[ENH] add _normalize_dist_str utility for consistent distribution string aliases

.all-contributorsrc

@@ -264,6 +264,12 @@
         "bug",
         "doc"
       ]
+    },
+    {
+      "login": "paramsureliya",
+      "name": "Param Sureliya",
+      "profile": "https://github.com/paramsureliya",
+      "contributions": ["code"]
     }
   ]
 }

skpro/regression/_dist_utils.py

@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+# copyright: skpro developers, BSD-3-Clause License (see LICENSE file)
+"""Distribution string normalisation utility for skpro regressors.
+
+Provides ``_normalize_dist_str``, which maps all known string aliases for a
+probability distribution to the canonical capitalized class name used in skpro
+(e.g. ``"gaussian"`` -> ``"Normal"``, ``"t"`` -> ``"TDistribution"``).
+
+Every probabilistic regressor adapter should call this before its own internal
+string -> object mapping so that users can pass any reasonable alias and have it
+work uniformly across regressors and in GridSearchCV / RandomizedSearchCV.
+"""
+
+_DIST_ALIAS_MAP: dict[str, str] = {
+    # Normal / Gaussian
+    "normal": "Normal",
+    "gaussian": "Normal",
+    "norm": "Normal",
+    # Laplace
+    "laplace": "Laplace",
+    "double_exponential": "Laplace",
+    # LogNormal
+    "lognormal": "LogNormal",
+    "log_normal": "LogNormal",
+    "log-normal": "LogNormal",
+    "log normal": "LogNormal",
+    # TDistribution
+    "tdistribution": "TDistribution",
+    "t_distribution": "TDistribution",
+    "t-distribution": "TDistribution",
+    "t": "TDistribution",
+    "student_t": "TDistribution",
+    "studentt": "TDistribution",
+    "student-t": "TDistribution",
+    # Poisson
+    "poisson": "Poisson",
+    # Exponential
+    "exponential": "Exponential",
+    "exp": "Exponential",
+    # Gamma
+    "gamma": "Gamma",
+    # Beta
+    "beta": "Beta",
+    # Weibull
+    "weibull": "Weibull",
+    # Cauchy
+    "cauchy": "Cauchy",
+    # Binomial
+    "binomial": "Binomial",
+    "binom": "Binomial",
+    # NegativeBinomial
+    "negativebinomial": "NegativeBinomial",
+    "negative_binomial": "NegativeBinomial",
+    "negative.binomial": "NegativeBinomial",
+    "negbinomial": "NegativeBinomial",
+    "negbin": "NegativeBinomial",
+    "neg_binomial": "NegativeBinomial",
+    # InverseGaussian
+    "inversegaussian": "InverseGaussian",
+    "inverse_gaussian": "InverseGaussian",
+    "inverse.gaussian": "InverseGaussian",
+    "inv_gaussian": "InverseGaussian",
+    # Tweedie
+    "tweedie": "Tweedie",
+    # Logistic / SinhLogistic (QPD inner distributions used by CyclicBoosting)
+    "logistic": "Logistic",
+    "sinhlogistic": "SinhLogistic",
+    "sinh_logistic": "SinhLogistic",
+    "sinh-logistic": "SinhLogistic",
+}
+
+
+def _normalize_dist_str(dist: str) -> str:
+    """Normalize a distribution string to the canonical capitalized class name.
+
+    Maps every known alias (case-insensitive) to the capitalized skpro class
+    name, e.g.::
+
+        _normalize_dist_str("gaussian")   -> "Normal"
+        _normalize_dist_str("t")          -> "TDistribution"
+        _normalize_dist_str("lognormal")  -> "LogNormal"
+        _normalize_dist_str("Normal")     -> "Normal"  # already canonical
+
+    Non-string inputs (e.g. a distribution class or object) are returned
+    unchanged so callers do not need to guard separately.
+
+    Unknown strings emit a ``UserWarning`` and are returned as-is to preserve
+    backward-compatibility with any existing library-specific aliases.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    dist : str
+        Distribution name in any accepted format.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    str
+        Canonical distribution name (capitalised class name in skpro).
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> from skpro.regression._dist_utils import _normalize_dist_str
+    >>> _normalize_dist_str("gaussian")
+    'Normal'
+    >>> _normalize_dist_str("lognormal")
+    'LogNormal'
+    >>> _normalize_dist_str("t")
+    'TDistribution'
+    >>> _normalize_dist_str("Normal")
+    'Normal'
+    """
+    if not isinstance(dist, str):
+        return dist
+
+    lower = dist.lower()
+
+    # 1. Direct alias lookup (handles the vast majority of cases)
+    if lower in _DIST_ALIAS_MAP:
+        return _DIST_ALIAS_MAP[lower]
+
+    # 2. Unknown — warn but do not raise (preserves backward-compatibility)
+    import warnings
+
+    warnings.warn(
+        f"Distribution string '{dist}' is not recognised by _normalize_dist_str "
+        f"and will be passed through unchanged. If this is intentional, consider "
+        f"adding it to _DIST_ALIAS_MAP in skpro/regression/_dist_utils.py.",
+        UserWarning,
+        stacklevel=2,
+    )
+    return dist

skpro/regression/adapters/ngboost/_ngboost_proba.py

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 
 __author__ = ["ShreeshaM07"]
 
+from skpro.regression._dist_utils import _normalize_dist_str
+
 
 class NGBoostAdapter:
     """Adapter to interconvert NGBoost and skpro BaseDistributions.
@@ -34,6 +36,9 @@ def _dist_to_ngboost_instance(self, dist, survival=False):
         """
         from ngboost.distns import Exponential, Laplace, LogNormal, Normal, Poisson, T
 
+        # normalize aliases like "gaussian" -> "Normal", "lognormal" -> "LogNormal"
+        dist = _normalize_dist_str(dist)
+
         ngboost_dists = {
             "Normal": Normal,
             "Laplace": Laplace,
@@ -77,6 +82,9 @@ def _ngb_skpro_dist_params(
         # Normal, Laplace, TDistribution and Poisson have not yet
         # been implemented for Survival analysis.
 
+        # normalize aliases so dict lookups below always use canonical names
+        dist = _normalize_dist_str(self.dist)
+
         dist_params = {
             "Normal": ["loc", "scale"],
             "Laplace": ["loc", "scale"],
@@ -95,14 +103,14 @@ def _ngb_skpro_dist_params(
             "Exponential": ["rate"],
         }
 
-        if self.dist in dist_params and self.dist in skpro_params:
-            ngboost_params = dist_params[self.dist]
-            skp_params = skpro_params[self.dist]
+        if dist in dist_params and dist in skpro_params:
+            ngboost_params = dist_params[dist]
+            skp_params = skpro_params[dist]
             for ngboost_param, skp_param in zip(ngboost_params, skp_params):
                 kwargs[skp_param] = pred_dist.params[ngboost_param]
-                if self.dist == "LogNormal" and ngboost_param == "scale":
+                if dist == "LogNormal" and ngboost_param == "scale":
                     kwargs[skp_param] = np.log(pred_dist.params[ngboost_param])
-                if self.dist == "Exponential" and ngboost_param == "scale":
+                if dist == "Exponential" and ngboost_param == "scale":
                     kwargs[skp_param] = 1 / pred_dist.params[ngboost_param]
 
                 kwargs[skp_param] = self._check_y(y=kwargs[skp_param])
@@ -132,6 +140,9 @@ def _ngb_dist_to_skpro(self, **kwargs):
         from skpro.distributions.poisson import Poisson
         from skpro.distributions.t import TDistribution
 
+        # normalize aliases so dict lookup uses the canonical name
+        dist = _normalize_dist_str(self.dist)
+
         ngboost_dists = {
             "Normal": Normal,
             "Laplace": Laplace,
@@ -143,7 +154,7 @@ def _ngb_dist_to_skpro(self, **kwargs):
 
         skpro_dist = None
 
-        if self.dist in ngboost_dists:
-            skpro_dist = ngboost_dists[self.dist](**kwargs)
+        if dist in ngboost_dists:
+            skpro_dist = ngboost_dists[dist](**kwargs)
 
         return skpro_dist

skpro/regression/ensemble/_ngboost.py

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 """Adapters to ngboost regressors with probabilistic components."""
+
 # copyright: skpro developers, BSD-3-Clause License (see LICENSE file)
 
 __author__ = ["ShreeshaM07"]
@@ -18,16 +19,17 @@ class NGBoostRegressor(BaseProbaRegressor, NGBoostAdapter):
     Parameters
     ----------
     dist : string , default = "Normal"
-        distribution that must be used for
-        probabilistic prediction.
-        Available distribution types
-
-        1. "Normal"
-        2. "Laplace"
-        3. "LogNormal"
-        4. "Poisson"
-        5. "TDistribution"
-        6. "Exponential"
+        Distribution for probabilistic prediction.
+        The canonical names are case-insensitive and common aliases are
+        accepted (e.g. ``"gaussian"`` and ``"normal"`` both map to
+        ``"Normal"``). Available distributions:
+
+        1. ``"Normal"`` (aliases: ``"gaussian"``, ``"norm"``)
+        2. ``"Laplace"`` (alias: ``"laplace"``)
+        3. ``"LogNormal"`` (aliases: ``"lognormal"``, ``"log_normal"``)
+        4. ``"Poisson"`` (alias: ``"poisson"``)
+        5. ``"TDistribution"`` (aliases: ``"t"``, ``"student_t"``)
+        6. ``"Exponential"`` (aliases: ``"exponential"``, ``"exp"``)
 
     score : string , default = "LogScore"
         A score from ngboost.scores for LogScore