Turtle Histories and Alternate Universes: Exploratory Modeling with Netlogo and Mathematica

This paper presents the design of a development platform integrating NetLogo, a multiagent programmable modeling environment with the Mathematica scientific computing environment. We will discuss the affordances of such environments, which can simplify and enrich the research process for agent-based modelers. More specifically, we will demonstrate the advantages of having real-time exchange of complex data structures between agent-based modeling environments and symbolic mathematical software such as Mathematica. Together, such tools can provide researchers with a highly interactive, self-documenting workflow that neither tool can provide alone. This paper will give an overview of how the integrated environment can be used for common tasks in agentbased modeling, the construction of interfaces for exploring simulation dynamics, and the effective design patterns for representing simulation results.