The
StarLogo Template Wizard is used to create different types of turtles
and allows you to assign different behaviors to these turtles from
a set of pre-defined behaviors. There are functions set up for walking,
tracking other turtles, reproducing, dying and infecting other turtles.
Turtles can also either eat other turtles or the patches. For each
function you can choose to have it set at a fixed value or create
a StarLogo slider that controls that value. Additionally, there
is an observer which is used to set things up and to make the grass
grow.
To
start the Template Wizard choose Template
from the Windows
menu in the Control Center. When the file dialog appears navigate
to the Desktop and choose the file named chili.slogt. (See
Figure1: Template Menu Item)
Now
you can, for example, create two breeds - rapid (who make decisions
quickly) and slow (who take longer to decide). Type rapid where
it says add breed and click add breed. Do the same for slow.
Now
select rapid from the selector under add breed. You will be looking
at the parameters for the walk function for the rapid turtles as
shown here.
You can modify the settings for this function by either moving the
sliders around or by choosing to create your own sliders. Note that
if you create your own sliders you must not include spaces in your
name (though you could use a name like "number-of-rapids").

FIGURE
4: Majority/Minority Template
You
can also create your own new functions that define behavior for
your breeds. To do this click on the New button and choose one of
the new functions from the list (see the following page for some
descriptions and hints of the relevant functions). You can always
click on the Describe button when you are editing a function to
find out what the function does. Note also that the StarLogo code
that the walk function generates is shown in the bottom right corner.

FIGURE
5: New Function in Majority/Minority Template
Create
some functions and new breeds so that you think you have a starter
majority/minority model (it does not need to include everything
at first, you can always add to it later). Note that the order of
the functions is important and some are quite critical to make anything
happen. See the list on the next page for further explanations.
Don't assume that some functions are just "taken care of for
you." A typical model might include 1. Tally, 2. MakeDecision,
3. PickMax, and 4. ResetTally.
Now
click on done and your file will be loaded into StarLogo. You have
a StarLogo model. You might want to play with the model in StarLogo
or look at the procedures that you created. You can edit the procedures
right inside of StarLogo or you can use Template Wizard to create
a new model (note: If you make any changes in the Procedures Windows
those changes will not be saved if you make additional changes in
the Template window. There currently is no way to go from a StarLogo
model to the Template Wizard, only the other way around).
You
can actually build many different types of models with the Template
Wizard. In addition to basic majority/minority functions it also
has some additional functions for making other types of models.
But you can actually think of both of these types of models more
broadly. In what kinds of systems do you have individuals making
these kinds of decisions?
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