Hello all, I'm trying to simulate simple electric logic (asynchronous) circuits. By "simple" I mean that I only want to know if I have "current" or "no current" (it's quite digital) and the only elements need to be (with some level of abstraction to my specific problem)
- sources (here begin currents) - ground (here end currents) - joints - switches (which are able to let current pass or not, depending on outside influence) - loads (which can signal change in current flow to the outside -- just like a light bulb) Is there any library for this? I couldn't find one. I tried to implement this using objects that are two-way linked; every object has "ports". For every port, there is - an input function (that is called by the neighbour if "current" comes in) - a reference to the neighbour's input function, to be able to let current flow the other way There is a master "current controller" object which tells the "source" object to start a "current" by calling its neighbour. The calls traverse the network until they reach a "ground" object. Specifically, the source passes a "telegram" instance with these calls, and everyone it passes through "registers" himself with it (telegrams are duplicated at joints). Then, the ground object calls back to the controller with all received telegrams. Like this I'm already able to get all possible ways through the network. But that's where my ideas go out. Let's assume there is a load in the middle of such a current, e. g. a light bulb. So if the current flows through it it gets notice of this because there is a telegram passing through it. But what if a contact before it now "cuts" the current, how could I notify all objects behind the cut? I tried several ways the past few days, but all lead to confusing (and non-working) code. (I'm sorry I can't provide any working code yet) Often it boils down to the need to check all possible ways in the entire network with every change. This shouldn't, in perfomance terms, be a big problem for me here, but it feels very dirty, and I smell inconsistencies. Another way I thought of is - to let load objects have a timer that resets their state to "no flow" after ~ 200 ms - "pulse" the network every ~ 100 ms from all sources to ground - and reset all load timers on the way. This feels even more dirty. There are several professional-grade simulation tools that track many other parameters, how do they work in general, is there a different strategy? I wonder if I'm making it too complicated or if I'm seeing problems where there really aren't any. I also looked at NetworkX, but I can't see how it might be of use yet. I appreciate all suggestions. Thanks for you consideration. Regards, Björn P.S.: This is no homework, it's pure hobby ;) -- BOFH excuse #70: nesting roaches shorted out the ether cable -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
