Parameter Files

Parameter Files

What are Parameter Files?

Parameter Files are plain text files in which you can define parameters for the single-cell somatic or dendritic burster notebooks. They follow the same rules as python for definitions: the variable name, a single equals sign, the variable value. Each variable should be defined on a new line. Comments start with pound signs (#).

#This is a comment
#### you can use any number of pound signs to start (or end a comment) ####

## It really doesn't matter
var = 4.6 # Anything on a line after a pound sign will be ignored.

variable = 10

Why create Parameter Files?

Parameter Files are useful if you want to define your own set of default parameters for the single cell bursting models and retain these parameters for use during future sessions. While it is possible to enter parameters directly into the notebook (into the designated cell), it is mostly to be used for quick experimentation and should not be used as a permanent parameter storage.

How to create Parameter Files

1. Make a text file in the same directory as the notebook. (Please do not change the file called default.txt! If you want to create a load file with mostly default values, please copy the file and change the parameters in this new file.) Give it a name that is indicative of its purpose or that will help you differentiate it from other such files. You may want to specify if it is meant to be used with the somatic burst notebook or the dendritic burst notebook, as they use slightly different models with different variable names and will probably not be cross-compatible. 2. Enter the parameters into the file. At some point there will be a cell that you can run to automatically print the parameter definitions into the file in the proper format, but for now this must be done manually by selecting and copying the text in the notebook cell in which the parameters are defined, and pasting it directly into your text file. If you want you can type everything in by hand, but I suggest against this as it increases the likelihood that you will misspell a variable name.