Connections control the transfer of information between layers.
Making a created connection into a working connection requires 4 steps. Autoconnect does all four of these.
target attach conn
and
conn attach source
.
find_conversion
command between the
representations of the two layers. This conversion could be in either
direction. Where both representations have a “natural” pattern that is a
localist_pattern (e.g., keyed_representation, or blocked_representation with
keyed_representation inner) the option for converting from source layer's
representation to the target layer's representations is explored first (and
the reverse second); for all other combinations, this preference is
reversed. I'm not sure why this is the case, but it helped with something
once upon a time.
list_conversion_connections
method on any conversion will give the prevailing rules.
some_conn description
The description of some_conn
contains additional elements: Source
indicates the layer whose output is pulled. Target
indicates the layer
that pulls information through the connection, and has the sub-element
port
for the input channel on the layer used. Autoconnect?
indicates
whether the connection will be automatically filled on a change in source
and target layers. Lag
describing the time differential between the output
of the source and the input of the target for any information.
some_conn lesion
Insert a lesioned_connection_impl
into the connection_impl slot of
some_conn
without destroying the existing connection_impl facet (which now becomes the
responsiblity of the lesioned_connection_impl facet to manage; this is used
in its unlesion method).
some_conn autoconnect src_layer tgt_layer port
Disable the autoconnect bit on some_conn
; attach some_conn
as a source
of tgt_layer
on the port port
; reenable the autoconnect bit on
some_conn
; and attach src_layer
as the source of some_conn
, triggering
autoconnection.
some_conn autoconnect src_layer tgt_layer
As above, but port 0 (usually net_input) is used, rather than port
.
some_conn attach src_layer
Attach src_layer
as the source of some_conn.
some_conn detach
Unset the source of some_conn
some_conn set_autoconnect 0 some_conn set_autoconnect 1
Indicate that the autoconnection mechanism should (1) or should not (0) be triggered when the source or target layer changes.
some_conn set_lag nsteps
Set the amount of time between source and output of some_conn
to be
nsteps
.
some_conn source
Return the source layer of some_conn
.
some_conn get_labels
List the dimension names of the representation of the target layer of some_conn
.
some_conn conv_connect the_conv
Only effective if both a source and target layer are connected to
some_conn
. Select a connection_impl for some_conn
on the basis of the
representations at the source and target layer and format (fill) it using
the_conv
; that is, use the manually selected the_conv
instead of the
conversion from stage 2 above, and perform stages 3 and 4. Turns off
autoconnection on further changes to source or target layer.
some_conn conv_fill the_conv
Only effective if both a source and target layer are connected to
some_conn
, and a connection_impl is already in place. Format (fill) the
current connection_impl of some_conn
using the_conv
. That is, accept
the current subtype of connection instead of selected one automatically, as
use the_conv
to perform stage 4 above. Turns off autoconnection on
further changes to source or target layer.