I'm programming a circuit simulator for nonlinear circuits. It uses the nodal method and Newton-Raphson approximation to calculate the node voltages. But I'm currently facing a problem: how to treat dynamic elements, capacitor and inductances. I can approximate the derivatives and integrals on which they depend, but only if there is a previous value to use. What if it is t=0?
Obviously, we use the initial value supplied by the user, but simply using the nodal method does not suffice in that case. Is there some general programmable way to get the program started?