Re: Manual

[glen e. p. ropella]

> I think this two manuals idea is EXCELLENT. If I ever get Swarm up and 
> running (a matter of finding the time first off) my next step will be to 
> recruit other faculty who are using totally idiosyncratic simulation written 
> (by them or a stray programmer they are no longer in touch with) in 
> Pascal or Basic to try Swarm.  My hope is to get a little mutual support 
> Swarm community going here.
> 
> The "system simulation manual" is what they need to look at first.  I 
> became a convert listing to Nelson talk at SFI, but others haven't had 
> that pleasure. 
> 
> The user's manual will be the nitty gritty guide for using swarm AFTER one 
> has made the decision that this is a promising route.

Thanks for replying.  Since you did so enthusiastically, I will
be-devil you with questions! [grin]  No, seriously, would you 
be willing to jot down a couple ideas for a table of contents 
or an outline of the type of "system sim manual using Swarm"
that you'd like to see?  I'm thinking it might come in two 
parts, theory and practice.  The practice part would not address
the level of detail that the users' manual would.  But, it might
introduce concepts like random number generation and moving 
theoretical models from theory to implementation.

The theory part would address the types of simulation available
both in and out of Swarm (here's where Swarm will show it's 
hegemony) and, maybe, address what simulation *is* and how it
benefits science and industry. (Or, since the kind of people who
might read this have already realized what simulation is good 
for, then maybe this is too "brochurish.")

glen