01From nothing to a running model
Learn L++
A path from installing the language to writing a model that runs. Each step is short, and each one ends with something that executes.
02The path
01
Install
Get the toolchain onto your machine and confirm it runs. One command, one file, one result.
02
Your first reaction
Declare two species and the step between them. Run it, and read the curve that comes back.
03
Rates and initial conditions
What k and kr mean, where initial concentrations go, and how changing them changes the answer.
04
Abstractions
When to write the elementary steps and when to let one declaration stand for them.
05
Composing a model
Put several reactions together, give them an environment, and simulate the system rather than the step.
06
Reading results
Capture output at the resolution you need, and compare runs against each other.
03Common questions
Before you start
No. L++ is typeless and declarative — you say what the biology is, not how to compute it. If you can write a reaction on a whiteboard, you can write it here.
Not to begin. Rate constants are numbers you set and change; the language integrates the system for you. The maths becomes useful when you want to justify a value, not to get a result.
Anything you can state as species and the steps between them — enzyme kinetics, signalling, metabolism, dosing. Scale is a matter of how many parts you compose.
The source is public and the community is where questions get answered. See Community.