URL for interesting visual modeling/simulation/Java/Agent site

[Tony Bigbee]

With the impending arrival of Java to Swarm, I thought it would be useful
to give a link to a nice site at University of Colorado that involves a
convergence of visual modeling and simulation, Java and agent based
approaches.

http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~l3d/systems/agentsheets/

"Agentsheets [and Visual AgentTalk] is an agent-based spreadsheet enabling
a wide range of end users, ranging from children to professionals, to
create their own SimCityTM-like interactive simulations, domain-oriented
visual programming languages, knowbots, cellular automata, and games. At
the the blink of an eye these simulations can be compiled by the Ristretto
compiler directly into Java applets that can be embedded into web pages."

While looking through the site, I initially dismissed the work their as a
bit "toy-like," but realized that a direct comparison with Swarm did not do
either project justice.  As I spent more time looking through the site and
thinking about the research, it seemed that the ability to generate a Java
applet that was a simulation *complemented* nicely what I have heard the
Hive discuss (explicitness and publishing of experiments as code).  The
learning, teaching, and web based aspects of the technology are intriguing.

The demo applets can be found at:

http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~l3d/systems/agentsheets/Distribution.html

One issue is that the compiler is only available for macs/powermacs (I
think).
It would be nice to hear what others think about this technology and some
creative ideas about applications, "linkages" with Swarm, and the evolution
of Java and Swarm.

-Tony



                  ==================================
   Swarm-Modelling is for discussion of Simulation and Modelling techniques
   esp. using Swarm.  For list administration needs (esp. [un]subscribing),
   please send a message to <address@hidden> with "help" in the
   body of the message.
                  ==================================