*******************
Reference simulator
*******************

.. default-role:: obj

Nengo is designed so that models created with the
:doc:`Nengo modeling API <frontend_api>`
work on a variety of different simulators.
Simulators have been created to take advantage of
`GPUs <https://github.com/nengo/nengo_ocl/>`_ and
`neuromorphic hardware <https://github.com/project-rig/nengo_spinnaker>`_.

Nengo comes with a simulator that is relatively fast,
but works on general purpose computers.
For most users, the only thing that you need to know
about the reference simulator is how to
create and close a `nengo.Simulator` instance.

.. autoclass:: nengo.Simulator

The build process
=================

The build process translates a Nengo model
to a set of data buffers (`.Signal` instances)
and computational operations (`.Operator` instances)
which implement the Nengo model
defined with the :doc:`modeling API <frontend_api>`.
The build process is central to
how the reference simulator works,
and details how Nengo can be extended to include
new neuron types, learning rules, and other components.

`Bekolay et al., 2014
<http://compneuro.uwaterloo.ca/publications/bekolay2014.html>`_
provides a high-level description
and detailed picture of the build process.
For lower-level details
and reference documentation, read on.

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.Signal

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.Operator

Operators
---------

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.Reset

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.Copy

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.SlicedCopy

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.ElementwiseInc

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.DotInc

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.TimeUpdate

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.PreserveValue

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.operator.SimPyFunc

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.neurons.SimNeurons

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.SimBCM

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.SimOja

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.SimVoja

Build functions
---------------

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.Builder

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.Model

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.network.build_network

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.ensemble.build_ensemble

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.ensemble.BuiltEnsemble

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.node.build_node

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.connection.build_connection

.. autoclass:: nengo.builder.connection.BuiltConnection

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.probe.build_probe

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.neurons.build_neurons

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.neurons.build_lif

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.neurons.build_alifrate

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.neurons.build_alif

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.neurons.build_izhikevich

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.build_learning_rule

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.build_bcm

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.build_oja

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.build_voja

.. autofunction:: nengo.builder.learning_rules.build_pes