Re: [ng-spice] spice3f5 benchmark
Reid,
thank you for your comments. I have a few questions:
-1- you mention that the spice3f5 code is quite bad. Can you quantify this?
What about the kernel code: stamp generation, sparse matrix code,
analysis code?
Is this easy to structure and optimize these specific parts?
-2- It is nice to know that we are on the same wavelength with respect to the
wrapping of the simulator kernel. I also agree for 100% that python has
all
the features for the front and back-end. I MUST admit that 1/2 year ago I
did not would have stated this, however, I have become much impressed by
python lately.
Python is simple and efficient and has modules for parsing, internet
interfacing,
plotting facilities, GUI and numerical analysis.
-3- I think it is in everybody's interest to seperate the kernel code from the
from and back-end. This will allow many specialists to work on various
parts of
the simulator. Some people are interested in GUI and post-processing,
whereas
others are more interested in simulator issues. Personally I would
suggest that
the ng-spice team should draw up a specification of the kernel code
interface,
which could address:
- a minimal and efficient syntax/grammer for the input specification
(input string)
- address multiprocessing issues (for efficient monte carlo analysis,
sweep , ...)
- error reporting
- output vector structures
I think there is a synergy with your work/product. What are the view
points of the ng-spice team?
-4- Maybe ng-spice should keep on supporting spice3f5, but parallel work out
a new kernel
code with a wel specified interface. The old spice3f5 could be improved
for memory
leaks and other small bugs without putting into much effort. Personnally
I think that the
ng-spice team allready made a very nice effort to structure the code
under autconf, which will
allow more users to install the code succesfully (it took me three days
to get spice3f5 running
under solaris, ngspice took only 1 hour!). Reid, could you help to remove
the memory leaks?
I think that your 'pipe dream' is a very fascinating idea, because it could
help liberalize
the simulator market!
regards,
Jan Vercammen
Partial thread listing:
- Re: [ng-spice] spice3f5 benchmark, (continued)