Re: Swarm by example

[Darren Schreiber]

As a beneficiary of Marcus' and other's examples... I will volunteer and
second Glen's motion.

1.  Solving One Problem
In my mind, ideal example code would illustrate one function or solve one
problem (like Marcus' examples).  For example, while one could learn how to
build a hierarchy of agents from sorting through my voting model code... I
would imagine a minimal length program that simply creates the agents,
builds them into a hierarchy, and prints them out.

2.  Lots of commentary
I would also advocate heavily commented code.  While longer code can get
unreadible with heavy commentary, short and focused example code could be
annotated line by line with little impairment.

3.  A light burden...
I believe that discrete solutions could be accomplished by even mediocre
Swarm programmers (I'm in this list) in a couple of hours.  For better
programmers (e.g. those who go from zero to a complete model in 20 hours!),
writing a simple example code with annotation will take less time than a
response to this email.  This facilitates contributions from a wide range
of Swarm users and has the other advantages noted by Glen.

4.  An agenda
What problems need illustration?

        Darren


>At 11:50 PM 1/17/00 -0800, Darren Schreiber wrote:
>>Until something like MAML is ready for primetime, I think documented short
>>sample code can be one of the best teaching tools.  Marcus has created a
>>number of these over time and Paul has put some of them together.  But
>>short bits of working code can often illustrate solutions to problems in
>>ways that other resources cannot.  And, if they are explained... their
>>value increases exponentially...
>
>Very cool!  So, here's an idea we can really take a bite
>out of.  We have a fairly coherent effort to write a user's
>guide (thanks guys).  And we have ref docs that, while aren't
>that helpful as learning tools; but, as ref docs are intended
>to do, they help you get through the small gaps in memory after
>you've already learned most of Swarm.
>
>Catherine, Sven, and I intended to put some effort into writing
>an ABM with Swarm guide; but, none of us have put much time into
>it.
>
>How about we put together a "Swarm by Example" book?  This would
>be easier than writing a real user's guide, because it would
>basically just be a database of all the examples Marcus and others
>have been generating.  I, personally, don't like to learn this
>way.  I'd rather read a reference manual and just dive in.  But,
>I've heard from many others that learning by example is one of
>the best ways to learn.
>
>If this is interesting, we will need volunteers.
>
>glen
>
>--
>glen e. p. ropella =><= Feeding the hamster wheel.  Hail Eris!
>Home: http://www.swarm.com/gepr                (505) 424-0448
>Work: http://www.swarm.com                      (505) 995-0818
>
>
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_____________________________________________

                 Darren Schreiber
                  Attorney at Law
                 Graduate Student
             Political Science, UCLA
                address@hidden
        http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~dschreib


                  ==================================
   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.
                  ==================================