Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation with Domain-Specific Languages

Abstract

AbstractConducting simulation studies within a model-based framework is a complex process, in which many different concerns must be considered. Central tasks include the specification of the simulation model, the execution of simulation runs, the conduction of systematic simulation experiments, and the management and documentation of the model’s context. In this chapter, we look into how these concerns can be separated and handled by applying domain-specific languages (DSLs), that is, languages that are tailored to specific tasks in a specific application domain. We demonstrate and discuss the features of the approach by using the modelling language ML3, the experiment specification language SESSL, and PROV, a graph-based standard to describe the provenance information underlying the multi-stage process of model development.