Hello everyone, Apologies for the cross-posts. The INCF/OCNS Software Working Group (WG)[1] is happy to announce the next "Dev session" on GeNN[2] where James Knight and Thomas Nowotny will introduce the software and then discuss its *development* pipeline. The session will be held on March 9 at 1700 UTC. Zoom link: https://universityofsussex.zoom.us/j/97956408800?pwd=by9yVnhCZTJlenY0bVI4OEc... The aim of these sessions is to stimulate discussion of the development practices and tools used by different teams to improve the software we use while also improving our knowledge of these practices and tools. We also hope to encourage more users of these tools to contribute to their development to ensure their longevity. The abstract of the session is below: ----- Large-scale numerical simulations of brain circuit models are important for identifying hypotheses on brain functions and testing their consistency and plausibility. Similarly, spiking neural networks are also gaining traction in machine learning with the promise that neuromorphic hardware will eventually make them much more energy efficient than classical ANNs. In this dev session, we will present the GeNN (GPU-enhanced Neuronal Networks) framework [1], which aims to facilitate the use of graphics accelerators for computational models of large-scale spiking neuronal networks to address the challenge of efficient simulations. GeNN is an open source library that generates code to accelerate the execution of network simulations on NVIDIA GPUs through a flexible and extensible interface, which does not require in-depth technical knowledge from the users. GeNN was originally developed as a pure C++ and CUDA library but, subsequently, we have added a Python interface and OpenCL backend. The Python interface has enabled us to develop a PyNN [2] frontend and we are also working on a Keras-inspired frontend for spike-based machine learning [3]. In the session we will briefly cover the history and basic philosophy of GeNN and show some simple examples of how it is used and how it works inside. We will then talk in more depth about its development with a focus on testing for GPU dependent software and some of the further developments such as Brian2GeNN [4]. [1] https://github.com/genn-team/genn [2] https://github.com/genn-team/pynn_genn [3] https://github.com/genn-team/ml_genn [4] https://github.com/brian-team/brian2genn ----- If you develop software for neuroscience, we would love to hear about your development pipeline. Please get in touch with the Software WG either on INCF's Neurostars platform[4] or on our GitHub repository[5]. The WG is a community based group that is open to everyone at all levels of their careers (academic or otherwise). Please introduce yourself to the community on our channels to get involved. [1] https://ocns.github.io/SoftwareWG/pages/about.html [2] http://genn-team.github.io/genn/ [3] https://ocns.github.io/SoftwareWG/2021/02/26/dev-session-james-knight-thomas... [4] https://neurostars.org/t/ocns-infrastructure-software-tools-sig-meet-and-gre... [5] https://github.com/OCNS/SoftwareWG/discussions/12 On behalf of the WG, -- Thanks, Regards, Ankur Sinha (He / Him / His) Research Fellow at the Silver Lab | http://silverlab.org/ Department of Neuroscience, Physiology, & Pharmacology University College London, London, UK Time zone: Europe/London