Paradigms | multi-paradigm: educational, procedural, agent-based, simulation |
---|---|
Family | Lisp |
Designed by | Uri Wilensky |
Developer | Northwestern University Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling |
First appeared | 1999 |
Stable release | |
Typing discipline | Dynamic, strong |
Scope | Lexical |
Implementation language | Scala, Java |
Platform | IA-32, x86-64 |
OS | Cross-platform: JVM |
License | GPL |
Filename extensions | .nlogo, .nlogo3d, .nls |
Website | ccl |
Influenced by | |
Logo, StarLogo |
NetLogo is a programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) for agent-based modeling.
NetLogo was designed by Uri Wilensky, in the spirit of the programming language Logo, to be "low threshold and no ceiling". It teaches programming concepts using agents in the form of turtles, patches, links and the observer. [2] NetLogo was designed with multiple audiences in mind, in particular: teaching children in the education community, and for domain experts without a programming background to model related phenomena. [3] Many scientific articles have been published using NetLogo. [4]
The NetLogo environment enables exploration of emergent phenomena. It comes with an extensive models library including models in a variety of domains, such as economics, biology, physics, chemistry, psychology, and system dynamics. [5] NetLogo allows exploration by modifying switches, sliders, choosers, inputs, and other interface elements. [6] Beyond exploring, NetLogo allows authoring new models and modifying extant models.
NetLogo is open source and freely available from the NetLogo website. [7] It is in use in a wide variety of educational contexts from elementary school to graduate school. [8] [9] [10] [11] Many teachers make use of NetLogo in their curricula. [12] [13]
NetLogo was designed and authored by Uri Wilensky, [14] director of Northwestern University's Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling (CCL). [15]
In addition to agent-based modeling, NetLogo also includes basic support for dynamic system modeling.
Several books have been published about NetLogo. [16]
Books available in print include:
Books available online include:
As of 2019 [update] , several massive open online courses are being offered that use NetLogo for assignments and/or demonstrations:
NetLogo is free and open-source software, released under a GNU General Public License (GPL). [17] Commercial licenses are also available. It is written in Scala and Java and runs on the Java virtual machine (JVM). [18] At its core is a hybrid interpreter/compiler that partially compiles user code to JVM bytecode. [19]
NetLogo Web is a version that runs on JavaScript, instead of the JVM, so models may be run in a web browser. However, it does not have all features of the desktop version, and the official website advises that the "desktop version of NetLogo is recommended for most uses". [20]
A simple multiagent model in NetLogo is the Wolf-Sheep Predation model, [21] which is shown in the screenshot above. It models the population growth of a predator/prey system over time. It has the following characteristics:
HubNet is a technology that uses NetLogo to run participatory simulations in the classroom. [22] In a participatory simulation, a whole group of users takes part in enacting the behavior of a system. Using an individual device, such as a networked computer or Texas Instruments graphing calculator, each user acts as a separate, independent agent. One example of a HubNet activity is Tragedy of the Commons, [23] which models the economic problem called the tragedy of the commons.
Logo is an educational programming language, designed in 1967 by Wally Feurzeig, Seymour Papert, and Cynthia Solomon. Logo is not an acronym: the name was coined by Feurzeig while he was at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, and derives from the Greek logos, meaning word or thought.
Seymour Aubrey Papert was a South African-born American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, who spent most of his career teaching and researching at MIT. He was one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, and of the constructionist movement in education. He was co-inventor, with Wally Feurzeig and Cynthia Solomon, of the Logo programming language.
Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is 12 miles (19 km) north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wilmette to the north, and Lake Michigan to the east. Evanston had a population of 78,110 as of 2020.
Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) also called Decentralized Artificial Intelligence is a subfield of artificial intelligence research dedicated to the development of distributed solutions for problems. DAI is closely related to and a predecessor of the field of multi-agent systems.
Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be determined by comparing their results to the real-world outcomes they aim to predict. Computer simulations have become a useful tool for the mathematical modeling of many natural systems in physics, astrophysics, climatology, chemistry, biology and manufacturing, as well as human systems in economics, psychology, social science, health care and engineering. Simulation of a system is represented as the running of the system's model. It can be used to explore and gain new insights into new technology and to estimate the performance of systems too complex for analytical solutions.
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A multi-agent system is a computerized system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can solve problems that are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or a monolithic system to solve. Intelligence may include methodic, functional, procedural approaches, algorithmic search or reinforcement learning.
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The Northwestern University Dance Marathon, commonly known as NUDM, is a philanthropic dance marathon held every March at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1975, NUDM is one of the nation's most established and largest entirely student-run philanthropies. NUDM is one of the only annual Dance Marathons in the country to continually change its primary beneficiary. NUDM has raised over $1 million for its beneficiaries each year since 2011, and involves over 1,000 students participating as dancers and committee members. Since 1997, the Evanston Community Foundation has been NUDM's secondary beneficiary.
The belief–desire–intention software model (BDI) is a software model developed for programming intelligent agents. Superficially characterized by the implementation of an agent's beliefs, desires and intentions, it actually uses these concepts to solve a particular problem in agent programming. In essence, it provides a mechanism for separating the activity of selecting a plan from the execution of currently active plans. Consequently, BDI agents are able to balance the time spent on deliberating about plans and executing those plans. A third activity, creating the plans in the first place (planning), is not within the scope of the model, and is left to the system designer and programmer.
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