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Hammer or Tongs: How Best to Build Agent-Based Models?

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Advances in Practical Applications of Agents, Multi-Agent Systems, and Complexity: The PAAMS Collection (PAAMS 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 10978))

Abstract

Agent-based modeling has been widely applied to solve problems in contexts ranging from exploratory research studies to focused industrial practice. As the application of agent-based modeling has grown, developers have advocated a wide and diverse variety of development techniques. Some of these techniques inform elements of model creation, validation, or use. Others are comprehensive development methodologies. The popularity of agent-based modeling makes it impossible to include every development technique mentioned in the literature. Instead, this paper focuses on providing a representative sample that includes the techniques with the most practical utility along with those that are widely used or have received substantial attention. The sample reviewed in this paper includes techniques advocated specifically for agent-based modeling along with general software development approaches. Due to their importance, verification and validation techniques for agent-based modeling are specially highlighted. The paper concludes with a summary and recommendations on how best to build agent-based models.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This paper focuses on agent-based modeling. References to the related multi-agent systems technique are limited since this field has different, although allied, goals (Nikolic and Ghorbani 2011; Fortino and North 2013).

  2. 2.

    The anonymous (2000) refrain, “99 little bugs in the code; 99 little bugs; take one down, patch it around; 127 little bugs in the code,” is memorable in this regard.

  3. 3.

    Waterfall development is a family of classic structured, multistage, software development methodologies that emphasize minimizing the amount of rework on the theory that costs rise exponentially as a mistake in a given stage propagates to later stages (Project Management Institute 2008). Agile development methodologies reject this theory (Beck et al. 2001; Software Craftsmanship Manifesto Signatories 2009; Collier and Ozik 2013) and instead focus on rapid refocusing based on feedback from real code.

  4. 4.

    It should be an indispensible part of any theoretical agent-based modeling project as well!.

  5. 5.

    This quote is a tagline from the long-running American television program Family Feud.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1147 Greensfield Drive, Naperville, IL, 60563, USA

    Michael J. North

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  1. Michael J. North
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France

    Yves Demazeau

  2. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Bo An

  3. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Javier Bajo

  4. Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Albacete, Spain

    Antonio Fernández-Caballero

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North, M.J. (2018). Hammer or Tongs: How Best to Build Agent-Based Models?. In: Demazeau, Y., An, B., Bajo, J., Fernández-Caballero, A. (eds) Advances in Practical Applications of Agents, Multi-Agent Systems, and Complexity: The PAAMS Collection. PAAMS 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10978. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94580-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94580-4_1

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