Table 1.
Comparison of features of the different simulators
| Question | NEURON | GENESIS | NEST | NCS | CSIM | XPP | SPLIT | Mvaspike |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HH | B.I. | B.I. | YES | B.I. | B.I. | YES | B.I. | POSS |
| LIF | B.I. | POSS | YES | B.I. | B.I. | YES | POSS** | B.I. |
| Izhikevich IF | YES | B.I. | YES | NO | B.I. | YES | POSS** | POSS** |
| Cable eqs | B.I. | B.I. | NO | NO | NO | YES | B.I. | NO |
| ST plasticity | YES | B.I. | YES | B.I. | B.I. | YES | B.I. | YES |
| LT Plasticity | YES | YES | YES | B.I. | B.I. | YES | NO** | YES |
| Event-based | B.I. | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | NO | YES |
| Exact | B.I. | - | YES | - | - | NO | - | YES |
| Clock-based | B.I. | B.I. | YES | B.I. | YES | YES | YES | POSS** |
| Interpolated | B.I. | NO | YES | NO | NO | YES | B.I. | POSS |
| G synapses | B.I. | B.I. | YES | B.I. | B.I. | YES | B.I. | POSS** |
| Parallel | B.I. | YES | B.I. | B.I. | NO** | NO | B.I. | NO** |
| Graphics | B.I. | B.I. | NO(*) | NO(*) | NO(*) | YES | NO | NO |
| Simple analysis | B.I. | B.I. | YES | NO(*) | NO(*) | YES | NO | NO |
| Complx analysis | B.I. | YES | NO(*) | NO(*) | NO(*) | YES | NO | NO |
| Development | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| How many p. | 3 | 2–3 | 4 | 2–3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Support | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Type | e,p,c | e | e | e | e | e | e | e |
| User forum | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO |
| Publ list | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO |
| Codes | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO |
| Online manual | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Book | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO | NO |
| XML import | NO** | POSS | NO** | NO** | NO | YES | NO | NO** |
| XML export | B.I. | NO** | NO** | NO** | NO | NO | NO | NO** |
| Web site | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| LINUX | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Windows | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO |
| Mac-Os | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO | YES | NO | NO |
| Interface | B.I. | B.I. | POSS | B.I | YES | POSS | POSS | POSS |
| Save option | B.I. | YES | NO** | B.I. | NO | NO | NO | NO |
Different questions were asked (see below), and for each question, the answer is either: B.I. = Built-in feature, incorporated in the simulator without need to load additional mechanisms; YES = feature very easy to simulate or implement (ie., a few minutes of programming); POSS = feature possible to implement, but requires a bit of user programming; or NO = feature not implemented, would require modifying the code. The list of questions were: HH: can it simulate HH models? LIF: can it simulate LIF models? Izhikevich IF: can it simulate multivariable IF models, for example Izhikevich type? Cable eqs: can it simulate compartmental models with dendrites? ST plasticity: can it simulate short-term synaptic plasticity? (facilitation, depression) LT Plasticity: can it simulate long-term synaptic plasticity? (LTP, LTD, STDP) Event-based: can it simulate event-based strategies? exact: in this case, is the integration scheme exact? Clock-based: can it simulate clock-based strategies? (e.g., Runge–Kutta) interpolated: in this case, does it use interpolation for spike times? G synapses: can it simulate COBA synaptic interactions? parallel: does it support parallel processing? graphics: does it have a graphical interface? simple analysis: is it possible to use the interface for simple analysis? (spike count, correlations, etc) complx analysis: can more complex analysis be done? (parameter fitting, fft, matrix operations, …) development: is it currently developed? how many p.: if yes, how many developers are working on it? support: is it supported? (help for users) type: what type of support (email, phone, consultation?) user forum: is there a forum of users or mailing list? publ list: is there a list of publications of articles that used it? codes: are there codes available on the web of published models? online manual: are there tutorials and reference material available on the web? book: are there published books on the simulator? XML import: can it import model specifications in XML? XML export: can it export model specifications in XML? web site: is there a web site of the simulator where all can be found? (including help and source codes) LINUX: does it run on LINUX? Windows: does it run on Windows? (98, 2K, XP) Mac-Os: does it run on Mac-OS X? Interface: Is there a possibility to interface the simulator to outside signals? (such as a camera, or a real neuron) Save option: Does it have a “save option,” (different than ctrl-z), allowing the user to interrupt a simulation, and continue it later on? (this feature is important on a cluster when simulations must be interrupted)
Graphical interface and analysis possible via front-ends like Python or MATLAB
Feature planned to be implemented in a future version of the simulator