# -------------------------------------------
# Miscellaneous helper functions
# -------------------------------------------

def make_flat(old_list):
    ''' Takes as argument a list of lists and flattens it (i.e. returns a 1D list with all the elements) '''
    new_list = []
    for elem in old_list :
        if type(elem)==list:
            elem_flat = make_flat(elem)
            new_list += elem_flat
        else :
            new_list.append(elem)
    return new_list


def visualise_connectivity(S, alpha=1.0):
    Ns = len(S.source)
    Nt = len(S.target)
    fig = figure(figsize=(10, 4))
    subplot(121)
    plot(zeros(Ns), arange(Ns), 'ok', ms=10)
    plot(ones(Nt), arange(Nt), 'ok', ms=10)
    for i, j in zip(S.i, S.j):
        plot([0, 1], [i, j], '-k', alpha=alpha)
    xticks([0, 1], ['Source', 'Target'])
    ylabel('Neuron index')
    xlim(-0.1, 1.1)
    ylim(-1, max(Ns, Nt))
    subplot(122)
    plot(S.i, S.j, 'ok')
    xlim(-1, Ns)
    ylim(-1, Nt)
    xlabel('Source neuron index')
    ylabel('Target neuron index')

    return fig