BrianGlobalPreferences class

(Shortest import: from brian2.core.preferences import BrianGlobalPreferences)

class brian2.core.preferences.BrianGlobalPreferences

Bases: collections.abc.MutableMapping

Class of the prefs object.

Used for getting/setting/validating/registering preference values. All preferences must be registered via register_preferences. To get or set a preference, you can either use a dictionary-based or an attribute-based interface:

prefs['core.default_float_dtype'] = float32
prefs.core.default_float_dtype = float32

Preferences can be read from files, see load_preferences and read_preference_file. Note that load_preferences is called automatically when Brian has finished importing.

Attributes

as_file	Get a Brian preference doc file format string for the current preferences
defaults_as_file	Get a Brian preference doc file format string for the default preferences
toplevel_categories	The toplevel preference categories

Methods

check_all_validated()	Checks that all preferences that have been set have been validated.
do_validation()	Validates preferences that have not yet been validated.
eval_pref(value)	Evaluate a string preference in the units namespace
get_documentation([basename, link_targets])	Generates a string documenting all preferences with the given basename.
load_preferences()	Load all the preference files, but do not validate them.
read_preference_file(file)	Reads a Brian preferences file
register_preferences(prefbasename, …)	Registers a set of preference names, docs and validation functions.
reset_to_defaults()	Resets the parameters to their default values.

Details

as_file

Get a Brian preference doc file format string for the current preferences

defaults_as_file

Get a Brian preference doc file format string for the default preferences

toplevel_categories

The toplevel preference categories

check_all_validated()

Checks that all preferences that have been set have been validated.

Logs a warning if not. Should be called by Network.run or other key Brian functions.

do_validation()

Validates preferences that have not yet been validated.

eval_pref(value)

Evaluate a string preference in the units namespace

get_documentation(basename=None, link_targets=True)

Generates a string documenting all preferences with the given basename. If no basename is given, all preferences are documented.

load_preferences()

Load all the preference files, but do not validate them.

Preference files are read in the following order:

1. ~/.brian/user_preferences from the user’s home directory
2. ./brian_preferences from the current directory

Files that are missing are ignored. Preferences read at each step override preferences from previous steps.

read_preference_file(file)

Reads a Brian preferences file

The file format for Brian preferences is a plain text file of the form:

a.b.c = 1
# Comment line
[a]
b.d = 2
[a.b]
e = 3

Blank and comment lines are ignored, all others should be of one of the following two forms:

key = value
[section]

eval is called on the values, so strings should be written as, e.g. '3' rather than 3. The eval is called with all unit names available. Within a section, the section name is prepended to the key. So in the above example, it would give the following unvalidated dictionary:

{'a.b.c': 1,
 'a.b.d': 2,
 'a.b.e': 3,
 }

register_preferences(prefbasename, prefbasedoc, **prefs)

Registers a set of preference names, docs and validation functions.

reset_to_defaults()

Resets the parameters to their default values.