Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 A tour of the NEURON simulation environment
- 2 The modeling perspective
- 3 Expressing conceptual models in mathematical terms
- 4 Essentials of numerical methods for neural modeling
- 5 Representing neurons with a digital computer
- 6 How to build and use models of individual cells
- 7 How to control simulations
- 8 How to initialize simulations
- 9 How to expand NEURON's library of mechanisms
- 10 Synaptic transmission and artificial spiking cells
- 11 Modeling networks
- 12 hoc, NEURON's interpreter
- 13 Object-oriented programming
- 14 How to modify NEURON itself
- Appendix A1 Mathematical analysis of IntFire4
- Appendix A2 NEURON's built-in editor
- Epilogue
- Index
12 - hoc, NEURON's interpreter
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 A tour of the NEURON simulation environment
- 2 The modeling perspective
- 3 Expressing conceptual models in mathematical terms
- 4 Essentials of numerical methods for neural modeling
- 5 Representing neurons with a digital computer
- 6 How to build and use models of individual cells
- 7 How to control simulations
- 8 How to initialize simulations
- 9 How to expand NEURON's library of mechanisms
- 10 Synaptic transmission and artificial spiking cells
- 11 Modeling networks
- 12 hoc, NEURON's interpreter
- 13 Object-oriented programming
- 14 How to modify NEURON itself
- Appendix A1 Mathematical analysis of IntFire4
- Appendix A2 NEURON's built-in editor
- Epilogue
- Index
Summary
But what it was that inscrutable Ahab said to that tiger – yellow crew of his – these were words best omitted here; for you live under the blessed light of the evangelical land. Only the infidel sharks in the audacious seas may give ear to such words, when, with tornado brow, and eyes of red murder, and foam-glued lips, Ahab leaped after his prey.
Much of the flexibility of NEURON is due to its use of a built-in interpreter, called hoc (pronounced “hoak”), for defining the anatomical and biophysical properties of models of neurons and neuronal networks, controlling simulations, and creating a graphical user interface. In this chapter we present a survey of hoc and how it is used in NEURON. Readers who seek the most up-to-date list of hoc keywords and documentation of syntax are referred to the online Programmer's Reference (see link at http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/docs/docs.html). This can also be downloaded as a pkzip archive for convenient offline viewing with any WWW browser. The standard distribution for MSWindows includes a copy of the Programmer's Reference which is current as of the date of the NEURON executable that it accompanies (see the “Documentation” item in the NEURON program group).
NEURON's hoc is based on the floating point calculator by the same name that was developed by Kernighan and Pike (1984).
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- Information
- The NEURON Book , pp. 343 - 362Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006