JAPROSIM: A Java framework for Process Interaction Discrete Event Simulation.

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss various aspects of the design, implementation, and use of JAPROSIM which is a general purpose discrete event simulation framework based on the Java programming language. JAPROSIM is an open source project developed for both academic and industrial purposes. It also merges processinteraction modeling structures with powerful java features in an intelligent way that encourages model simplicity, reusability and automatic statistics collection. Further motivations and aims are discussed. Java multithreading is a powerful built-in mechanism used to coordinate different entities in a coroutine-like mode. The main body of the paper is devoted for explaining the design of the framework in the context of Object Oriented Simulation. Finally, a summary of the proposed framework together with suggestions for improvements are given. JAPROSIM: A JAVA FRAMEWORK FOR DISCRETE EVENT SIMULATION 104 J OURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY V OL. 7, NO. 1 long-term model development and maintenance because this programming skill is outside of the mainstream of information systems training in academia and within the enterprise. Some simulation languages allow for certain programming-like expressions or statements, which are inherently limited. Others allow the insertion of procedural routines written in other general-purpose programming languages. Even when that is possible, the task of the user is complicated. It has to learn and master a new language. It must also deal with creation, insertion and update of statistical variables which is a source of several errors. Object Oriented Modelling (OOM) is an excellent approach that deals with large and complex systems through abstraction, modularity, encapsulation, layering and reuse. OOM was born with SIMULA, the first object-oriented programming language. It introduced the object-oriented programming paradigm. Conceptual model is obtained by decomposing a real system in a set of objects in interaction. Each object represents a real world entity that encapsulates state and behaviour. A class is a template for creating objects that share common related characteristics. Guidelines are, in particular, identification of object classes that make up a system with their interfaces and implementations. Model conceptualization is one of the early steps in a simulation study for which OOM is suitable. Hence Object Oriented Simulation (OOS) benefits from all the powerful features of the OOM. It is, in addition, based on entities, events and simulation time that make the main differences, see [Joines & Roberts 98]. The use of the Unified Modelling Language (UML) in OOS seems to be even more appropriate since its version 2.0 offers significant improvements in dynamic behaviour modelling, which is a key aspect in any discrete event simulation, see [Page & Kreutzer 05]. The generation of executable code from static and dynamic UML models provides an important means for narrowing the gap between conceptual and computer models in simulation. Some research projects have already focused on a...

A review of the use and utility of industrial network-based open source simulators: functionality, security, and policy viewpoints

“…Many of the discarded open source project simulators seemed inactive for either of a number of reasons: not having significant usage in the simulation community; lacking active community activities or forums; not receiving updates in the past 2 years; and lacking any clear information from developers about the active status of the project, especially related to still being under development. For example, JARPROSIM 34,35 did not seem to have wide usage, and had its most recent version update in 2014. A check on the log of its code commit history yielded null results.…”

A review of open source discrete event simulation software for operations research

“…JAPROSIM is also a recent project that has yielded Journal publications (Abdelhabib and Brahim, 2008;Belattar and Bourouis, 2014). It is developed and maintained by research institutes in Algeria.…”

Practical Benefits of Aspect-Oriented Programming Paradigm in Discrete Event Simulation

“…The Proposed AOP Solutions. The main crosscutting concerns, discussed in the precedent section, are identified and separated in Japrosim using AJDT tool [36]. The aspectoriented (AO) version of Japrosim is enhanced with the uoeb.Japrosim.crosscutting.concerns package which consists of eight aspects: SingletonConcern, Animation, Exception-Handling, GraphicalUserInterface, SimulationTrace, Steady-StateDetection, Synchronization, and CalculationAccuracy.…”

“…At the end of its life cycle, a simulation process calls automatically the dispose() method to reactivate the scheduler without blocking itself. So the corresponding thread could be terminated [36]. The elements that ensure the coroutine mechanism are the processResume (Entity e), mainResume(), and dispose() methods in addition to the mainLock and lock objects.…”