To All -
this is my first interjection in this community. I could not help but
respond to this request for
input. I am a graduate student in economics, working with a professor who
would very much like to conduct a class in multi-agent systems for
economics. I've been working with
MASON for about 6 months now. The system is fascinating (I was a software
engineer before
studying economics) but I sorely feel the need for something like a text.
The professor would very much like to hold a class using MASON or something
like it. However, the lack of material is making it necessary to work with
less sophisticated systems. From following this list, I can see where MASON
is going - in fact, I have had discussions with faculty about using a game
engine for multiagent simulations. But lack of examples in a text format is
holding things back.
Given the brief time period that a teacher has to conduct a class - with
people from diverse backgrounds coming to the material for the first time-
it is almost impossible to work without some kind of text.
From talking to other students and faculty, I see packages like MASON as the
next wave of tools to be used in economics. You can only go so far with a
system like NetLogo. NetLogo is a good package but at some point, people
want to have more flexibility than it offers. The use of Java is so
prevalent world-wide that it is a natural next step for students.
Having a wiki or text on MASON is an excellent idea.
Jack Sexton
San Jose State University
On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Magrath, Shane <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> UNCLASSIFIED
>
> Hi Sean et al,
> I've been thinking for some time about whether there is sufficient
> interest in a book with a title something like "Developing Multi Agent
> Simulations with MASON".
>
> It's something I and other I know would value if it was done well.
>
> I guess most of us don't have time to write a book but the Internet
> being what it is there may be other options - wikis, open-source text
> books - that kind of thing...
>
> The tutorials are great starting point, but there are some things I'd
> like to have covered in more depth, or show how to customise features
> and functions in useful ways,...
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Shane Magrath
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: MASON Multiagent Simulation Toolkit
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sean Luke
> Sent: 27 November 2009 02:25
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: PacMan
>
> I've committed our two-player multiple-map PacMan implementation on
> MASON. Thanks to Vittorio Zipparo who hung out with me while we wrote
> it. I've also stolen a bit of code Brian Hrolenok wrote from our
> internal Beacons project, which hopefully will get put out as a MASON
> demo in its own right.
>
> Sean
>
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