The Agentsheets 1.4 Installer
..is a complete starter kit including:
- RistrettoTM: the Agent-to-Java bytecode compiler producing super fast applets
(see example applets) so your simulation can run on Macs, PCs, Unix boxes etc.
- Visual AgenTalk: the visual and tactile end-user programming environment.
This is an Alpha version of Agentsheets 1.4. Before you download the Agentsheets
environment you must aggree with the license and register
by sending email (briefly describe where you heard of Agentsheets, and what do you
like to do with it) to Jonathan Philips phillipj@cs.colorado.edu
to receive your password. Without this password the archive cannot be used. Once
you have received your password click at the file below and use to password to uncompress.
PowerPC Version
This version runs only on PowerPC Macintoshes. On a PowerPC Mac you can also run
the 68k version of Agentsheets but the PPC version runs substantially faster.
Version 1.4a1 PPC: Sept. 16, 1997, 4.5 MB.archives created with
Installer VISE Lite 3.5
Minimal Systems Requirements:
- Disk space: 9 MB
- RAM Partition: 6MB (8MB recommended)
- CPU: PowerPC
- System Software: 7.0
68k Version
This version runs on 68k (68020, 68030, 68040) and PowerPC Macintoshes.
Version 1.4a1 68k: Sept. 16, 1997, 3.4 MB.archives created with
Installer VISE Lite 3.5
Minimal Systems Requirements:
- Disk space: 4.8 MB
- RAM Partition: 6MB (8MB recommended)
- CPU: 68020
- System Software: 7.0
Java Applet Runners
You can use any kind of Java 1.0 compliant applet runner to run Ristretto generated
Java applets or Java 1.1 to run Ristretto generated Java Beans. To test applets on
Macintoshes we recomend Apple's MRJ 1.5 or 2.0.
Goto Apple's MRJ Download pages
1.4a1 Updates:
This version of Agentsheets is the last scheduled version before Agentsheets goes
beta. Agentsheets has gone through a big user inter-face lift simplifying use and
eliminating Lisp left overs from its old days. If you find anything that looks like
Lisp in this version it's a BUG. Please report it.
What's New
- User Interface Changes
- NO More Lisp listener: textual messages previously written into the listener
window have been replaced with a large set of new alert dialog boxes trapping problems
as Note, Caution and Stop alert boxes.
- Save before Quit: now your are given a chance to save galleries and worksheets.
- Context Sensitive Menus: non applicable actions are grayed out
- No more hierarchic menus for main file functions.
- Close all dependent windows when gallery is closed.
- Replaced arcane clone dialog box with simpler "Duplicate Depiction"
menu.
- New Grid Size Selection dialog box: to pick standard size agents
- Depiction Editor
- Edit even super small 1 x 1 depictions correctly.
- Automasks: white is default mask color.
- Mark color can be defined: none, white, color of upper left pixel, or user defined
via color picker.
- Hot Apply and OK Behavior Editor Buttons
- Buttons turn blue if behavior has been changed but not Applied or OKed.
- Behavior Editor will not ask to save if content was not changed.
- Project Opener
- Open gallery and worksheets at the same time.
- Fast type-in project name selection
- Open projects by double clicking galleries or worksheets.
- Web Support Menu
- Upload agents into the Behavior Exchange
- Shortcut to open Behavior Exchange in Netscape to download agents
- Help Balloons
- Explain what all interface components (VAT commands, Type Interactors, Tool Bar
buttons, Menu Items) are and how they are used.
- Dynamic Agent Balloon content is programmable in Visual AgenTalk.
- Language is consistent with Dialog Box content
- New Action Commands
- Broadcast: send messages to agents without knowing where they are in the worksheet
- Move random on: move randomly onto neighbor with specific look
- New Trigger Command: Balloon Help: React to mouse over agent with help
turned on. This can be used to compute balloon content.
- Implementation: Agentsheets is built in Macintosh Common Lisp versions
4.1 (PowerPC) and MCL 3.2 (68k)
- Ristretto Updates:
- Translates Visual AgenTalk formulas.
- Compatible even with Netscape 4
- New commands: OnceEvery, Map, PlotAttribute, MoveRandomOn, SetColorTo,
Knows Problems
- Ristretto: Methods using the "When Creating New Agent" trigger should
not contain actions that change the look of agents (setColor, map, change, plotAtrribute).
- Ristretto: Uninitialized variables do not default correctly to 0.
- Ristretto; agents changing colors using either setColor or map will overwrite
any agents sitting on top of them.
1.4a0 Updates:
Features
- Ristretto: The main new ingredient of Agentsheets is a superfast (>
10,000 loc/sec) Agent-to-Java byte code compiler to turn Agentsheets projects at
the push of a button into Java applets (play
with example Applet). Visual AgenTalk rules are compiled directly into optimized
Java byte codes. This way the Java Virtual Machine can execute agent rules of without
any additional runtime interpretation overhead.
- New Visual AgenTalk Commands: a number of new commands have been introduced
to give users better support for computation with attributes and data visualization.
- VAT Formulas: Visual AgenTalk now includes a complete formula language
supporting spreadsheet-like computation.
- Web Page Parsing Agents: agents can directly parse web pages via TCP/IP,
PULL numerical data out of the pages and PUSH it into a simulation
(e.g, current temperature at some location). This unifies notions of simulation and
browsers.
- Color PopUps: a new color PopUp dialog built in to the icon editor avoids
the need to have a separate color palette window. Users no longer need to move back
and forth between the icon editor and the color palette window. The same color pop
up is used in new Visual AgenTalk commands referring to color.
- Value over Time Plots: agents can visualize the change of attributes as
small, inline value over time plots in real time.
- Agent Colorization: to express additional state information agent depictions
can be colorized without having to create new icons.
- Attribute to Color Mapping: in support of data visualization attributes
can be automatically mapped to color values. Users can define color gradients and
attribute sensitivity. Color tones are not limited to 256 colors (can be thousands
or even millions).
- Help Button: Action and Condition command palettes include a Help button.
When pressed a brief description of the command pops up.
- Real Time Control: real time simulation control allows rules to be executed
in time intervals that are hardware speed independent. For instance, a set of rules
could be fired every 4 seconds.
- Button Simulation Control: to allow better control and feedback the Run,
Stop, Step menu has been replaced with a toolbar including Run, Stop, and Step buttons.
- File Creator Type: Agentsheets no longer conflicts with Macintosh Common
Lisp. Agentsheets has it's own creator "AGSH" and no longer "CCL2."
- Automatic Binary File Upgrade: The different versions of binary files
created by the MCL compiler were not compatible and would lead to crashes when attempting
to load old projects. Binary files had to be manually removed by the user. Now Agentsheets
will automatically upgrade binary files by purging old binary files and recompiling
sources.
- Foreground/Background Computation: previously agents in the background,
i.e., covered up with other agents, were limited in their functionality. This asymmetry
has been dropped.
- Improvements and Bug fixes:
- Sound Input: running the simulation will no longer unnecessarily open
a sound input channel which on some Macs caused problems.
- Class Name Type Interactor: the see-a command now only shows classes that
are subclasses of Visual AgenTalk agents.
- ASAP Type Checking: Some Type-Interactors, e.g., the ones representing
numbers, method names, and attribute names now verify their data ASAP to report problems
early on, e.g., "45x88" is not a proper number.
- Synchronous Simulation Control: Stopping the simulation will finish the
currently running simulation cycle.
- Save Netscape Communication: Open-URL first checks if Netscape is running.
If it is not running a dialog offers the user to launch Netscape if possible.
- Command Organization: Condition and action palettes include separators
to organize commands into clusters.
- Menu Spring Cleaning: Some irrelevant menu commands have been removed.
More will go in the next version of Agentsheets.
- New Command: The new command will now create an agent of the proper class
when referring to a non-root gallery depiction.
- Default Directory: when opening files the default directory is more likely
to point to meaningful location.
- Know Problems and Limitations:
- Screen Depth Switch: If the screen depth is not set to 8 bit Agentsheets
will ask to switch depth to 256 colors for you. On some PowerPC Macs this can lead
to a problem in which palettes (actions, conditions, and triggers) and rule editors
cannot be opened. Remedy: quit Agentsheets and launch it again.
- Ristretto:The compiler does not cover some Agentsheets 1.4 commands. Ristretto
will indicate clearly during compilation any such commands and treats them in ways
that will not lead to a crashing Java applet. These ignored commands are:
- Actions: Set-Color-To, Record, Set cannot deal with VAT formulas yet,
Map, Plot Attribute, Lisp (no plans for implementing this command).
- Conditions: Once-Every, Sound-Level (Java does not support microphone
input), Has-Attribute, WWW-Read (Java is limiting access to other Web sites for security
reasons).
Update Procedure:
- Download the new version of the Agentsheets folder
- If you have not created any projects that you would like to save simply
deleted your entire OLD Agentsheets folder.
If you have projects that you like to keep, move them from your old "Projects"
folder (inside the Agentsheets folder) into the "Projects" folder of the
new version of Agentsheets. Then delete the old Agentsheets folder.
1.3 Alpha 4 Updates:
Agentsheets 1.3.0a4, & Agentsheets 1.3.0a4 PPC 10/16/96 now feature fully
compatible versions for 68k and PowerPC Macintoshes integrating Visual AgenTalk as
the programming paradigm into Agentsheets.
Features
- PowerPC native version 1.3.0a4 PPC
- AS-VAT Integration: Visual AgenTalk fully integrated with Agentsheets
(no longer a separate extension)
- Quick Load: Agentsheets load 2-3 times faster
- Smart Dispatch: Agents with no user defined behavior (e.g., agents serving
as backgrounds) will no longer waste CPU cycles
- Easy Installation: MindVision VISE Installer is now used for simplified
Web and network installation of Agentsheets
- Autocompile
- Behavior File Management: Simplified interface to create new agents: creating
new agent in gallery will also create class file (".lisp"), deleting agent
will delete class file source and 68k as well as PPC binary files, deletes copies
of these agents in all open worksheets, and close the behavior editor open for this
agent.
- 68k + PowerPC native compiler: Behaviors will automatically compiled into
native 68k and PPC code respectively. No more dialog is presented asking users to
confirm compilation. Project folders can be freely exchanged between 68k and PowerPC
without the need to manually recompile.
- Behavior Editor Improvements:
- OK button safes, and compiles behavior. Window is closed to reduce screen
clutter.
- COPY button quickly copies conditions, actions or entire rules for efficient
editing of behavior
- size and position are preserved when closed and opened again
- get closed when gallery is closed
- get closed when agent class is deleted
- reopen (when closed via OK button) quickly
- only one behavior editor can be open at a time to avoid inconsistencies
- Condition and Action Palettes Improvements
- size and position are preserved when closed and opened again
- reopen quickly
- get closed when gallery is closed
- Easy to use KEY condition: the new condition to specify keys and key chords
have a more intuitive interface.
Bug Fixes
- various bugs in Visual AgenTalk window control fixed
- behavior editor can finally be scrolled for large number of rules/methods
- running worksheets can be scrolled
1.3 Alpha 3 Updates:
Agentsheets 1.3.0a3 adds a number of features requested by users to Agentsheets
and fixes a number of bugs that are still due to the MCL 2.0 => MCL 3.0 transition.
Visual AgenTalk 0.8a3 is only a maintenance update compatible with Agentsheets 1.3.0a3.
Features
- Depiction Editor: a number of new feature have been added and known bugs
got eliminated
- Transparent ink: The pen tool and the Fill Rectangle tool support transparent
ink
- Miniatures: an additional icon in the original 1:1 size helps you to draw
details
- Rectangle fill tool: a new tool can be used to fill rectangular areas
quickly
- Default Pen tool: the depiction editor comes up with the pen tool already
selected to save you time.
- No more icon frames: creating a new depiction previously created a white
depiction with a black frame. It was tedious to get rid of the frame. Now new depictions
come up without any frame.
- Automatic screen depth switching: If your Mac support 256 color but if
you are using it with more or less colors Agentsheets will switch the screen depth
for you (if you want it to).
- Drag and drop manger check: You are informed when your system does not
include the Macintosh Drag and Drop manager. You can download a copy of the Macintosh
Drag and Drop manager from our distribution pages.
- PPC Sound Meter Level: The sound meter level Visual AgenTalk conditions
now also work on PowerPCs.
- Command key Run, Stop, Step: The worksheet menu got cleaned up. The worksheet
can be Run, Stopped and Stepped with command keys.
- Power/End-User Menus: The menu structure has been cleaned up and most,
but not yet all, Lisp specific menus and menu items have been eliminated.
- Double clickable Worksheets and Galleries. Like in Agentsheets 1.2.3 projects
can be opened quickly by double clicking worksheets and/or galleries.
Bug Fixes
- Out of synch selection when saving: Saving the gallery or switching between
end-user and designer mode could mess up the selection of depictions in the gallery.
- Icon bending: Bending icons no longer breaks the system.
- Large icon pixel fill: The depiction fill tool (paint bucket) no longer
breaks with large and complex fill regions.
- Double buffer bug: Under some circumstances depictions would be drawn
overlapped.
- web pages. On Macs due to a bug in Netscape 3.01 you should use
Microsoft's Explorer (ohh boy).
Coming Up:
The commercial version of Agentsheets created by Agentsheets Inc.
Other Java Applet Sources
Acknowledgments:
Thanks to all the alpha testers for their patience and thanks to Digitool for their support and wonderful product.Many thanks also
to MCL contributors.
Ristretto is a trademark of Agentsheets Inc.
Visitor Number since 5/10/97: 
AS-PPC-Installer-1.4a1.hqx U.S.A.