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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 13:54:09 -0600
From: Uri Wilensky <uri@northwestern.edu>
Subject: NetLogo 3.1beta1 released
The NetLogo development team at the Center for Connected Learning and
Computer-Based Modeling at Northwestern University is pleased to announce the release of NetLogo 3.1beta1. NetLogo 3.1beta1 is available for free download from our site at http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/.
This is a BETA release of NetLogo. As such, there may be a few bugs. However, we believe this release to be fairly reliable. Nonetheless, if you want to use a NetLogo which is proven stable, please stick with NetLogo
3.0.2 for now.
Please try it and out and send us bug reports at bugs@ccl.northwestern.edu and other suggestions and comments at feedback@ccl.northwestern.edu.
The 3.1 release adds many new features to
NetLogo. We would especially appreciate feedback on these items: - new suite of link primitives - configurable world topologies - randomized agent ordering - tie primitive
In particular, we want to get your
feedback on the new, experimental suite of link primitives, useful for network models and others; see the Links sections of the Programming Guide and Primitives Dictionary. Be advised that these primitives are not in
their final form. We plan to change syntax in future versions of NetLogo. Also, if you notice problematic behavior in your models due to the new randomized agent ordering, please do let us know.
The following is
a (partial) list of changes made and new features added since NetLogo 3.0.2 (November 2005):
* system:
+ for Windows users, our bundled Java version is now 1.5 (was1.4)
* content:
+ new code examples: Diffuse Off Edges Example, Tie System
+ improved Social Science model: Traffic Grid
+ improved Network Models (using experimental network primitives):
Giant Component, Preferential Attachment, Small Worlds
* features:
+ randomized agent ordering: every agentset is now always in
random order (a different random order each time you use it)
+ world topologies:
= the world isn't always a torus anymore; by turning
vertical and horizontal wrapping on or off, you can
choose between a torus, a rectangle, and a vertical or
horizontal cylinder
= using primitives ending in -nowrap is no longer
necessary; just turn off world wrapping instead
= new can-move? reporter lets turtles sense the world
edges
= see the Topology section of the Programming Guide for
more information
+ new, experimental suite of link primitives, useful for
network models and others; see Links sections of Programming
Guide and Primitives Dictionary
+ model authors can now specify the singular form of a breed
name
= the new syntax for declaring each breed is e.g. breed
[wolves wolf]
= you can ask for a breeded turtle by who number, e.g.
wolf 0
= in model output, breeded turtles also appear as e.g.
wolf 0
= this form also appears elsewhere in the user interface,
e.g. when picking a turtle from the view, in turtle
monitors, and so on
+ new __tie and __untie primitives allow turtles to connect
their movement to another turtle. See the Tie Section of the
Programming Guide for details.
* other language changes:
+ the sort and sort-by primitives can now be used to convert an
agentset to a sorted list of agents; if you use sort, turtles
are sorted by who number, and patches are sorted
left-to-right, top-to-bottom
+ new reporters random-xcor, random-ycor, random-pxcor, and
random-pycor are handy for generating random coordinates
+ random-one-of and random-n-of have been renamed to just
one-of and n-of
+ screen-edge-x and screen-edge-y have been renamed to
max-pxcor and max-pycor (and new min-pxcor and min-pycor
primitives have been added)
+ screen-size-x and screen-size-y have been renamed to
world-width and world-height
+ removed no-label from the language; use the empty string
instead
* interface changes:
+ minor improvements to look & feel, e.g. vertical buttons in
toolbars instead of horizontal ones
+ the info tabs of saved applets are now more attractive, as in
the application
* interface fixes:
+ fixed some incorrectly worded compiler error messages
involving primitives that can take a variable number of
inputs, such as list and sentence
+ fixed Mac-only bug where pasting text from another
application could cause a compiler error
* known issues:
+ On the new Intel-based Macs, you can only view models in 2D, not 3D.
* API changes:
+ documentation now recommends using the server VM for best
performance
Reporting Bugs:
We would appreciate your comments and bug reports. If you find a bug, please send us a
bug report (as detailed as you can -- including OS, method of running NetLogo, commands used, attach your model if possible, etc.) so that we can correct the bug as speedily as possible. Please send bug reports to
bugs@ccl.northwestern.edu.
Feedback:
To provide feedback to the NetLogo development team, please send email to feedback@ccl.northwestern.edu or visit our contact page at
http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/contact.shtml .
Getting Started:
To get started using NetLogo, visit our web page: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/ .
Receiving Release Announcements:
To receive announcements of NetLogo releases and new features, subscribe to the netlogo-announce mailing list. To subscribe to netlogo-announce, send a message to: listserv@listserv.it.northwestern.edu
The body
of the message should say: subscribe netlogo-announce your-first-name your-last-name
To be removed from the announcements list, send a message to: listserv@listserv.it.northwestern.edu
The body of the message should say: unsubscribe netlogo-announce
Joining the netlogo-users group:
We also have a Yahoo! group where users can discuss NetLogo with each other and with the CCL team. To join
the group, or just to browse the group's message archives, visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/netlogo-users/
There is also a Yahoo! group specially designed for educators using NetLogo. To join the
group, or just to browse the group's message archives, visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/netlogo-educators/
NetLogo 3.1beta1 files
The release package for NetLogo 3.1beta1 includes:
*
"NetLogo" application * "HubNet Client" application * "NetLogo.jar", "NetLogoLite.jar", "lib" internal support
files and folder * "Docs" folder containing a "NetLogo User Manual" -- complete
documentation in HTML and printable PDF formats * "Models" folder with several hundred NetLogo models
and HubNet
activities * "Extensions" folder containing support for music & sound
and physical devices * "readme.txt" file
Credits
NetLogo was designed and authored
by Uri Wilensky, project leader and director of the CCL. The lead developer is Seth Tisue. Many others have greatly contributed. HubNet was jointly designed by Uri Wilensky and Walter Stroup.
The design of
NetLogo was supported through funding from the National Science Foundation (grants REC 9632612, REC 9814682, REC 0126227, CCR 0326542). Additional support for the design of HubNet (calculator version) was provided by
Texas Instruments.
Enjoy,
-- Professor Uri Wilensky Director, Center for Connected Learning and Computer Based Modeling http://ccl.northwestern.edu |
