NetLogo Overview

NetLogo is a system for creating, running, and experimenting with agent-based models.

The NetLogo window contains a menu bar and three tabs:

The Interface tab consists of a model window (displaying the world and its agents), a command center (where commands can be typed and executed), and controls (buttons, sliders, monitors, plots, etc. that control and monitor the model.)

The Information tab documents the model.

The Procedures tab contains the declarations of the procedures (written in the NetLogo language) that agents will execute when the model is running.

NetLogo Models

All NetLogo models are based on a simple metaphor: turtles swimming in a pond:

As turtles swim around they have opportunities to interact with nearby turtles. Examples of ways turtles can interact include fighting, mating, and bargaining. Turtles can also die of starvation, disease, or old age. Not to worry, new turtles can always be hatched!

The pond is a grid of patches. Like turtles, patches are also "alive". Unlike turtles, patches can't move, die, or be born, but they can interact with turtles and other patches.

For example, a patch might represent a vendor in a market and turtles customers. A vendor constantly adjusts the price he charges for his products based on the prices charged by neighboring vendors for similar products. Turtles interact with vendors by bargaining for and purchasing products.

A minor deity called the observer watches over the pond.

Like turtles and patches, the pond can also have attributes. These are global variables.