NetLogo
Encyclopedia
NetLogo is a multi-agent
programming language
and integrated modeling environment
.
to be "low threshold and no ceiling," that is to enable easy entry by novices and yet meet the needs of high powered users. 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
, system dynamics
and many other natural and social sciences. Beyond exploration, NetLogo enables the quick and easy authoring of models.
It is particularly well suited for modeling complex systems developing over time. Modelers can give instructions to hundreds or thousands of independent "agents
" all operating concurrently. This makes it possible to explore the connection between the micro-level behavior of individuals and the macro-level patterns that emerge from the interaction of many individuals.
NetLogo has many thousands of active users. It is freely available from the NetLogo website. NetLogo is in use in a wide variety of educational contexts from elementary school to graduate school. Many teachers make use of NetLogo in their curricula. NetLogo comes bundled with a large library of sample models covering many domains in natural and social science.
NetLogo was designed and authored by Uri Wilensky, director of Northwestern University
's Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling. Development has been funded by the National Science Foundation
and other foundations.
and Scala and runs on the Java Virtual Machine. At its core is a hybrid interpreter/compiler that partially compiles user code to JVM bytecode. The newest version of NetLogo, 5.0, is open source.
Multi-agent system
A multi-agent system is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can be used to solve problems that are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or a monolithic system to solve...
programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
and integrated modeling environment
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
.
About
NetLogo was designed in the spirit of the Logo programming languageLogo (programming language)
Logo is a multi-paradigm computer programming language used in education. It is an adaptation and dialect of the Lisp language; some have called it Lisp without the parentheses. It was originally conceived and written as functional programming language, and drove a mechanical turtle as an output...
to be "low threshold and no ceiling," that is to enable easy entry by novices and yet meet the needs of high powered users. 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
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, system dynamics
System dynamics
System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behaviour of complex systems over time. It deals with internal feedback loops and time delays that affect the behaviour of the entire system. What makes using system dynamics different from other approaches to studying complex systems is the use...
and many other natural and social sciences. Beyond exploration, NetLogo enables the quick and easy authoring of models.
It is particularly well suited for modeling complex systems developing over time. Modelers can give instructions to hundreds or thousands of independent "agents
Intelligent agent
In artificial intelligence, an intelligent agent is an autonomous entity which observes through sensors and acts upon an environment using actuators and directs its activity towards achieving goals . Intelligent agents may also learn or use knowledge to achieve their goals...
" all operating concurrently. This makes it possible to explore the connection between the micro-level behavior of individuals and the macro-level patterns that emerge from the interaction of many individuals.
NetLogo has many thousands of active users. It is freely available from the NetLogo website. NetLogo is in use in a wide variety of educational contexts from elementary school to graduate school. Many teachers make use of NetLogo in their curricula. NetLogo comes bundled with a large library of sample models covering many domains in natural and social science.
NetLogo was designed and authored by Uri Wilensky, director of Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
's Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling. Development has been funded by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
and other foundations.
Technical foundation
NetLogo is written in JavaJava (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
and Scala and runs on the Java Virtual Machine. At its core is a hybrid interpreter/compiler that partially compiles user code to JVM bytecode. The newest version of NetLogo, 5.0, is open source.
See also
- MicroWorldsMicroworldsMicroWorlds is a program that uses the Logo programming language, a dialect of Lisp programming language. It uses a turtle object which can be moved around, given commands, and eventually make shapes or even an animation....
- StarLogoStarLogoStarLogo is an agent-based simulation language developed by Mitchel Resnick, Eric Klopfer, and others at MIT Media Lab and MIT Teacher Education Program in Massachusetts. It is an extension of the Logo programming language, a dialect of Lisp...
- Repast The Recursive Porous Agent Simulation Toolkit
- SwarmSwarm (simulation)Swarm is the name of a multi-agent simulation package, useful for simulating the interaction of agents and their emergent collective behaviour. Swarm was initially developed at the Santa Fe Institute in the mid-1990s, and since 1999 has been maintained by the non-profit Swarm Development...
External links
- CCL home page
- Discussion group hosted by Yahoo!Yahoo!Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
- NetLogo models of multiagent systems
- NetLogo 4.0 Quick Guide