What's New?
NetLogo 2.1.0 User Manual
Feedback from users is very valuable to us in designing and
improving NetLogo. We'd like to hear from you. Please send comments,
suggestions, and questions to feedback@ccl.northwestern.edu,
and bug reports to bugs@ccl.northwestern.edu.
Version 2.1 (December 13, 2004)
- content:
- NetLogo now includes a much larger and higher quality set
of turtle shapes; new models (and all sample models) include
a new core set of frequently used shapes, and you can also
import shapes into a model from a large new shapes library
- the FAQ has been updated and expanded
- the Programming Guide now includes three new subsections: on
plotting, on scientific notation for floating point numbers,
and on output to the screen
- new biology model: Heatbugs
- new mathematics/probability models: Birthdays,
four ProbLab models (Equidistant Probability, Shuffleboard,
Sample Stalagmite, 9-Blocks)
- new earth science model: Erosion
- new social science model: Rebellion
- improved models: Buffer (overhauled), Doppler (overhauled),
Weak Acid (bugfix), Enzyme Kinetics (bugfix), El Farol
(bugfix); also, most ProbLab models and all GasLab models
have been substantially improved
- new Code Examples: Case Conversion Example, Lottery Example,
Movie Example, Plot Axis Example, Diffuse-Nowrap Example,
File Input Example, File Output Example, Mouse Click & Drag
Example, Next Patch Example, Patch Coordinates Example,
Image Import Example, Mouse Recording Example, Plot Smoothing
Example
- features:
- NetLogo can now run "headless", with no GUI, from the command
line; see the "Controlling" section of the User Manual for details
- the editor now highlights matching (and mismatched) parentheses and brackets
- buttons can now be assigned "action keys", so they can be
triggered by individual keypresses; action keys are especially
useful for games and HubNet activities, but can also be added to
any model
- making a movie of your model is now directly supported, using a new suite of
movie primitives (see below for list)
- the Command Center has a new design: it is now always attached to the bottom
(or the right) of the window and is full width (or height), and it can be
easily resized or hidden
- you can now add an "output area" to the interface of your model
and send output to it separately from the Command Center
- shapes editor is much improved:
- the list of shapes is now shown in multiple sizes, against a black
background, with rotatability indicated
- individual shape elements can be selected, moved, reordered, reshaped,
flipped, rotated, and deleted
- new "snap to grid" feature
- you can now copy an image of the graphics window, a plot, or the
whole interface tab to the clipboard by right-clicking
(control-clicking on Macs) on the item
and choosing "Copy..."
- BehaviorSpace now supports doing multiple trials of each
combination of settings
- language changes:
- the order you declare breeds in the Procedures tab now determines their layering order
in the graphics window
- added new movie
primitives: movie-start, movie-grab-graphics, movie-grab-interface,
movie-set-framerate, movie-status, movie-cancel, export-movie
- added new let command, which you should use instead of locals;
it is better than locals because you can use it anywhere,
even inside an ask, not only at the top of a procedure
- added new output-print, output-show, output-type, and
output-write commands for directing output to an output area instead
of the command center
- added new hatch-BREED and sprout-BREED commands
for making new turtles of a desired breed
- added new carefully command and error-message reporter so you
can trap and handle runtime errors
- added new shapes reporter
- added new subtract-headings reporter
- added new sublist reporter
- added new beep command
- added new with-min and with-max reporters which are like min-one-of and max-one-of but permit ties
- min-one-of and max-one-of now resolve ties by choosing randomly from the winners
- clear-all now includes the effect of clear-output;
clear-output no longer clears the output portion of the command center,
only the model's output area if it has one;
removed cc as an alias for clear-output
- stricter rules are now in effect preventing you from using the
same name for two different things in the same model (for example, a
procedure and a local variable)
- engine fixes:
- the file-open command (and other file reading commands)
now work in saved applets
- exporting and importing worlds now saves and restores the state of the
random number generator
- fixed histogram bug where sometimes the tallest bar in a histogram would
be missing its top edge
- mouse-down? now behaves properly even if the mouse
pointer leaves the graphics window while the mouse button is down
- removed spurious warning when importing a world file edited in
Excel
- fixed bug where combining ask with recursion sometimes
caused a Java exception
- fixed Mac-only bug where mouse-down? would sometimes
spontaneously become false for no reason
- fixed the n-values primitive to work correctly with
constant lists
- fixed obscure bug where setting a turtle or patch color to an
extremely small negative value (such as -1.0E-15) could cause a Java
exception
- fixed obscure bug where the random-seed command ignored
the high 4 bits of its 32-bit input
- n-values now signals an error if given negative input
- fixed bug where using some of the movie or HubNet primitives in
conjunction with the user- primitives could hang NetLogo
- improved handling of runtime errors in BehaviorSpace
- interface fixes:
- the procedures menu, and the contextual menu for the graphics window,
is now split into multiple columns when it contains many entries
- the Errors tab has a procedures menu now too
- improved "Undo" capabilities when editing text:
- separate tabs now remember their own separate undo information
- you can now undo and redo multiple edits, instead of only the last edit
- fixed several undo-related bugs
- renamed "Choice" to "Chooser" everywhere
- renamed "Compile" button to "Check"
- the Esc key can now be used to cancel any dialog or close an agent monitor
- when you first open NetLogo, the graphics window is now larger
(patch size of 12 pixels)
- on Macs, the NetLogo window's red close button now indicates
whether the model has unsaved changes
- fixed bug where when the speed slider was all the way to left,
CPU usage was still high; it is now minimal
- text boxes have a smaller minimum size now
- fixed bug where it was possible to create two plot pens with the same name
- computer HubNet changes:
- substantially improved reliability
- improved activity: Disease (new, more attractive colors and shapes; also
fixes to infection rules)
- new (unverified) activities: Oil Cartel, Restaurants, Minority Game,
Herbivore Carnivore, Prisoner's Dilemma, Public Good, Investments
- the server discovery feature is no longer considered experimental, so
it is on by default on both server and client (on the server, you can
shut it off at the time you open an activity)
- support for multiple, simultaneous HubNet servers on a single computer
allows running several activities at once (by choosing different port
numbers for the different activities)
- redesigned HubNet client interface
- redesigned Control Center interface (including improved logging)
- "Local" button in Control Center automatically launches local client, connects to current activity
- many client interfaces have action keys now
- fixed bug where turtles were sometimes layered differently in
the graphics window on clients than on the server
- fixed bug where old activities remained on client's server list
Version 2.0.2 (August 6, 2004)
- new, experimental "extensions" API lets users write new
commands and reporters in Java
- NetLogo can now make sounds and music; this is done
with a new, experimental sound extension that is also
an example of how to use the extensions API
- new "controlling" API lets users control NetLogo from external
Java code (such as for automating multiple runs)
Version 2.0 (December 10, 2003)
- full support for Mac OS X; improved Linux support
- minimum Java version is now 1.4.1;
Windows 95, MacOS 8, MacOS 9 no longer supported
- increased overall reliability
- improved look and feel throughout the application
- faster and more flexible graphics (labels, turtle sizes,
exact turtle positions all now fast, reliable, and
flicker-free)
- suite of primitives for reading and writing external files
- "strict math" mode now always on, for reproducible results
- export graphics window or interface tab as image file
- revamped BehaviorSpace (various improvements made;
some old features are missing)
- Mersenne Twister random number generator
- many new primitives
- computer HubNet:
- improved reliability; no longer alpha or beta
- improved graphics window mirroring features and
performance
Version 1.3 (June 2003)
- graphics window control strip
- choosers
- strict math mode so results are identical on all platforms
(requires Java 1.3 or higher)
- new primitives including run/runresult and
map/foreach/filter/reduce
- some primitives now accept a variable number of inputs
Version 1.2 (March 2003)
- alpha release of computer HubNet: formerly HubNet required the TI
Navigator calculator network to operate; now you can use it
over TCP/IP with networks of laptop or desktop computers
- new primitives and other language improvements
- display of coordinates when mousing over plots
Version 1.1 (July 2002)
- "Save as Applet" lets you embed your model in any web page
- printer support
- Procedures menu
- scrollable Interface tab
- contextual menus in Interface tab
- new primitives
Version 1.0 (April 2002)
- initial release (after a series of betas)