A new product in the NetLogo software ecology - Turtle Universe
Uri Wilensky
Dear NetLogo users,
NetLogo is now available as an app on your phones & tablets! Look for Turtle Universe (TU) in the Android and iOS app stores. TU is especially designed for young aspiring modelers, but also has new features that may be of interest to the wider NetLogo community. TU has many features that take advantage of the mobile platforms that it is built for, such as sensor, gesture, and sound support, and includes a bundled physics extension. As this is a public beta release, we are very interested in your feedback. And keep in mind that we have more features planned to come!
Fig 1. A Turtle Universe screenshot of the interface of the NetLogo Wolf Sheep Predation model
Features
TU aims to give learners, especially young learners, a fun way to learn agent-based modeling and programming. It enables users to build models using NetLogo’s usual text-based language and also includes Horn & Wilensky’s block-based programming interface, NetTango, and features for authoring interactive guidance for models. An array of new extensions enable model authors to respond to users’ actions through gesture and sensor support; to produce models that include sound and physics support; and to control many more aspects of the user interface.
Fig 2. A screenshot of the Guided Intro of the TU Hidden Playground model
Globalization
TU supports the vibrant international NetLogo community by building in globalization support. TU supports translation of the NetLogo interface, the model info tab and the documentation of the NetLogo language, as well as the interactive learning materials. At this moment, hand-crafted Spanish and Chinese translations are bundled with the release. With your help, we hope to expand the support to many other languages.
Fig 3. A screenshot of the Turtle Universe Models Library translated into Spanish
Availability
TU is now available at App Store & Google Play as a public beta, with official support for iOS, Android, and Chrome OS devices. It is also available as a standalone package for Windows and macOS. You can get it now at https://turtlesim.com/products/turtle-universe/.
Feedback
We’d love for you to take TU for a spin and we welcome your feedback and bug reports. With updates on a monthly basis, we hope to address issues and introduce more authoring features soon. Want to contribute more? We will soon announce ways for you to participate in the development of the NetLogo ecosystem, which now includes Turtle Universe!
Turtle Universe is authored by John Chen and Uri Wilensky. Please feel free to submit your bug reports, feature requests, or design ideas in our issue tracker (https://github.com/NetLogo-Mobile/Turtle-Universe-Issue-Tracker), or send your feedback to feed...@ccl.northwestern.edu and bug reports to bu...@ccl.northwestern.edu.
Best,
—Uri
Uri Wilensky
Professor of Learning Sciences, Computer Science and Complex Systems
Director of the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling