v0.4.0 Release Goals

This minor release is aimed at refactoring our codebase and refining the architecture. In v0.4.0, we will temporarily prune some widely adopted functionalities, such as the BIDS helper, to concentrate on enhancing the stability of raw data parsing and conversion. Additionally, we are planning to introduce a plugin architecture for reconstruction to improve extensibility.

Major Changes:

• Object-Oriented Architecture: We will isolate scan data as independent objects (class instances), which will simplify metadata handling by eliminating redundant operations.
• Core Modules: We will reorganize essential modules for reliable and robust data loading and processing into the API module, while separating utility functions into the app module.
• Flexible NIfTI Conversion: The NIfTI app conversion process will become more versatile, supporting minimal requirements (just 2dseq and visu_pars), converting the reco folder (<scan_id>/pdata/<reco_id>), or converting the entire scan folder (<root>/<scan_id>).
• Plugin Support: Version 0.4.0 will support plugins, allowing the conversion process to bypass to the reconstruction process via custom plugins. A developmental guide for plugins will also be provided, complete with examples.

These changes are intended to streamline workflows and enhance the overall performance and usability of the software.