1## What is libneurosim?
2
3libneurosim is a general library that provides interfaces and common
4utility code for neuronal simulators.
5
6Currently it provides the ConnectionGenerator interface.
7
8The ConnectionGenerator API is a standard interface supporting
9efficient generation of network connectivity during model setup in
10neuronal network simulators. It is intended as an abstraction
11isolating both sides of the API: any simulator can use a given
12connection generator and a given simulator can use any library
13providing the ConnectionGenerator interface. It was initially
14developed to support the use of libcsa from NEST.
15
16## Using python
17
18libpyneurosim is a library provided to support the usage of connection
19generators written in Python from a neuronal simulator written in
20C++. That is, it is *not* an extension library to the Python scripting
21language. In order to simultaneously support the use of Python 2 and
223, the library is installed with names libpy2neurosim and
23libpy3neurosim.
24
25To build libpyneurosim (provided for backward compatibility) and
26libpy2neurosim, which link with Python version 2, add the configure
27option
28
29  --with-python=2
30
31To build libpy3neurosim, which links with Python version 3, configure
32with
33
34  --with-python=3
35
36You can only build for one Python version at a time, but libraries can
37be installed in parallel.
38
39## Required external packages
40
41libneurosim can be linked to MPI if it will be linked to a parallel
42simulator.
43
44## Where to find more information
45
46The ConnectionGenerator API is described in
47[Djurfeldt et al. (2014)](http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fninf.2014.00043).
48
49## Submitting bug reports
50
51Bug reports can be filed as issues on GitHub.
52
53## Contributions welcome!
54
55Currently, libneurosim is only supported by the
56[NEST](http://github.com/nest/nest-simulator) simulator and only
57provides the Connection Generator Interface.
58
59This should change.
60
61If you are developing algorithms that are usable by different
62simulators, we would be happy if you'd send us a pull request.
63