Modeling and simulation I: Introduction and guidelines

For neurophysiologists not normally engaged in modeling and simulation, we introduce the subjects. The availability of low-cost, high-performance digital computer systems allows the development of detailed models, and their simulations, which can greatly aid the progress of experimentation. We review the ready-to-use simulation routines on IMSL Inc. libraries. Problems of error analysis in numerical methods are discussed. The virtues of general-purpose workstations for computer-aided-engineering are listed, and the application of such workstations to neural modeling is pointed out. This article is the first of two. The second provides a detailed look at a particular example of modeling: Plasticity in kitten visual cortex.