How to delete NetCon objects?

When Python is the interpreter, what is a good
design for the interface to the basic NEURON
concepts.

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Nin
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Joined: Thu May 03, 2007 4:04 pm
Location: Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria)
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How to delete NetCon objects?

Post by Nin »

I'm collecting a list of NetCon objects in a Python list. I do it to remove old synaptic connections after a simulation and create new ones. I was wondering what is the best way to delete old NetCon objects and substitute them with new NetCon objects. I provide a basic example:

Code: Select all


def create_netcons(n, mylist=None):
     """"
    create a list with <n> number of NetCon objects
     """"
    if mylist is not None:
        for nc in mylist:
            nc.weight[0] = 0.0 # set NetCon to zero? use del?
    else:
        mysyn = mylist
    for _ in range(n):
        myNetCon = h.NetCon(target, source, sec) # pseudo-code
        myNetCon.weight[0] = 1e-4
        mysyn.append( myNetCon )

    return( mysyn )

# Simulation
mylist = create_netcons(3) # create 3 NetCons
mylist = create_netcons(5, mylist) # create 5 new NetCons, set the old ones to zero

There must be a better way to delete the old NetCons in the list.

I would appreciate your help

Thanks!!!
ted
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Location: Yale University School of Medicine
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Re: How to delete NetCon objects?

Post by ted »

Sorry this reply is so delayed.

I think your basic example looks entirely sufficient for the task. You're replacing the contents of a list with new contents. As long as that reduces the reference count to 0 for each of the objects (NetCons) that had previously been in the list, that should be all it takes to get rid of them. Is it the absolutely fastest way to do this? I suspect it is, but even if there is some way that is a bit faster, the difference is probably much smaller than the time required to create all the cell and synapse instances in the first place, not to mention how long it takes to execute a simulation and store or analyze results.
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