What’s so great about AnyLogic 6?

Dave Buxton ([email protected]) dseConsulting LTD

UK agent for Sales, Project Support & Training

‘Happy to listen to all comments & questions and influence xjTEK’s product development’

A bit of AnyLogic background • xjTEK – Founded in 1992 & release AnyLogic 5 in 2000 – Version 6 launched in 2006 – xjTEK is 12 people • Plus N America • Plus Agents

• User base is mainly… – Russia & North America – 140 known users – France & UK growing – 10 University customers

• Plans within the UK – Book currently being written! – Web-based community forum (jointly with North American office) – Events • YOR, Warwick, 24 – 26 th March 09 • 1 day free workshop during spring – ‘getting started’ • ‘Official’ 3 or 5 day training course during Summer What’s it trying to achieve?

• Multi-paradigm approach to – It’s the only software that does this!

• Models can contain approaches taken from Discrete Event & System Dynamics – Master of none?

• Integrating Agent-based concepts is simple – Any body tried using swarm? – Handles complex systems

• Change the focus from being on the modelling approach , start focussing on the problem

What is AnyLogic?

• An environment – handles time & the experiment – A series of Libraries that short-cut model development • The libraries are a way into AnyLogic, not the language itself! • Each block is actually just bits of AnyLogic code • Best illustrated by Version 5

• Model development is kept very close to the underlying – Advantages • Make simulation very powerful and very flexible – But • In the short term , its a steeper learning curve than Simu8 What Java do you need to know?

• You don’t need to be a Java Programmer – AnyLogic handles most requirements

• An good understanding of the concept of ‘Object Orientated’ programming (before you start?) – Class – Object instances – Methods – Inheritance

• And how these map to AnyLogic ( they don’t always use the same phrases! ) – ie, Functions == Methods

• How to use the java API & library within your models

• But you can do simple models keeping with a paradigm without any of this….i think!

Things to remember

• Its important to say on top of version releases – Updates are incremental and even the move from 6.3 to 6.3.1 can introduce some new features

• Ctrl space – For code completion – But also as a hint about what method could be used!

• Use refactoring – Ctrl enter

• Use the help desk from the XJ website – Or give me a buzz

• Its hard to debug! – Compile regularly, Use traceln(), Output key statistics to text files / databases – Buy the Professional edition!!

• Some things use more memory than others – Significant in Agent based methods Final word – The Professional edition

• export your models as stand-alone programs – Embed them into a DSS invisibly to the user

• Simpler database (and excel and text file and …) connections

• work in teams & use version control software,

• debug at Java level & step through the code

• develop your own libraries

• run complex experiments – Optimisation etc