size_t proto_len,
                                                          TF_Status* status);

#ifdef __cplusplus
} /* end extern "C" */
#endif

  // destroy an instance of this class.
  virtual void Release() = 0;

  // Creates an operation builder and ties it to this context.
  // The returned object can be used for setting operation's attributes,
  // adding inputs and finally executing (immediately or lazily as in tracing)
  // it in this context.
  virtual AbstractOperation* CreateOperation() = 0;

  // Registers a function with this context, after this the function is

  //
  // If `is_async=false` (constructor argument), `cancellation_manager` must
  // live until `Join` finishes. If `is_async=true` it must live until `Join` is
  // followed by `TFE_ContextAsyncWait` to clear pending operations. It will be
  // used to cancel all other operations if any fails.
  //
  // Set step_id to configure the step id used for rendezvous creation. step id

// Return an identity op.
TFE_Op* IdentityOp(TFE_Context* ctx, TFE_TensorHandle* a);

// Return a shape op fetching the shape of `a`.
TFE_Op* ShapeOp(TFE_Context* ctx, TFE_TensorHandle* a);

// Return an allreduce op adding up input tensor `in` from `group_size` workers.
TFE_Op* AllReduceOp(TFE_Context* ctx, TFE_TensorHandle* in, int group_size);

// Return a SendOp op `op_name` with send input tensor `in` and attributes

                                                TF_Status* status);

// ----------------------------------------------------------------

#ifdef __cplusplus
} /* end extern "C" */
#endif

// Operations the tape needs to perform on tensors to do backpropagation. Named
// "vspace" because a subset of these are related to a vector space, such as
// adding gradients, getting zeroes, etc. Currently cannot be implemented
// without using tensorflow python code, hence left unspecified here.
//
// Gradient is the type returned by gradient functions. In Python TF it's either

                                                  const char* func_name,
                                                  TF_Status* status);

#ifdef __cplusplus
} /* end extern "C" */
#endif

namespace tensorflow {
class Tensor;
}  // namespace tensorflow

TFE_TensorHandle* TFE_NewTensorHandle(const tensorflow::Tensor& t,
                                      TF_Status* status);
#endif

  // will take ownership and maintain devices' lifetime.
  virtual Status AddDevices(std::vector<std::unique_ptr<Device>> devices) = 0;

  // Block until all pending nodes are finished.
  virtual Status AsyncWait() = 0;

  // Add a function (serialized FunctionDef protocol buffer) so that it can
  // be executed as an op. Return error if the function with the same name

// for `Env::Default()` altogether, but that's a different project, not in
// scope for now. I'm just mentioning this here as that transition will mean
// removal of the registration part from `Env` and adding it here instead: we
// will need tables to hold for each scheme the function tables that implement
// the needed functionality instead of the current `FileSystemRegistry` code in
// `core/platform/env.cc`.