@hackage aivika1.2

A multi-paradigm simulation library

Aivika is a multi-paradigm simulation library with a strong emphasis on the Discrete Event Simulation (DES) in the first order and System Dynamics (SD) in the second one.

The library has the following features:

  • allows defining recursive stochastic differential equations of System Dynamics (unordered as in maths via the recursive do-notation);

  • supports the event-driven paradigm of DES as a basic core for implementing other paradigms;

  • supports extensively the process-oriented paradigm of DES with an ability to resume, suspend and cancel the discontinuous processes;

  • allows working with the resources (you can define your own behaviour or use the predefined queue strategies);

  • allows customizing the queues (you can define your own behaviour or use the predefined queue strategies);

  • allows defining an infinite stream of data based on the process-oriented computation, where we can define a complex enough behaviour just in a few lines of code;

  • allows defining processors (actually, the Haskell arrows) that operate on the infinite streams of data, because of which some models can remind of their high-level graphical representation on the diagram used by visual simulation software tools;

  • supports the activity-oriented paradigm of DES;

  • supports the basic constructs for the agent-based modeling;

  • allows creating combined discrete-continuous models as all parts of the library are very well integrated and this is reflected directly in the type system;

  • the arrays of simulation variables are inherently supported (this is mostly a feature of Haskell itself);

  • supports the Monte-Carlo simulation;

  • the simulation model can depend on external parameters;

  • uses extensively the signals to notify the model about changing the reference and variable values;

  • allows gathering statistics in time points;

  • hides the technical details in high-level simulation monads and even one arrow (some of these monads support the recursive do-notation).

Aivika itself is a light-weight engine with minimal dependencies. However, it has additional packages Aivika Experiment [1] and Aivika Experiment Chart [2] that offer the following features:

  • automating the simulation experiments;

  • saving the results in CSV files;

  • plotting the deviation chart by rule 3-sigma, histogram, time series, XY chart;

  • collecting the summary of statistical data;

  • parallel execution of the Monte-Carlo simulation;

  • have an extensible architecture.

All three libraries were tested on Linux, Windows and OS X.

Please read the PDF document An Introduction to Aivika Simulation Library [3] for more details, although it is outdated and contains a very basic description only. The most powerful features of Aivika are not yet described in this PDF document.

[1] http://hackage.haskell.org/package/aivika-experiment

[2] http://hackage.haskell.org/package/aivika-experiment-chart

[3] https://github.com/dsorokin/aivika/blob/master/doc/aivika.pdf

P.S. Aivika is actually a genuine female Mari name which is pronounced with stress on the last syllable as in French, but the Russians usually pronounce it wrong :)