PyNEST: a convenient interface to the NEST simulator

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event PyNEST: a convenient interface to the NEST simulator Jochen M. Eppler1*, Marc-Oliver Gewaltig1, Moritz Helias2 and Eilif Muller3 1 Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH, Germany 2 BCCN Freiburg, Germany 3 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland Previous versions of NEST were difficult to use because simulations had to be formulated in a custom programming language (SLI), which is based on PostScript. This lead to a high barrier for new users. The upcoming version 2.0 of NEST lowers this barrier significantly by providing a convenient and easy-to-learn interface to NEST as an extension module for the Python programming language. This extension is called PyNEST. The neural simulation tool NEST (http://www.nest-initiative.org) is a simulator for heterogeneous networks of point neurons or neurons with a small number of compartments. It aims at simulations of large neural systems, i.e. networks with more than 10^4 neurons and up to 10^9 synapses. NEST is implemented as an efficient library in C++ that can be used on a large range of architectures ranging from desktop computers to large clusters with thousands of processor cores. Python (http://www.python.org) is a modern programming language that has recently gained considerable attention in Computational Neuroscience. Python is easy to learn and has many extension modules for scientific computing (http://www.scipy.org). PyNEST is an extension module for Python that combines the power of the NEST simulation kernel with the flexibility of Python. PyNEST allows faster simulation setup, easier construction of stimuli, and convenient analysis of the results in the same script. In this contribution we describe the main features of PyNEST from a user perspective. In a companion contribution we give a live demonstration of PyNEST. Conference: Neuroinformatics 2008, Stockholm, Sweden, 7 Sep - 9 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Large Scale Modeling Citation: Eppler JM, Gewaltig M, Helias M and Muller E (2008). PyNEST: a convenient interface to the NEST simulator. Front. Neuroinform. Conference Abstract: Neuroinformatics 2008. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.11.2008.01.083 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 25 Jul 2008; Published Online: 25 Jul 2008. * Correspondence: Jochen M Eppler, Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH, Offenbach, Germany, j.eppler@fz-juelich.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jochen M Eppler Marc-Oliver Gewaltig Moritz Helias Eilif Muller Google Jochen M Eppler Marc-Oliver Gewaltig Moritz Helias Eilif Muller Google Scholar Jochen M Eppler Marc-Oliver Gewaltig Moritz Helias Eilif Muller PubMed Jochen M Eppler Marc-Oliver Gewaltig Moritz Helias Eilif Muller Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.