The Multi-Agent Modelling Language and the Model Design Interface

While computer models provide many advantages over traditional experimental methods, they also raise several problems. The process of software development is a complicated task with high potential for errors, especially when it is carried out by scientists holding their expertise in other fields than computer science. On the other hand, the process of creating computer simulations of social systems which reflect the reality of such systems requires insights considerably beyond expertise in computer science. The Multi-Agent Modelling Language (MAML) is one of the efforts to ease these difficulties. In its current version, MAML is a macro-language for Swarm (a freely distributed toolset under development at SFI), but it is also part of a larger Swarm-independent framework. Also, the design of MAML, while influenced by concepts from Swarm, is general enough to allow for later extension of the supported simulation kernels. This paper gives an overview of the mentioned larger framework, with special emphasis on MAML and its graphical CASE tool, the Model Design Interface.