NetLogo 6.1.2 Beta released (slight correction from previous announcement)

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Uri Wilensky

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Nov 25, 2020, 4:37:41 PM11/25/20
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The Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling at Northwestern University is pleased to announce NetLogo 6.1.2-beta2, available for free download from our site at https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/download.shtml. The version released today is a beta release. It is especially important for us to get feedback and bug reports from users during this beta period, so we can make sure the final NetLogo 6.1.2 release is as stable as possible. Please send any bugs you find to  bu...@ccl.northwestern.edu.


NetLogo 6.1.2-beta2 introduces new features and bug fixes in both 2D and 3D NetLogo. Notable new features include a pop-out code-tab, substantial improvements to NetLogo Logging and removal of the separate logging application, improvements to the extension manager and new bundled extensions, new library models, including code examples for bundled extensions, new curricular models, and documentation improvements. These are detailed below.

The NetLogo user community continues to experience much growth. We've had many hundreds of thousands of downloads in the past year from our website. Maintaining the large code-base, adding features to support our users, and expanding the models library requires considerable resources.

>>> Please consider making a donation at our site. <<< All donation sizes help.  ( http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/giving.shtml )

Features

A premier feature for this release is a pop-out code tab, that allows you to detach the code tab from the main applicationn and into a separate window in order to view the interface and the model code side-by-side.  

Other new features include:

  • The models library now shows code examples that come with extensions installed through the extensions manager.
  • We now bundle the Liberica OpenJDK Java runtime instead of the Oracle Java runtime, which has a less restrictive license.
  • The mean primitive will now work on lists that contain non-numbers as other number processing primitives do.
  • The extensions manager can be disabled with a command-line switch to avoid network traffic or to lock down installed extensions.

Bugfixes

  • We've made changes to how we bundle NetLogo on macOS in order to satisfy Apple's package notarization process for detecting malware. NetLogo now runs without any special workarounds, as long as your macOS settings allow running software from identified developers.
  • When first opening a model and installing a new extension for it through the extensions manager prompt, the model widgets would not be usable until the model's code was recompiled. Now the model will be ready to use right after the extension is installed.
  • When using in-cone on wrapped worlds, occasionally turtles at the very edge of the wrapped cone would be missing from the results.
  • When using in-radius on a patch to get nearby turtles, sometimes turtles at the edge of the radius would be missing from the results.
  • The performance of a turtle lookup by breed and who-number, like sheep 10, could take an unreasonable amount of time.
  • Models with a large amount of code (5000+ lines) would take a very long time to check and compile.

Logging Improvements

  • The logging standalone application is no longer necessary, so it has been removed. Logging can now be enabled and a configuration file chosen through the NetLogo preferences menu.
  • The command line switch to set the logging directory would previously be ignored.
  • Users now get a chance to add a comment to the log when they get a compiler error.

NetLogo 3D Bugfixes

  • The in-radius and in-cone primitives could give incorrect results, omitting some agents, in rare cases.
  • When hatching turtles the z-coordinates would sometimes not be copied from the parent turtle.
  • The font size value for the world view would be ignored.
  • When using with with patches, the results could include only patches with a zero z-coordinate.
  • NetLogo 3D should run more reliably on Linux systems.

Extension Changes

  • The Time extension is now bundled with NetLogo. This extension lets you work with real-world dates and times in your model, and includes an event scheduler for triggering events at points in time. It also includes an NLS library file you can add to your model to handle time series reading from CSV files. See the Time extension docs for more information.
  • The View2.5d extension has been significantly upgraded. Turtle stem color can be set by a reporter. Links are now visible in the 2.5d window. They can be visualized either going from turtle to turtle (the default) or in the xy-plane.
    The choice can be made using radio buttons, or through new commands
  • LevelSpace now always runs hidden models at full speed and should give better error messages when errors occur when loading a model.
  • The Network (NW) extension will not add extra whitespace when using nw:save-matrix.
  • The Python extension gives better error messages when the paths to the Python executables are incorrect.

Documentation Changes

  • Tutorial #1 had referenced an older version of the Wolf Sheep Predation model.
  • Added a couple more common problems to look out for in the BehaviorSpace guide.
  • Clarify the version of NetLogo Web used to export models as HTML files.
  • Clarify that the auto scale feature for plots does not scale the X axis when used with histogram.
  • Clarify the location of the NetLogo.cfg files on each operating system.
  • Update steps to take for common issues opening on macOS, added an alert about known issues to the download page.
  • The docs for ifelse had some incorrect argument names.
  • Add info about the Pioneer Award for the View 2.5D extension.

Model Changes

 New Sample Models:

  • Dislocation Motion and Deformation
  • Repressilator 1D
  • Sex Ratio Equilibrium

 New Curricular Models:

  • CT-STEM (for more information, visit ct-stem.northwestern.edu):
    • Free Fall
    • Habitat Preference Behavior
    • Kidney Absorption
    • Mendelian Inheritance
    • Natural Selection - Camouflage
    • Pendulum

 New Code Examples:

  • Extension Examples
    • time Extension - Discrete Event Mousetrap
    • view2.5d Extension - 2.5d Turtle View Example

Sample Model Updates:

  • Anisogamy: INTERFACE re-design, expanded INFO tab, and refactored CODE. Now includes additional BehaviorSpace experiments.
  • Autumn: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Bug Hunt Speeds: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Fire: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Fur: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Grand Canyon: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Lightning: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Moths: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Particle System Basic: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Paths: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Shuffle Board: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Small Worlds: The INTERFACE tab has been overhauled to make the model easier to use. The INFO tab has been rewritten to be more clear and concise. The CODE tab has been restyled and now uses curved link shapes for neighbors' neighbor links.
  • Team Assembly: Minor updates to INFO tab.
  • Tumor: Additional credits and references added.
  • Wealth Distribution: Got rid of one line of CODE that didn't do anything.

Alternative Visualization Updates:

  • Heat Diffusion - Alternative Visualization: Minor INFO tab updates.

Curricular Model Updates:

  • BEAGLE Evolution
    • Altruism: Minor INFO tab updates.
    • Cooperation: Minor INFO tab updates.
    • Divide the Cake: Promoted from Unverified.
    • Guppy Spots HubNet: Promoted from Unverified.
  • Chemical Equilibrium: Fix plot and monitor bug that incorrectly counted pink molecules.
  • EACH (now appears as a sub-directory of the BEAGLE Evolution directory)

Note, the above BEAGLE models have now been physically moved into the Curricular Models/BEAGLE Evolution/ folder. In the Models Library browser, they will appear cross-referenced in the usual places.

Code Examples Updates:

  • view2.5d Extension - 2.5d Patch View Example: Fixed issue with perspective not being updated on setup.
  • gogo Extension - GoGoMonitor: Minor INFO tab updates.

HubNet Activities Updates:

All HubNet models now include a citation for the HubNet software and their web links have been updated. This resulted in a change to 37 models in total.

IABM Model Updates:

  • Arduino Example: Minor INFO tab updates.
  • Heroes and Cowards: Minor INFO tab updates.
  • Simple Economy: Updated INFO tab and now listed as a Sample Model under the Economics folder.

Fixed inconsistent bracket styling across IABM Textbook models. This resulted in changes to 12 models.

  • Turtles Circling Simple
  • Life Simple
  • Wolf Sheep Simple 1
  • Wolf Sheep Simple 2
  • Wolf Sheep Simple 3
  • Wolf Sheep Simple 4
  • Wolf Sheep Simple 5
  • Agentset Efficiency
  • Voting Analysis
  • Simple Machine Learning
  • Simple Viral Marketing

Known Issues

We encourage our users to report any bugs they find with NetLogo 6 to our bugs mailing list, and other feedback to our feedback mailing list. We encourage users who encounter a bug to consult this wiki page which lists current major problems as users report them to us and offers advice on how to alleviate or work around them.

This list below contains several new issues known to us at the time of the release of 6.1.2-beta2:

  • When the code tab is popped out into its own window it always stays above the main NetLogo window. It can also hide other NetLogo windows, too. This problem is especially pronounced on macOS.
  • The code tab hotkey to close current does not work as expected.
  • The marker for a modified included external code file, *, will appear in the title of the main window instead of the popped out code tab window.
  • Om macOS the vid extension will crash NetLogo if you use vid:camera-open or vid:camera-select and then start a different program (like Zoom) and use the same camera. If you start the other program first and then start NetLogo things work better.
  • On Windows the text for vertical labels on graphs can be small and hard to read.

These issues are known and were also in prior NetLogo releases:

  • The vid extension produces videos that don't play properly in Windows (the same video plays correctly on a Mac, however). It appears to play videos created by other sources properly.
  • The arduino extension doesn't work properly in Windows 10 under 64-bit NetLogo. It does work properly running under 32-bit NetLogo. We recommend windows users who want to work with the arduino extension install the 32-bit version of NetLogo.
  • When using the "Import HubNet Client Interface..." feature, widgets cannot be edited until the client is saved, closed, and re-opened. More information is available on our issue tracker.
  • Some Users continue to have problems initially launching NetLogo 6 in Mac OS Sierra, High Sierra, and Catalina. More information (including a partial workaround for the problem) is available here.

Credits

NetLogo was designed and authored by Uri Wilensky, project leader and director of the CCL. The current core development team includes Jeremy Baker, Jason Bertsche, Aaron Brandes, and Bryan Head. Seth Tisue and Nicolas Payette have made major contributions in the past. Many others have contributed greatly. HubNet was jointly designed by Uri Wilensky and Walter Stroup.

The CCL gratefully acknowledges two decades of support for our NetLogo work. The original support came from the National Science Foundation -- grant numbers REC-9814682 and REC-0126227. Further support has come from REC-0003285, REC-0115699, DRL-0196044, CCF-ITR-0326542, DRL-REC/ROLE-0440113, SBE-0624318, EEC-0648316, IIS-0713619, DRL-RED-9552950, DRL-REC-9632612, and DRL-DRK12-1020101, IIS-1441552, CNS-1441016, CNS-1441041, CNS-1138461, IIS-1438813, IIS-1147621, DRL-REC-1343873, IIS-1438813, IIS-1441552, CNS-1441041, IIS-1546120, DRL-1546122, DRL-ITEST-1614745, DRL-1640201, NSF STEMC-1745938. NSF STEMC-1842374 and NSF STEMC-1842375. Additional support came from the Spencer Foundation, Texas Instruments, the Brady Fund, the Murphy fund, and the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems.

Enjoy,

—Uri


Uri Wilensky
Lorraine H. Morton Professor of Learning Sciences, Computer Science and Complex Systems
Director, Center for Connected Learning  and Computer-Based Modeling (CCL)








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