Domain-Specific Modeling as a Pragmatic Approach to Neuronal Model Descriptions

Biologically realistic modeling has been greatly facilitated by the development of neuro-simulators, and the development of simulatorindependent formats for model exchange is the subject of multiple initiatives. Neuronal systems need to be described at multiple levels of granularity, and compared to other such multi-level systems they also exhibit emergent properties, which are best described with computational and psychological terminology. The links between these levels are often neither clear in terms of concepts nor of the underlying mathematics. Given that modeling and simulation depends on explicit formal descriptions, we argue that rapid prototyping of model descriptions and their mutual relations will be a key to making progress here. Here we propose to adapt the paradigm of domain-specific modeling from software engineering. Using the popular Eclipse platform, we develop the modular and extensible NeuroBench3 model and showcase a toolchain for code generation, which can also s...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: BRAIN
• Authors: Ralf Ansorg, Lars Schwabe
• Keywords: BRAIN 2010, Explicit Formal Descriptions, Information Technology, Model Descriptions, Neuronal Systems