"Neuroscience" SI units in NESTML

[DimitriPlotnikov]

The goal of this discussion is to define a list with "neuroscience" magnitudes of SI in NEST/NESTML. E.g. all variables in NESTML models of the SI unit will be automatically converted to a proper magnitued during the NEST code generation workflow. The current status is. @Silmathoron, @heplesser. @PTraeder: can you update/extend the list since you know what is really supported.

milli seconds - ms
pico farad   - pF
milli volt    - mV
pico ampere  - pA
nano siemens - nS
mega ohm     - MOhm

[heplesser]

The list looks good, but as @Silmathoron pointed out, resistance should be in gigaohm, not megaohm. That is also consistent with conductance in nanosiemens.

The only other units I can think of right now are for

• frequencies: Hz
• rates: s^-1
• angles: deg

Note that frequencies and rates are given per second, not per ms.

[DimitriPlotnikov]

@heplesser
Do we have any NEST models with such units (Hz, s^-1,deg)?

[Silmathoron]

Yes, stochastically spiking neurons like pp_psc_delta

[heplesser]

Almost all _generator models except dc_generator have some such parameters.

[Silmathoron]

Do we plan to extend NESTML to make generators?

[DimitriPlotnikov]

In midterm yes. Current prios from my perspective would be : stability of the nest-generator for all kinds of iaf-neurons, support for synapses, remaining types of NEST neurons, re-implementation of NESTML in Python, ...

[Silmathoron]

I'm very much looking forward to the last part ;)

[DimitriPlotnikov]

Yes, it will take its time. I've a student worker how will start that translation in next months. If you have already any expertise in Python's parser generators, I'll would appreciate your input. We are currently evaluating: pyparsing, ply (+its extensions) and ANTLR4.

[DimitriPlotnikov]

Done.