ANN: Release of version 2.0 of the discrete event simulation package SimPy
kgmuller
Download from:
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=62366&release_id=6374
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Your feedback (errors found, proposals for changes, etc.) is requested,
using the
SimPy Users Mailing List (simpy-users {at}lists.sourceforge.net).
SimPy 2.0 requires Python 2.3 or later. It does not yet run under Python
3.0.
The release of a SimPy version for Python 3.0 is planned for later in 2009.
What is SimPy?
--------------
SimPy is a process-based discrete-event simulation language based on
standard Python
and released under the GNU LGPL.
It provides the modeller with components of a simulation model. These
include
processes, for active components like customers, messages, and vehicles, and
resources, for passive components that form limited capacity congestion
points
like servers, checkout counters, and tunnels. It also provides monitor
variables
to aid in gathering statistics.
Simpy comes with extensive documentation, tutorials and many example models.
SimPy provides plotting and a GUI capability "out of the box".
What is new in SimPy 2.0?
-------------------------
Object Oriented API
===================
In addition to its existing API, SimPy now also has an object oriented API.
The additional API
- allows running SimPy in parallel on multiple processors
or multi-core CPUs, using Parallel Python.
- supports better structuring of SimPy programs,
- allows easy extension of model classes by sub-classing,
thus providing a capability for developing application
libraries,
- allows subclassing of class *Simulation* and thus
provides users with the capability of creating new
simulation modes/libraries like *SimulationTrace*, and
- reduces the total amount of SimPy code, thereby making
it easier to maintain.
Note that the OO API is in addition to the old API.
SimPy 2.0 is fully backward compatible.
Debugging with GUI
==================
A new debugging and teaching tool has been added.
With the SimulationGUIDebug library, SimPy now supports
the user-driven event stepping through models. Windows
show the event list and the status of Process and Resource
instances.
This powerful tool has been provided by Brian Jacobs, Kip Nicol
and Logan Rockmore, a group of senior students of Professor Matloff
at U. of California at Davis.
Documentation
=============
SimPy's documentation has been expanded, restructured and processed
by the Sphinx documentation generation tool. This has generated
one coherent, well structured HTML document which can be easily
browsed. A search capability is included.
Acknowledgments
---------------
SimPy 2.0 has been primarily developed by Stefan Scherfke and
Ontje Lünsdorf, starting from SimPy 1.9. Their work has resulted
in a most elegant combination of an object oriented API with the
existing API, maintaining full backward compatibility. It has been
quite easy to integrate their product into the existing SimPy code
and documentation environment.
Thanks, guys, for this great job! SimPy 2.0 is dedicated to you!
The many contributions of the SimPy user and developer communities
are of course also gratefully acknowledged.
Download, test, enjoy and give us feedback!
Happy SimPying!
Klaus Muller Tony Vignaux