse_arguments function that will detect if we are running from the command line or from a python context.
• Add global variables or class attributes to app.py (that will be set from either command line input or python context input) that will make accessible the following variables to the App.run function:
  • n, the number of nodes to use in parallel execution
  • d, the number of cores to use in parallel execution
  • i, the path to the SaltProc input file
  • use these variables in App.run
    Optional
• rename app to saltproc for clarity.

Potential snags

It is unclear if/how this will effect performance.