Release of NetLogo 6.2.1 beta
Uri Wilensky
The Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling at Northwestern University is pleased to announce NetLogo 6.2.1-beta1, 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 release is as stable as possible. Please send any bugs you find to bu...@ccl.northwestern.edu.
NetLogo 6.2.1-beta1 is primarily a bug fix release that addresses issues introduced in NetLogo 6.2.0. However new features are also included: agent monitor inspection windows can now be dragged across different monitors, the GIS and Palette extensions have been substantially enhanced with many new primitives, the BIND interactive documentation for beginning NetLogo users, many models in the library have been updated, and many new models added.
The NetLogo user community continues to experience significant growth. In the past year, we've continued to have many hundreds of thousands of downloads 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. https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/giving.shtml
Features and Changes
- Agent monitor inspection windows can now move across monitors
- Improved error message on BehaviorSpace file access failures
- Use a common error message for
turtle-set,patch-set, andlink-set - Use same font for input widgets as choosers/sliders/buttons
- Select the search text on models library dialog open for easy replacement on a new search
- Automatically add the png extension when exporting the world view
- Added a preference to have NetLogo automatically load the last used model on startup
- The "mammoth" shape is available in the shapes library for easy import into models
- Substantial GIS extension improvements and new primitives, see the GIS extension changelog for more information
- Substantial Palette extension improvements and new primitives, see the Palette extension docs for more information
Documentation Updates
- Add a note about transparent colors to the
colordictionary entry - Updated link and inspect related documentation
- Make sure https links in standalone dictionary entries work correctly
- Make the BehaviorSpace command-line examples use real models from the library with experiments that can be run without modification
- Link to the new Beginner's Interactive NetLogo Dictionary site from the help menu (BIND)
Bugfixes
- Shape changes in 3D mode will take effect without a restart
- Runtime exceptions with wrong argument types properly generate stack traces
sort-ongenerates a sensible error when used with different-kind agents- Breeded links are properly checked for equality
expnow errors when it generates an invalid, out-of-range number result- A proper "file not found" error will be given when a model in the recent files list was deleted or moved and cannot be located
- Bundled extensions updated through the extensions manager can have those updates uninstalled through it, too, just like unbundled extensions
- Properly add the nlogo file extension when saving a model with a filename that contains dots
- When a runtime error occurs, NetLogo will show the location in the code tab, as it did in prior versions
- Mathematica-Link: Clear up some issues with the tutorial being out-of-date
- Extension: View2.5d shape change bugfixes
- Extension: LevelSpace bugfixes for running GUI-mode models headlessly
Models Library Changes
All external URLs in models' INFO tabs were validated resulting in URL updates to 15 models.
New Sample Models:
- River Meanders
- Robotic Factory
- Taxi Cab
New Curricula Models:
- CT-STEM:
- Calorimetry
New Code Examples:
palette: Color Bubblespalette: Color Paintingpalette: Color Reveal
Sample Models
- Brian's Brain: Rewritten erasing function for NLW compatibility.
- Crystallization Basic: Fixed issue where world size depended on
heightrather thanwidth. - Geometron Top-Down: Promoted from
unverified. Updated INTERFACE, INFO, and CODE tabs. - Kaleidoscope: Promoted from
unverified. Updated INTERFACE, INFO, and CODE tabs. - Lattice Gas Automaton: Mouse movement moved to a forever button for NLW compatibility.
- Life: Rewritten erasing function for NLW compatibility.
- Life Turtle-Based: Rewritten erasing function for NLW compatibility
- N-Bodies: Rewritten mouse handling routine for NLW compatibility.
- Planarity: Updated for NLW full compatibility
- Small Worlds: Fixed bug with clustering coefficient being undefined for single-link.
- Sunflower Biomorphs: Rewritten mouse handling routine for NLW compatibility
- Surface Walking 2D: Mouse movement moved to forever button for NLW compatibility.
- PANDA BEAR Solo: Mouse movement rewritten for NLW compatibility.
Code Examples
gis– GIS General Examples: Rewritten to take advantage of new primitives released ingisv1.3.0.palette– Palette Example: Rewritten to take advantage of new primitives release inpalettev2.0.0.
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 issues known to us at the time of the release of 6.2.1-beta1:
- If the
vidextension crashes while the code tab is popped out, the code tab will not be usable again until NetLogo is restarted. - The
vidextension will crash NetLogo if you usevid:camera-openorvid:camera-selectand 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, but there are still many reports of problems on macOS. We're investigating the issues. - On macOS the
vidextension 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
arduinoextension 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 thearduinoextension 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.