Automating the Nengo build process

Tech Report, 2010

Trevor Bekolay

Abstract

Nengo is a piece of sophisticated neural modelling software used to simulate large-scale networks of biologically plausible neurons. Previously, releases of Nengo were being created manually whenever the currently released version lacked an important new feature. While unit testing existed, it was not being maintained or run regularly. Good development practices are important for Nengo because it is a complicated application with over 50,000 lines of code, and depends on dozens of third-party libraries. In addition, being an open source project, having good development practices can attract new contributors. This technical report discusses the creation and automation of a back-end for Nengo, and how it integrates with the existing mechanisms used in Nengo development. Since the primary goal of the system was to avoid disturbing developers' workflow, the typical development cycle is made explicit and it is shown that the cycle is not affected by the new automated system.

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CTN Tech Report

Month
09/2010
Institution
Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience
Address
Waterloo, ON
Issn
CTN-TR-20100917-009

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