PyAnalog: A Pythonic Analog Computer Demonstrator Interface

Welcome to PyAnalog, a research code written and maintained by Anabrid GmbH and released as Open Source (see below for license).

This repository holds a Python package called pyanalog. It consists of three modules/libraries which allow to interface analog computers on a software developer/mathematican level:

• PyDDA is a tool for simple algebraic transformations of equations and circuits as well as their numerical simulation.
• PyFPAA is a tool for compiling an electrical circuit into a machine architecture. This especially sets digital potentiometers and cross bar switches and relies on a minimalistic hardware description language (HDL) written in YAML.
• PyHyCon is an interface to a Model-1 Hybrid Controller in order to run a program, steer the operation and gain output data.

ℹ️ Please read the docs: As a starting point, see docs/ or make docs. You can find the generated docs at https://www.anabrid.dev/docs/pyanalog/dirhtml/

We used to serve them from https://pyanalog.readthedocs.io/ but abandoned ReadTheDocs due to missing features.

Directory structure

.
├── dda                 - The PyDDA module
├── doc                 - holding the Sphinx-based documentation
├── Dockerfile          - primarily for the CI and testing
├── examples            - a large number of applications and examples
├── fpaa                - The PyFPAA module
├── hycon               - The PyHyCon module
├── LICENSE.ANABRID     - Part of the License texts, see below for more information
├── LICENSE.DE          - Part of the License texts, see below for more information
├── LICENSE.GPL3        - Part of the License texts, see below for more information
├── LICENSE.py          - Generator forthe License texts
├── Makefile            - Not really an entry point, but see below
├── misc                - Old files, such as Mathematica notebooks or Perl codes
├── README.md           - This very file
├── requirements.txt    - A dependencies file for pip, see also doc/installation.rst
├── setup.py            - A python installer, see also doc/installation.rst
└── tests               - Unit tests (which also can be useful examples)

About the Makefile

PyAnalog is basically a collection of scripts, so there is no such thing as make build. However, you can try make install, which will basically execute setup.py. Read doc/installation.rst for further details.

The shortest quick start (of PyDDA)

This directory holds the package root directory (where setup.py lives) of the PyDDA package. This is mostly a pure Python3 package with no dependencies.

If you are lazy, you can start using PyDDA right from here:

$ git clone git@github.com:anabrid/pyanalog.git
$ cd pyanalog
$ python3
>>> from dda import *
>>> s = BreveState()
>>> s.x = Symbol("int", "x", 0.02, 0)
>>> print(s)
BreveState({'x': int(x, 0.02, 0)})

Please read doc/installation.rst for further instructions on how to use the package. It contains also instructions how to install PyAnalog properly. Run make to see the various formats the documentation can be generated in.

About the License

Basically, this code is Open Sourced by the GPLv3. However, we have a different license model for commercial use. In order to stay safe regarding liability questions, we also refer to the LICENSE.DE for legal issues relevant to Germany. Here is the full license text which typically prepends any file within this repository:

ANABRID_BEGIN_LICENSE:GPL
Commercial License Usage
Licensees holding valid commercial anabrid licenses may use this file in
accordance with the commercial license agreement provided with the
Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in
a written agreement between you and Anabrid GmbH. For licensing terms
and conditions see https://www.anabrid.com/licensing. For further
information use the contact form at https://www.anabrid.com/contact.

GNU General Public License Usage
Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU 
General Public License version 3 as published by the Free Software
Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.GPL3 included in the
packaging of this file. Please review the following information to
ensure the GNU General Public License version 3 requirements
will be met: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html.
For Germany, additional rules exist. Please consult /LICENSE.DE
for further agreements.
ANABRID_END_LICENSE

Further questions?

This code was primarily written by https://github.com/svenk within the years 2020/21. If you have any questions, you should drop him a mail or use the Github tools (such as opening an Issue).

Stay analog!