RePast at CSCS
These are UM-local pages for
RePast
documentation, maintained by the Center for Study of Complex Systems
at the University of Michigan.
RePast versions and documentation at CSCS
As of 2005 October we have RePast 3.0, as well as older
versions (2.2,2.0.2,2.0,1.4.1, 1.4, 1.3.1) and a newer version (3.1).
CSCS also has evolver-1.0b1 .
There are generally demo/ and doc/ and tutorial/
directories that come along with various RePast
distributions...check the
online documentation for RePast for complete details.
For users on the CSCS system, we have local copies of the RePast documenation:
We also have some how-to's for your CSCS RePast models:
The source, jar and doc files for all repast versions at CSCS/UM are located at:
/appl/repast
The RePast distribution's source files for the various RePast demos for repast3.0
are located in
/appl/repast/repast3.0/repastj/demo
For other versions, replace repast3.0 with whatever version is required.
Running RePast at CSCS
RePast is not really a runnable program; instead, its a package of class
libraries for constructing programs that implement
agent based models.
There are two ways to run RePast models on CSCS Computers:
(1) Directly enter the java command, and
(2) Using "ant", a program for compiling and running programs.
These are described briefly below.
1. Directly running RePast Programs.
To run RePast demo programs as described at the start of RePast's introductory page:
How to Run a RePast Simulation on CSCS computers, enter:
java -jar /appl/repast/current/repastj/repastj.jar
Then follow the instructions on that page for selecting a model,
running it, etc.
Note: Some of the demo's don't seem to work when run from the Repast
menu of models. They can be run directly, though in some cases its necessary
to run them from the directory in which they are located. (They don't seem
to be able find some data files that they need unless run from those directories
where the programs are located. For example, to run the Rabbit Population model,
enter these commands:
export REPASTJ=/appl/repast/current/repastj
java -cp ${REPASTJ}/repastj.jar:${REPASTJ}/repast-demos.jar:${REPASTJ}/lib/jep-2.24.jar \
uchicago.src.repastdemos.rabbitPopulation.RabbitPopulationModel
Brief descriptions of all the RePast demos are in this directory:
/appl/repast/current/repastj/demo/doc/
The source codes for the models are in directories under:
/appl/repast/current/repastj/demo/src/uchicago/src/repastdemos/
Notes on Repast 3.1
Repast 3.1 includes a change in the way the Repast directories and files
are organized and named. To compare 3.0 and 3.1:
ls -l /appl/repast/repast3.0
ls -l /appl/repast/repast3.1
and similarly look at the contents of some of the subdirectories
in those directories.
In particular, note that to run the 3.1 repast one must enter:
java -jar /appl/repast/repast3.1/RepastJ/repast.jar
Similarly, if you use ant (see below) with 3.1, you must
be sure to set up the build.xml file to reference the correct
directory and file names for Repast.
2. Using "ant" to run repast programs.
At CSCS we have set up a number of the basic RePast demos,
plus some of our own, so that they can be run using
ant,
a make-type program which can be used to compile and run
your RePast/Java models.
The CSCS versions of these demos and other RePast programs also can be run
using CSCS's
drone,
a program for running experiments.
For a list of the available demos and more information about them, see
this Demos-3 Readme.txt file.
For example, see this
description of the CSCS version of the heatBugs demo
for a summary of the features and capabilities added to the basic heatBugs demo,
along with instructions for making a copy of this version in your
own CSCS filespace, along with examples of how to run it on CSCS machines.
If you plan to run experiments, we recommend you consider
starting from one of these demos, or from the
MinimalA and Template2 "template" models, rather than starting from the "raw"
demos provided in the RePast distribution.
The page
"
How to setup RePast and CSCS's demos"
describes how to download to your own laptop (or other computer)
RePast, ant, plus the other packages that are used as part of the CSCS Demos-3 demos.
All the CSCS demo's are stored in sub-directories of
/appl/repast/Demos-3/ .
See Demos-3/Readme.txt
for more information.
If you have an existing RePast program that you want to convert
for use with drone,
this short note describes how to setup
a RePast project (e.g., one of the RePast demos like heatBugs)
in your own file spoace, and setup a build.xml file for ant.
Note: There also are some older Repast demos at
/users/rlr/RePast/Demos-2/
which have not been converted to RePast 3 (nor Java 5.0), along
with notes about how to convert "raw" Repast programs to use ant
and to use the CSCS/um parameter processing scheme.
These demos/notes are mostly for historical reference.
Using other Java tools and libraries with Repast
See the CSCS applications page
for more java related libraries, tools, etc.
More info coming!
(briefly describe some? IDE? EMACS as IDE?)
