Interested in the Google Summer of Code

Wed Mar 19 21:26:11 EDT 2008

Great, I am glad there is some interest!  I just found your older email
thread, Don, [1] on ideas for Micropolis, and I think that what I would like
to do with system dynamic (SD) modeling can easily encompass the visual
programming [2] ideas you and others have talked about.  I believe the
backend to support an agent-based approach is practically the same as what
would be needed to create object-oriented system dynamics models.  I've been
reading up as much as I can on what visual programming tools are available
or in development currently for the XO (I'm downloading an image right now
to boot up and play with as we/I type), it seems like turtle art is the
closest thing to fit the bill.  I haven't really played with it much, but it
looks quite impressive!  My first thoughts are that it seems very nice for
programming agents (like turtles), but its not as expressive for
constructing system dynamics models (see [3] for some ideas I had a couple
weeks ago as to how SD models could look).
It seems there are two main ways I could focus my attention (not necessarily
mutually exclusive):
1. creating and expanding on a simulation engine that can access and perform
operations on spatial and nonspatial data, and integrate with the unique
features of the XO (collaboratively work on models with data sets and layers
from different machines, for example)
2. focus on modularizing micropolis, getting its core logic into a form that
is visually programmable on the XO (though Turtle Art, something new of
mine, or even through Develop python editing) and adding some of the
features Don had mentioned like programmable agents that can edit the world

I will also try to post some information on the simulation engine that I'm
currently working on to the web in the next few days, and look at how turtle
art works (to see if there is something that can be adapted or at least
learned from there).  Where do the communities interests lie?

yours, Bobby

[1] http://mailman.laptop.org/pipermail/sugar/2007-March/001829.html
[2] http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Micropolis#Visual_Programming
[3] http://www.bobbypowers.net/mockups.html

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 12:46 AM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2008/3/18 Bobby Powers <bobbypowers at gmail.com>:
> > Hi, I'm a master's student at the University of Bergen and I'm
> interested in
> > bringing System Dynamics to the XO.  Before I start, if there is a
> better
> > mailing list for this just let me know (I briefly looked through the
> other
> > ones liked from the Wiki, and this seemed the most appropriate).
>
> Welcome! This is the place.
>
> > System Dynamics (SD) [1][2] aims to help people understand the world by
> > explicitly modeling how pieces of it work and then performing
> experiments in
> > these models.  It is used around the world, frequently in majority world
> > countries, in development planning [3], for example.  More formally, its
> a
> > methodology for examining and describing the behavior of complex systems
> > with an emphasis on the effects that feedback loops and time delays
> have.
> > At a basic level you have to specify the mathematical equations for the
> > different parts of your system.   The same problems can be solved by
> writing
> > code in a programming language (I had a course taught in Fortran a year
> > ago...), but usually in SD the modeling is done using a visual editor
> where
> > you can show causal relationships, stocks and flows graphically.  I
> > personally think the biggest short-fallings of the discipline are the
> > barriers to entry: the current software is far from intuitive and all
> the
> > major commercial offerings (there are no FLOSS products) [4][5][6] are
> very
> > expensive (educational licenses alone are frequently > $500 USD).
> >
> > Will Wright studied SD and used ideas from it when designing SimCity
> [7].
> > So I have several things I would like to work on:  first is a core
> simulator
> > that can transform equations into code (I'm currently working on this
> for my
> > master's thesis, but don't have and funding. eesh): I'm using the JIT
> > library from the LLVM project to be able to do this.  Second I want to
> > create a Sugar modeling interface that makes it easy and fun to create
> > models and explore their results (collaboratively, I hope!), and third I
> > want to hook this into Metropolis.  I think it would just be so cool if
> you
> > could click an icon in Metropolis and have the visual model that
> controls
> > the Metropolis world pop up (in the aforementioned editor) and be able
> not
> > only to fiddle with parameters, but change the structure!  If all of
> this
> > goes smoothly and there is more time, I would love to add the ability
> for
> > models to interact with and manipulate geospatial data.
> >
> > I guess I am looking for people's reaction, is this something people
> like?
>
> We don't just like it. Some of us are quite excited about it.
>
> We started a discussion not long ago involving.
>
> * Engineers Without Borders
> * The Geographic Information Systems community, including
> International Symposium on Digital Earth
> * Globe.co.uk (weather stations in schools in many countries)
> * Timepedia.org (geographic and other free time series data)
>
> about community data gathering of environmental information, feeding
> to global mapping, and feeding from there back to communities and out
> to NGOs, governments, and international organizations. We are also
> discussing collection of health information, and anything else that we
> can feed into a computer that bears on the needs of the children and
> their communities.
>
> So the prospect of an engine that can start from our data and give us
> a peek into various possible futures is a jump up and dance type of
> idea.
>
> > I'm certainly willing to adapt myself to the collective needs and I
> wanted
> > to get a discussion started before the application deadline.
>
> Excellent.
>
> > Oh I guess a
> > little more background on me:  I attended RPI in NY, USA for 2 years
> > studying computer engineering, but transferred because I wanted to do
> > something more applied.  I studied environmental studies (at SUNY ESF)
> for a
> > couple years, and got back into coding through classes on ecological
> > modeling and GIS.  I've been pretty heavily coding models, algorithms
> and
> > interfaces for the past 2 years, mainly in C#, ObjC and some Fortran,
> but
> > the past 3 months I've been using C++ for 8 hours a day and Python here
> and
> > there.  I've got a Mac with Linux (both FC8 and openSUSE10.3) and
> Windows,
> > and I've just started over the past few weeks to pick up GTK, although
> I've
> > used Cairo in a project for a couple months.  I've only dabbled with the
> XO,
> > but am really looking forward to developing bundles for it.
>
> I am User: Mokurai on the OLPC Wiki, and Founder of Earth Treasury. We
> intend to link schools around the world for various educational and
> research projects, and to teach the students how to create sustainable
> international businesses together.
>
> > I'm eager to hear what you think!
> > yours,
> > Bobby Powers
> >
> >
> > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_dynamics
> > [2] http://www.systemdynamics.org/
> > [3] http://www.millenniuminstitute.net/
> > [4] http://www.vensim.com/
> > [5] http://www.powersim.com/
> > [6] http://www.iseesystems.com/
> > [7] http://www.futuresalon.org/2004/11/will_wright_kic.html
> > _______________________________________________
> >  Devel mailing list
> >  Devel at lists.laptop.org
> >  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
>
> --
> Edward Cherlin
> End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
> http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
> "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay
>
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