Re: Manual

[Paul W. Box]

This reply was not addressed to me, but since it went to the group, I
take that as an invitation for all of us to join in.

May I suggest the following way to arrange a manual (if we are talking
about one manual) ...

Part 1:  Introduction, via a sample application

This part could be written like a story, following an application like
heatbugs from conception to coding.  The story could start with a kind
of problem one wished to approach, reasons why swarm might be used to
simulate it (ie, ideas one wished to simulate), and then a narrative of
how various features of the swarm package turned out to be a good way to
model it.  In the story of the model's creation, various features and
mindsets of swarm could be introduced.

Part 2:  Technical description

This would be a series of chapters describing each of the libraries,
with a general description of what that library does, as well as more
complete documentation of the individual
objects/features/classes/whatever

Part 3:  Problems that have been approached with swarm

This could be a short description of various projects that are currently
being tackled with swarm.  Each example would have a description of the
question the researcher was asking, how and why swarm was used to
address the problem, and information on how to get more information if
you desire.  I'm sure there will be some excellent examples to choose
from at the meeting.

This is just a suggestion.  I think that this would be an excellent
topic of discussion at the meeting.

glen e. p. ropella wrote:
> 
> > I think this two manuals idea is EXCELLENT.  
...

> 
> 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

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/*  Paul Box                      |        Cogito ergo                */
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