A LANGUAGE FOR MODULAR SPATIOTEMPORAL SIMULATION

Creating an effective environment for collaborative spatio-temporal mo del development will require computational systems that provide suppor t for the user in three key areas: (1) Support for modular, hierarchic al model construction and archiving/linking of simulation modules; (2) support for graphical, icon-based model construction; (3) transparent , seamless support for state of the art distributed computing. The key requirement for this support is the adoption of a modeling standard, either in the form of an interface specification language (ISL), or a modular modeling language (MML). The ISL supports remote linking of si mulation modules developed in disparate languages and environments. Th e MML provides a language standard for the development and archiving o f simulation modules. Optimally, the implementation of these languages will include seamless links to graphical, icon-based simulation envir onments and distributed computing environments. In this paper we discu ss the authors' program to develop and implement an MML-based integrat ed environment designed to provide this support for distributed modula r spatio-temporal modeling. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.