pybert_faq
- Why PyBERT?
- Why Python?
- How can I help?
- How do I zoom in on the plots?
- How do I find quick help for configuration values?
- Where can I find documentation of the source code and API?
Serial communication links are becoming more ubiquitous in electronic system designs at an astonishing rate. Yet, few tools are available for the analysis of such links, and those that are tend to be fairly expensive, certainly beyond the financial means of the average student/hobbyist. I wanted to release a tool into the public domain, which would bring, at least, the fundamental concepts involved in serial communication link design to anyone wishing to explore them, regardless of financial means or professional access.
Because I was proficient in it, because the Traits/UI package is a wonderfully convenient tool for wrapping a GUI around a numerical model, and because, in conjunction with the NumPy and SciPy libraries, Python makes an excellent numerical modeling tool, easily qualifying as a MATLAB substitute and, perhaps, even going beyond MATLAB, due to its inclusion of more modern programming concepts and constructs.
There's plenty to do for the Python coder interested in joining this effort!
Check the current issues list for something that interests you.
Then, follow these steps to make your first contribution:
- Fork your own copy of this repository, on GitHub.
- Clone your new fork, on your working machine.
- Fix the issue and test your fix.
- Push your code changes to your GitHub fork.
- Send me a Pull Request.
Thanks for your interest in helping out!
Many of the plots allow zooming, in order to give a closer look at a particular region of the plotted data.
In order to zoom a particular plot:
- Click your mouse pointer somewhere inside the plot you want to zoom.
- Type the 'z' key.
- Click/drag your mouse cursor horizontally, defining your region of interest.
You will notice that some pairs of plots have their horizontal axes updated together. So, for instance, if you zoom in on the master plot, its slave will also zoom into the same region. This was done as a user convenience.
All configuration value entry fields offer "quick tips" on the meaning of that particular configuration parameter. In order to view this help text, hover your mouse pointer over the user data entry field for the parameter of interest for a few seconds.
Source code and API documentation is distributed, as part of the standard conda installation, in HTML form. To view this documentation, first identify the root directory of your pybert installation, using this command:
python -c 'import pybert; print(pybert.__file__)'
(Note that there are 2 underscores both before and after the word, "file.")
On my machine this yields:
(pybert64) Davids-Air-2:Projects dbanas$ python -c 'import pybert; print(pybert.__file__)'
/Users/dbanas/anaconda/envs/pybert64/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pybert/__init__.pyc
Then open the file <root>/doc/_build/html/index.html in your browser, where <root> is the directory containing the __init__.pyc file, which you discovered, above. So, for instance, on my machine I open this file:
/Users/dbanas/anaconda/envs/pybert64/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pybert/doc/_build/html/index.html
When you do this, you should see something that looks like this:
