doc: streamline high-level docs

CONTRIBUTING.rst

@@ -55,12 +55,9 @@ To set up ``hera_sim`` for local development:
 4. Make a development environment. We highly recommend using conda for this. With conda,
    just run::
 
-    conda env create -f travis-environment.yml
-
-4. When you're done making changes, run all the checks, doc builder and spell checker
-   with `tox <http://tox.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html>`_ one command::
-
-    tox
+    conda env create -n hera python=3
+    pip install -e .[dev]
+    pre-commit install
 
 5. Commit your changes and push your branch to GitHub::
 
@@ -77,12 +74,7 @@ If you need some code review or feedback while you're developing the code just m
 
 For merging, you should:
 
-1. Include passing tests (run ``tox``) [1]_.
+1. Include passing tests (run ``pytest``)
 2. Update documentation when there's new API, functionality etc.
 3. Add a note to ``CHANGELOG.rst`` about the changes.
 4. Add yourself to ``AUTHORS.rst``.
-
-.. [1] If you don't have all the necessary python versions available locally you can rely on Travis - it will
-       `run the tests <https://travis-ci.org/HERA-Team/hera_sim/pull_requests>`_ for each change you add in the pull request.
-
-       It will be slower though ...

README.md

@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
-# `hera_sim`: Simple simulation package for the HERA array
+# `hera_sim`: Simple visibility and instrumental systematics simulator for the HERA array
 
 [![Build Status](https://github.com/HERA-Team/hera_sim/workflows/Tests/badge.svg)](https://github.com/HERA-Team/hera_sim)
 [![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/github/HERA-Team/hera_sim/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/github/HERA-Team/hera_sim?branch=master)
 
-
-
-
 Basic simulation package for HERA-like redundant interferometric
 arrays.
 
@@ -14,56 +11,40 @@ Jupyter notebook: `docs/tutorials/hera_sim tour.ipynb`.
 
 ## Installation
 
-We have tried to make `hera_sim` as easy to install as possible, however it depends
-on a few packages which can give some problems. Because of this, a simple
-``pip`` install will **not** work on a clean environment. This may be remedied in the
-future.
-
 ### Conda users
+
 If you are using conda, the following command will install all dependencies which it
 can handle natively:
 
-``$ conda install -c conda-forge numpy scipy pyuvdata aipy>=3.0 attrs h5py healpy pyyaml``
+``$ conda install -c conda-forge numpy scipy pyuvdata attrs h5py healpy pyyaml``
 
 If you are creating a new development environment, consider using the included environment
 file:
 
 ``$ conda env create -f ci/tests.yaml``
 
 This will create a fresh environment with all required dependencies, as well as those
-required for testing. If you also would like to compile the documentation, use (after
-the above):
-
-``$ pip install -r docs/requirements.txt``
-
-Finally, install `hera_sim` with
-
-``$ pip install [-e] .``
-
-For a **development install**, use the optional extra `[dev]`.
-
+required for testing. Then follow the pip-only instructions below to install `hera_sim`
+itself.
 
 ### Pip-only install
-If you are not going to use conda, then you must follow the following process (the reason
-that this is not a one-step process is because some of the packages inadvertantly require
-other packages to be installed before they can even be installed, let alone used, and ``pip``
-reads the ``setup.py`` file for each package before installing anything).
-
-First install `numpy`, as one of the dependencies requires `numpy` to be installed before
-it can be installed itself:
-
-``pip install numpy``
-
-Then to install this repo, either download and run ``pip install -e .`` or
-run
 
+Simply use ``pip install -e .`` or run
 ``pip install git+git://github.com/HERA-Team/hera_sim``.
 
 For a development install (tests and documentation), run `pip install -e .[dev]`.
 
+Other optional extras can be installed as well. To use baseline-dependent averaging
+functionality, install the extra `[bda]`. For the ability to simulate redundant gains,
+install `[cal]`. To enable GPU functionality on some of the methods (especially
+visibility simulators), install `[gpu]`.
 ## Documentation
+
 https://hera-sim.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
 
 ## Versioning
+
 We use semantic versioning (`major`.`minor`.`patch`) for the `hera_sim` package (see
-https://semver.org). To briefly summarize, new `major` versions include API-breaking changes, new `minor` versions add new features in a backwards-compatible way, and new `patch` versions implement backwards-compatible bug fixes.
+https://semver.org). To briefly summarize, new `major` versions include API-breaking
+changes, new `minor` versions add new features in a backwards-compatible way, and new
+`patch` versions implement backwards-compatible bug fixes.