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  1. Jul 10, 2018
  2. Jun 25, 2018
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Feature/lib install target part i (#506) · ad1c78ab
      Sam Yates authored and Benjamin Cumming's avatar Benjamin Cumming committed
      CMake and build refactoring
      
      *   Use CUDA as first-class language (leading to CMake 3.9 minimum version requirement).
      
      *   Use 'modern CMake' interface libraries for compiler options, include file and library dependency tracking. Interface library targets:
          * `arbor-deps`: compiler options and library requirements for the `libarbor.a` static library, as governed by configure-time options and environment.
          * `arbor-private-headers`: include path for non-installed headers, as required by unit tests and arbor itself.
          * `arbor-aux`: helper classes and utilities used across tests and examples.
          * `ext-json`, `ext-tclap`, `ext-tbb`, `ext-benchmark`, `ext-sphinx_rtd_theme`: externally maintained software that we include (directly or via submodule) in the `ext/` subdirectory.
       
      *   Single static library `libarbor.a` includes all built-in modules and CUDA objects.
      
      *   Simply configuration options:
          *  `ARB_WITH_TRACE`, `ARB_AUTORUN_MODCC_ON_CHANGES` `ARB_SYSTEM_TYPE` removed.
          * External `modcc` is provided by `ARB_MODCC` configuration option; if provided `modcc` is still buildable, but is not included in the default target.
          * `ARB_PRIVATE_TBBLIB`, defaulting to `OFF`, instructs the build to make TBB from the included submodule.
      
      *   Extend `ErrorTarget` functionality to provide a dummy target or an error target based on a condition.
      *   Generate header version defines and library version variables based on git status and project version, via new script `include/git-source-id`.
      *   All generated binaries now placed in `bin/` subdirectory at build.
      *   Install targets installs: public headers (incomplete); static library; `modcc` tool; `lmorpho` executable; `html` documentation (examples, tests and validation data are currently not installed).
      *   Executable targets have had the `.exe` suffix removed; unit tests are labelled `unit` (arbor unit tests), `unit-modcc` (modcc unit tests), `unit-local` (distributed tests with local context), `unit-mpi` (distributed tests with MPI context).
      *   More graceful handling of configure-time detection of `nrniv`, Julia and required Julia modules for validation data generation.
      *   Add `cmake/FindJulia.cmake`, `cmake/FindTBB.cmake`  package finders, and adjust `cmake/FindUnwind.cmake` to use link library-style properties.
      *  Adjust travis script to test `unit-local` and `unit-mpi` if appropriate.
      *  Simply documentation `conf.py`.
      
      Source relocation and reorganization
      
      * All external project sources and files moved to `ext/`.
      * Source code refactoring to decouple library-using code from the configure-time definitions that govern arbor behaviour: removes conditional code in public headers that depends upon `ARB_WITH_X`-type definitions at compile time. Affected code is is in the public interfaces for MPI, the threading implementation, and the profiler.
      * Remove `util/debug.hpp`; split out functionality for pretty-printing from assertion handling.
      * Make FVM cell non-physical voltage check a run-time cell-group parameter.
      * Move spike double buffer implementation to `simulation.cpp`.
      * Make timer utility wrap POSIX `clock_gettime` independent of threading configuration.
      * Make `mpi_error` derive from `system_error` and follow C++11 `system_error` semantics.
      * `EXPECTS` macro replaced by `arb_assert` macro.
      * JSON dependency removed from `libarbor.a` and header files: moved to auxiliary library.
      * Publicly visible macros garner an `ARB_` prefix as required.
      * Move SWC test file to `test/unit` directory.
      * Work-in-progress splitting of public from private includes: as a convention not entirely adhered to as yet, private headers within arbor source are included with `""`, public headers with `<>`.
      
      Modcc interface changes
      
      * Expose via `--namespace` option the functionality that sets the namespace in generated code.
      * Use `--profile` option to add profiler hooks to generated code; uses public function interface directly rather than `PE/PL` macros in order to avoid public `PE` and `PL` defines.
      ad1c78ab
  3. May 09, 2018
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Mechanism Refactor: multicore and simd (#484) · 68135148
      Sam Yates authored
      First commit of two for mechanism refactor work (refer to PR #484 and PR #483).
      
      FVM/mechanism code:
      * Refactor mechanism data structures to decouple backend-specific implementations and mechanism metadata.
      * Add mechanism catalogue for managing mechanism metadata and concrete implementation prototypes.
      * Add fingerprint-checking to mechanism metadata and implementations to confirm they come from the same NMODL source (fingerprint is not yet computed, but tests are in place).
      * Split FVM discretization work out from FVM integrator code.
      * Use abstract base class over backend-templated FVM integrator class `fvm_lowered_cell_impl` to allow separate compilation of `mc_cell_group` and to remove the dummy backend code.
      * Add a new FVM-specific scalar type `fvm_index_type` that is an alias for `int` to replace
      `fvm_size_type` in fvm layouts and mechanisms. This was chosen as an alternative
      to making `unsigned` versions of all our SIMD implementation classes.
      * Extend `cable1d_neuron` global data to encompass: mechanism catalogue; default ion concentrations and charges; global temperature (only for Nernst); initial membrane potential.
      
      Modcc:
      * Collect printer sources in modcc under `printer/`.
      * Move common functionality across printers into `printer/printerutil.{hpp,cpp}`.
      * Add string to file I/O implemented in routines read_all and write_all in `io/bulkio.hpp`.
      * Implement indent-friendly source code generation via a `std::streambuf` filter `io::prefixbuf` defined in `io/prefixbuf.hpp`, together with manipulators and a corresponding std::ostream-derived wrapper.
      * Rewrite printers to use new infrastructure: cpu target incorporates SIMD printing options; CUDA printer at this point produces only stubs for CUDA kernel wrappers.
      * Modify SIMD printing command line options for modcc: `-s` enables explicit vectorization using the SIMD classes;  `-S <N>` allows a specific data width to be prescribed.
      * Fix problem in `test_ca.mod` with uninitialized ion current.
      * Add infrastructure support to allow future pre-computation of SIMD index conflict cases for (hopefully) faster scatters and updates.
      * Simplify `IndexedVariable` expressions in the AST, making data source explicit via a `sourceKind` enum, and leaving the indexing method and index names up to the printers.
      * Allow state variables in the AST to 'shadow' an ion concentration — these are assigned in the
      generated `write_ions` method.
      
      SIMD classes:
      * Add `simd_cast` operation between SIMD value types of the same width, and with `std::array`. (Note: this was tested and used in an early development version of the code, but not in this version. It was still a lacuna in the original SIMD wrappers, so it has been left in.)
      * Restructure SIMD gather/scatter API to use a `simd::indirect` expression,  which encapsulates a pointer and SIMD offset.
      * Add `simd::index_constraint` scoped enum to describe knowledge of contention in indirect indices, so that we can branch on this to the appropriate implementation.
      * Add SIMD concrete implementation routines `reduce_add` for horizontal reduction and `element0` for access to first lane scalar value.
      * Add SIMD value method `sum()` that exposes implementation `reduce_add`.
      * Add SIMD concrete implementation routine `compound_indexed_add` that provides the implementation for `indirect(p, simd_indices) += simd_value` construction.
      * Fix SIMD `implbase` bug where some static methods were using the `implbase` fall-back functions instead of the derived class specialized implementations.
      * Move SIMD mathematical functions into friend routines of `simd_impl` in order to resolve implicit conversions from scalars in mixed SIMD-scalar operations.
      * Use a templated `tag` class to dispatch on SIMD concrete implementation types, to avoid problems with incomplete types in method signatures.
      * Remove old SIMD intrinsics.
      
      CMake infrastructure:
      * Downcase some variables in `CMakeLists.txt` files to  distinguish them visually from CMake keywords and variables.
      * Split arbor modcc vectorization option (now `ARB_VECTORIZE`) and target-architecture optimization (now `ARB_ARCH`).
      * For `arbor` and `arbormech` targets, and in particular not the `modcc` target, use `ARB_ARCH` to generate corresponding target-appropriate binaries, including, for example, appropriate SIMD support.
      * Extend `CompilerOptions.cmake` to map as best as able between the various target architecture names (we use the gcc names) and the correct option to pass to the compiler based on the compiler and platform.
      * Add work-around for misidentification by CMake of XL C as Clang.
      * As a temporary work-around, include `arbormech` library twice on link line to resolve circular arbor–arbormech dependencies.
      
      Unit tests:
      * Extend repertoire of generic sequence equality/near equality testing support  in `common.hpp`.
      * Add warning suppression for icc for the malloc instrumentation code.
      * SIMD unit tests for indirect expressions, compound indirect add, reduction.
      * Make some exact tests into floating point 'near' tests when comparing computed areas and lengths in swc and fvm layout tests, to account for compiler (e.g. icc) performing semantically inequivalent floating point operation reordering or fusion at `-O3`.
      * Split out some of the CUDA tests into separate .cpp/.cu files for  separate-compilation purposes.
      
      Other:
      * The `padded_allocator` has been modified to propagate alignment/padding on move and copy (these semantics make their use much easier and safer in the multicore mechanism instantiation code).
      * Map/table searching utilities in `util/maputil.hpp`.
      * Fixes for correct sequence type categorization and `begin/end` ADL.
      * Fixes for type guards for range methods that take universal references.
      * Removal of some redundant code in range utilities through the use of universal references.
      * Add new range view `reverse_view` for ranges delineated by bidirectional iterators.
      * Add single argument form of `make_span` to count up from zero, and associated helper `count_along` that gives a span that indexes a supplied container.
      * Moved `prefixbuf` to `modcc` source.
      * Make sequence positive and negative tests in algorithms generic.
      * Add `private`-subverting helper code/macro to `tests/unit/common.hpp` to reduce the number of public testing-only interfaces in the library code.
      * Add virtual destructors for virtual base classes.
      * Add new arb::math:: functions: `next_pow2` for unsigned integral types, `round_up` to round a number away from zero to next largest magnitude multiple.
      * New `index_into` implementation that supports bidirectional access (moved to `util::` namespace).
      * Fix problem in `test_ca.mod` with uninitialized ion current.
      * Rework dangerous `memory::array(Iter, Iter)` constructor to be less dangerous (and do the expected thing).
      * Allow ranges to be constructed from other ranges if the iterators are compatible.
      68135148
  4. Dec 20, 2017
    • Ben Cumming's avatar
      Add granule cell mechanisms (#421) · a80df6fa
      Ben Cumming authored and Sam Yates's avatar Sam Yates committed
      * Add three new mechanisms: `nax.mod`, `kdrmt.mod` and `kamt.mod`.
      * Add new built-in math operators to `modcc`: `min`, `max`, `abs` and `exprelr`. `exprelr` is defined as the reciprocal of the 'exprel' function, exprel(x)=x/(exp(x)-1), exprel(1)=1. This function occurs frequently in HH-style mechanisms, and having a built-in operator avoids the ad hoc `vtrap` functions found in NMODL files in the wild.
      * Split Arbor SIMD intrinsics support into AVX2- and AVX512-specific files.
      * Add unit tests for new maths operators for C++, SIMD and CUDA implementations.
      a80df6fa
  5. Nov 29, 2017
    • Ben Cumming's avatar
      support ion species concentration updates (#398) · fa7d99b6
      Ben Cumming authored and Sam Yates's avatar Sam Yates committed
      * Add querying methods to modcc ion species type to simplify code generation.
      * Add `WriteBack` type that records per-mechanism ion usage metadata.
      * Add `write_back` implementation for C and CUDA printers that adds weighted concentration
        contributions to global concentration fields.
      * Extend `uses_ion` interface to provide information about which concentration fields are modified by mechanisms.
      * Update `update_ion_symbols` lambda that is responsible for adding metadata about interactions between mechanism fields and external ion species fields, creating a write-back when the mechanism field is a state variable or an indexed variable if it is a current/reversal potential, or else an error.
      * Add `test_ca.mod` mechanism that writes calcium ion concentration for testing purposes.
      * Add back-end callbacks that initialize concentration values.
      * Update `mechanism::uses_ion()` to return information regarding mechanism ion concentration updates.
      * Add `mechanism::write_back()` method.
      * Update stimulus mechanism specialization to use new mechanism interface.
      * Update `ion` type to calculate default concentration contributions in CVs where the concentration is only partially determined by mechanisms.
      * Update `fvm_multicell` to calculate the default ion concentration weights.
      * Add unit test for ion concentration weight determination.
      
      Fixes #373 
      fa7d99b6
  6. Nov 28, 2017
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Tidy `modcc` driver, remove optimize flag. (#404) · 998ee724
      Sam Yates authored
      * Remove optimization option (use SIMD options for vectorization).
      * Remove arbor utility library dependencies from modcc (pending separation of utility lib from arbor lib source).
      * Split target (cpu, gpu) specification from vectorization architecture (avx2, avx512).
      * Remove `Options` singleton; replace with structure local to `modcc.cpp`.
      * Tidy `modcc` option parsing and main function; allow a single invocation of `modcc` to generate code for multiple backends.
      * Rename generated sources to include backend target in filename.
      * Always run a constant simplification pass on generated procedures.
      * Remove file i/o code from `Module` and `modcc` main function; move functionality to new functions in `io` namespace. (Note: in on-going mechanism revamp, other i/o utility code will reside in the `io` namespace and subdirectory.)
      * Remove classes `ConstantFolderVisitor` and `ExpressionClassifierVisitor` that are no longer used.
      * Modify CMakeLists.txt files, `backends/*/fvm.cpp` to reflect the new filenames of generated sources.
      * Small formatting changes in `modcc` source to reflect coding guidelines (incomplete).
      998ee724
  7. Sep 28, 2017
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Rename NestMC references, names etc. to Arbor. (#363) · d9f38b2a
      Sam Yates authored
      * Use ARB_ and arb_ as variable prefixes in place of NMC_ and nmc_.
      * Replace references to 'NestMC' and 'NEST MC' to refer instead to Arbor.
      * Use 'arbor' as the sim name in generated validation data.
      * Reflow long-line paragraphs in `tests/ubench/README.md`.
      * Change names of CUDA mechanism and CUDA kernel libraries to include arbor name.
      d9f38b2a
  8. Sep 25, 2017
    • Ben Cumming's avatar
      Finish Seperable CUDA compilation (#356) · ddbece13
      Ben Cumming authored and Sam Yates's avatar Sam Yates committed
      Separate compilation for all CUDA code.
      
      * Move all CUDA kernels to their own .cu files, together with C++ function wrappers.
      * Compile all CUDA .cu files to a single static library.
      * Merge gpu and multicore backend validation tests.
      * Simply and clean up cruft from CMakeLists.txt files.
      ddbece13
  9. Sep 21, 2017
    • Ben Cumming's avatar
      Seperable compilation of mechanism kernels on GPU (#353) · 3c283219
      Ben Cumming authored and Sam Yates's avatar Sam Yates committed
      Separable compilation of the CUDA kernels generated by modcc from NMODL files.
      
      CMake scripts:
      * Update the `build_modules()` helper function to cleanly handle calls to modcc that generate multiple output files.
      * Add a new library target `gpu_mechanisms` for the separately compiled CUDA kernels and the implementation of their C wrappers.
      * Reduce verbosity of compilation messages.
      
      * Simplify mechanism C++ namespace use: move everything in nest::mc::mechanisms::gpu::_mechanism-name_ into `nest::mc::gpu`, and similarly for multicore mechanism implementations, ions.
      * Remove template parameters for `value_type` and `size_type` from all of the 
      mechanism implementations, and use `fvm_value_type` and `fvm_size_type` everywhere instead.
      
      modcc changes:
      * Modify `CUDAPrinter` to keep track of 3 text buffers, one each for 
        "implementation", "interface" and "implementation interface":
      * Write the CUDA implementation interface to `X_impl.hpp`, comprising the definition of the mechanism-specific 'X_ParamParck' struct used to pass function arguments to the CUDA kernels.
      * Write the CUDA kernels and C wrappers to `X_impl.cu`.
      * Write the public C++ mechanism interface (with calls to implementation wrappers) to `X.hpp`.
      * Modify modcc driver to support multiple generated output files.
      3c283219
  10. Jun 15, 2017
  11. Jun 14, 2017
  12. Mar 31, 2017
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Add more general indirect access view. (#216) · ca328a21
      Sam Yates authored
      * Implement `indirect_view` for indexed access via `transform_view`.
      * Extend `transform_iterator` to permit non-const access to reference-returning functor results.
      * Replace use of `indexed_view` with `indirect_view`.
      * Fix missing cpu target for vectorized modcc outputs.
      ca328a21
  13. Mar 20, 2017
    • Vasileios Karakasis's avatar
      modcc: AVX512 vectorisation backend (#154) · c55d9d66
      Vasileios Karakasis authored
      Basic features:
      
      * Compile with -t avx512
      * Automatically set up by CMake if USE_OPTIMIZED_KERNELS is on and VECTORIZE_TARGET is set to KNL 
      * Generic SIMD printer that contacts a SIMD backend for emitting the actual SIMD intrinsics
      
      Note: compilation for the avx512 target requires the Intel compiler. 
      c55d9d66
  14. Mar 15, 2017
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Allow explicit make of GPU mechanisms. (#192) · 195befaa
      Sam Yates authored
      When NMC_WITH_CUDA is off, still allow the generation
      of CUDA mechanisms with modcc by exposing the
      `build_all_gpu_mods` target; this can be performed
      independently of the presence (or otherwise) of a
      CUDA development environment.
      
      This eases development of GPU-related modcc tasks,
      as preliminary work can be performed and checked on
      machines without a CUDA environment.
      195befaa
  15. Mar 05, 2017
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Add linear kinetic schemes to modcc. (#145) · 5846f90b
      Sam Yates authored
      Incorporate symbolic GE code from prototype (with some simplifications) in msparse.hpp, symge.hpp and symge.cpp, together with unit tests.
      
      Add two kinetic scheme test cases for validation: test_kin1 (simple exponential scheme) and test_kinlva (combination of exponential gate and a three-species kinetic scheme, modelling a low voltage-activated Calcium channel from Wang, X. J. et al., J. Neurophys. 1991).
      
      Adapt numeric HH validation data generation to LVA Ca channel, with explicit stopping at stimulus discontinuities.
      
      Add two new validation tests based on above: kinetic.kin1_numeric_ref and kinetic.kinlva_numeric_ref (multicore backend only).
      
      Introduce a BlockRewriterBase visitor base class, as an aid for visitors that transform/rewrite procedure bodies; refactor KineticRewriter over this class.
      
      Introduce common error_stack mixin class for common functionality across Module and the various procedure rewriters.
      
      Implement visitors and public-facing convenience wrappers in symdiff.hpp and symdiff.cpp:
      
      involves_identifer for testing if an expression contains given identifiers.
      constant_simplify for constant folding with removal of trivial terms arising from a NumberExpression of zero or one.
      expr_value to extract the numerical value of a NumberExpression, or NaN othereise.
      is_zero to test if an expression is numerically zero.
      symbolic_pdiff to perform symbolic partial differentiation; this adds a new (not parseable) expression subclass to represent opaque partial differential terms.
      substitute to substitute identifiers for other expressions within an expression.
      linear_test for linearity, diagonality and homogeneity testing (this is probably redundant, given ExpressionClassifier already exists).
      Simplify unnecessary uses of make_unique with Vistor subclasses.
      
      Make SOLVE statement rewriting more generic, through the use of solve-rewriter visitors CnexpSolverVisitor, SparseSolverVisitor, and DirectSolverVisitor; implementations in solvers.hpp and solvers.cpp. Supports multiple SOLVE statements for independent subsets of state variables with the BREAKPOINT block.
      
      Add block rewriter for the removal of unused local variables, with convenience wrapper remove_unused_locals.
      
      Generalize is_in utility in modccutil.hpp.
      
      Simplify expression comparison in modcc unit tests with EXPECT_EXPR_EQ macro added to tests/modcc/test.hpp, that operates by comparing expression text representations.
      
      Simplify and consolidate verbose printing in modcc unit tests with verbose_print function that tests the global verbose flag and handles expression_ptr and similar which have to_string methods.
      5846f90b
  16. Jan 12, 2017
    • John Biddiscombe's avatar
      CMake fixes (#137) · 71aa4b18
      John Biddiscombe authored
      * Fix CMakeLists to handle build as a subproject
      
      When several CMake generated projects are build together, it is common
      practice to have a 'superproject' CMakeLists that uses
        add_subdir(proj1)
        add_subdir(proj2)
        ...
      where each subproject is a self contained CMake based project
      (Example proj1=HPX, proj2=nestmc, proj3=another, ...)
      
      CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR always points to the top level directory which
      is the superproject dir in this case, whereas PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR
      always points to the root of the current project() in the CMakeLists
      so one shouod use PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR as this gets the relative paths
      correct.
      
      * Add option to turn off auto generation from *.mod files
      
      * Fix #134 : Change CMake WITH_OPTION to NMC_WITH_OPTION, compiler #define to NMC_HAVE_OPTION
      
      1) The user may select an option by saying NMC_WITH_XXX
      
      2) This may trigger CMake to use find_package(...) or setup some
      other variables. CMake can then set variable NMC_HAVE_XXX and add a
      what has actually been used.
      
      3) Code should use #ifdef NMC_HAVE_XXX to check for a feature
      
      Old CMake/define      New CMake                 Compiler #define
      ----------------      ---------                 ----------------
      THREADING_MODEL       NMC_THREAD_MODEL
          WITH_TBB          NMC_WITH_TBB              NMC_HAVE_TBB
          WITH_OMP          NMC_WITH_OMP              NMC_HAVE_OMP
          WITH_SERIAL       NMC_WITH_SERiAL           NMC_HAVE_SERIAL
      
      WITH_MPI              NMC_WITH_MPI              NMC_HAVE_MPI
      WITH_CUDA             NMC_WITH_CUDA             NMC_HAVE_CUDA
      WITH_GPU                                        NMC_HAVE_GPU
      WITH_ASSERTIONS       NMC_WITH_ASSERTIONS       NMC_HAVE_ASSERTIONS
      WITH_TRACE            NMC_WITH_TRACE            NMC_HAVE_TRACE
      WITH_PROFILING        NMC_WITH_PROFILING        NMC_HAVE_PROFILING
      
      Other user visible CMake vars
      -----------------------------
      VECTORIZE_TARGET            -> NMC_VECTORIZE_TARGET
      USE_OPTIIZED_KERNELS        -> NMC_USE_OPTIIZED_KERNELS
      BUILD_VALIDATION_DATA       -> NMC_BUILD_VALIDATION_DATA
      BUILD_JULIA_VALIDATION_DATA -> NMC_BUILD_JULIA_VALIDATION_DATA
      BUILD_NRN_VALIDATION_DATA   -> NMC_BUILD_NRN_VALIDATION_DATA
      VALIDATION_DATA_DIR         -> NMC_VALIDATION_DATA_DIR
      
      Variables such as NMC_THREADING_MODEL and NMC_VECTORIZE_TARGET now use
      enumerated cmake values so you can toggle between them in ccmake gui.
      SYSTEM_TYPE_CRAY/BGQ        -> NMC_SYSTEM_TYPE (Generic/Cray/BGQ)
      
      * Use generator expression for modcc path
      
      Some IDE's (like Xcode for example), override the CMake binary paths
      and add /Debug or /Release etc so rules that have hard coded paths
      to binaries will fail.
      71aa4b18
  17. Dec 20, 2016
    • Vasileios Karakasis's avatar
      Feature/mechanisms unit tests (#96) · fc7e2785
      Vasileios Karakasis authored and Sam Yates's avatar Sam Yates committed
      These tests are intended to test the sanity of the `modcc` generated code for the individual mechanisms. The don't have any physical background. Potentially optimized CPU-targeted mechanisms generated in the build are compared with unoptimized mechanisms generated from the reference modules.
      
      * Add generic unit tests for individual mechanisms.
      * Make unit tests exercise potential problems with aliased indexes (point processes).
      * Ensure unit tests correspond to multiple low level vector operations.
      * Ensure unit tests run with voltage, current and indices initialized with varying values.
      * Refactor CMake code for module compilation to reduce cut-and-paste code and build complexity.
      fc7e2785
  18. Nov 15, 2016
    • Benjamin Cumming's avatar
      bugfix for missing mechanism paths · 0cc8c4c9
      Benjamin Cumming authored
      The mechansims/gpu and mechanisms/multicore paths were not being generated
      by CMake during configuration, and modcc was silently ignoring that it was
      not able to write to the nonexistant target paths.
      I have updated CMake to generate the missing gpu and multicore target paths.
      0cc8c4c9
  19. Nov 14, 2016
    • Ben Cumming's avatar
      First GPU support (#77) · 97e17b18
      Ben Cumming authored
      This PR is part of the gpu feature merge. The GPU implementation is not implemented here. Instead, we focus on refactoring of the original "multicore" back end so that it is ready for adding the GPU back end.
      
      This is a big and messy change, for which I am sorry.
      
      ## build System
      
      - A `WITH_CUDA` option has been added to the main CMakeLists. This finds the CUDA toolkit, and sets CUDA compiler flags, and will build unit tests for the gpu back end.
      - The CMakeLists that generates mechanisms with modcc has been updated to generate CUDA mechanisms.
      - the library is now named `libnestmc` instead of `libcellalgo`
      - merge the external libraries that are optionally linked againts (tbb, libunwind, etc) into a single
        `EXTERNAL_LIBRARIES` list for ease of linking
      
      ## modcc
      
      - the cprinter and cudaprinter have had small changes to generate mechanism files that are compatible with the refactored library.
      
      ## algorithms
      
      - the indexes into algorithm was "rangified". An algorithm `index_into_iterator` takes two ranges as inputs to make a range that lazily generates the index of sub into super set.
      
      ## backends
      
      - made a new path `src/backends/` for backend specific type and implementation code.
      - currently:
        - complete support for the `multicore` and `gpu` backends
        - `gpu` back end is not optimized or validated
      - the back end implementations are in `src/backends`
      - a single `backend` class, `nest::mc::{multicore,gpu}::backend`, is provides all backend specific type and implementation details fro each backend
        - storage containers
        - Hines matrix assembly for FVM method
        - Hines matrix solver
        - mechanism "factory"
      
      ## lowered fvm cells
      
      - removed `fvm_cell` because this can be modelled with an `fvm_multicell` with one cell.
      - refactored to use backend type and implementation from `fvm_policy`
      - use `std::vector` instead of containers in `nest::mc::memory::` where possible when building cells.
      
      ## memory library
      
      Refactor the "memory" library, making it much simpler and better integrated into the rest of the application. However, it is still far from perfect. The `Coordinator` approach needs to be improved, most likely by putting target-specific wisdom into pointers (which could obviate the need for a `const_array_view` type.
      1. renaming and moving
         - move from `vector/` to `src/memory`
         - move into the `nest::mc` namespace, i.e. all types and functions are now in `nest::mc::memory`
         - change from camel case nameing scheme to NestMC style naming.
      2. simplification
         - remove the CRTP cruft that was used to make operator overloading work for operations like copying from one range into another, and filling a range with a constant value. These have been replaced with `memory::fill()` and `memory::copy()` helper functions. This simplified the code _a lot_, and makes code clearer in user land.
         
         ```
         // before
         vec(0, 5) = other;
         // now
         memory::copy(other, vec(0, 5));
         ```
         - add some wrappers in `src/memory/wrappers.hpp` that help with making views. These are particularly useful for passing `std::vector` through interfaces that expect a view.
      
      ## debug backtraces
      
      Added stack traces for debugging.
      - support for OSX and Linux via libunwind
      - backtraces can be generated manually `nest::mc::util::backtrace().print()`
        - creates a new file and dumps trace into file
        - prints message to `stderr` with file name and instructions on how to analyse
      - backtraces are also automatically generated when an assertion `EXPECTS` statement fails
      - a python script in `scripts/print_backtrace` pretty prints the output with file name, line number and demangled symbols
      
      ## util simplification and consolidation
      
      The `src/util.hpp` file was removed
      - much of its contents were dead code and just removed
      - useful components like `pprintf` and `make_unique` were moved into the `src/utils` path in standalone files
      There was a lot of overlap between functionality provided in `src/memory/util.hpp` and existing functions/types in the `nest::mc::util` namespace. The `memory` implementations were removed, and their `nest::mc::util` counterparts used. There is still some work remaining, namely moving the rest of the `src/memory/util.hpp` into `src/util/...`
      97e17b18
  20. Oct 04, 2016
  21. Aug 25, 2016
    • Benjamin Cumming's avatar
      WIP communication testing · 8314d37c
      Benjamin Cumming authored
      * fix compile time error in src/model.hpp
      * add mpi_listener type for sensible output and error reporting
        when using MPI with Google Test.
      * add stub for communicator unit testing
      8314d37c
  22. Aug 24, 2016
    • Benjamin Cumming's avatar
      improve support for vectorization in CMake · 5271e619
      Benjamin Cumming authored
      * the user can specify one of {none,AVX,AVX2,KNL} as
        targets for vectorization
      * if modcc is available in PATH it will be used, which
        makes cross compilation easier
      * a new flag USE_OPTIMIZED_KERNELS can be set to
        generate optimized kernels from the modcc compiler
        (equivalent to adding -O flag to modcc)
      5271e619
  23. Aug 16, 2016
  24. Aug 05, 2016
  25. Jul 14, 2016
  26. Jun 08, 2016
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Remove debug status message · dea7dac1
      Sam Yates authored
      dea7dac1
    • Sam Yates's avatar
      Use externalproject_add to manage mod->hpp depenedencies. · 4967bf30
      Sam Yates authored
      Builds modcc from modparser as an external project;
      executable will reside under BUILD/external/bin where
      BUILD is the CMake build directory.
      
      CMake hackery (see 'build_all_mods' target) should generate
      required module .hpp files from .mod files before the
      cellalgo library is built, if the header files are
      missing or out of date.
      
      This should also suffice for performing out-of-source
      builds.
      4967bf30