emergent/swarm/evolutionary systems etc

[Cameron Laird]

In article <c4k63o$bss$1 at hercules.btinternet.com>,
Peter MacKenzie <peter9547 at btinternet.com> wrote:
>Spreadsheets do seem to be an attractive option, but the benefits are not
>without their detractors:
>
>+Easy to work with
>+Require no/limited skill acquisition
>+Flexible
>
>-Cells can only hold single items of data (which can be worked around by
>using arrays of cells to hold multiple attributes for each location)
>-Require no/limited skill acquisition (being familiar and honest with my own
>psychological composition, I know that the only way I'm likely to develop a
>fair degree of programming competence is if there's a driving pressure to do
>so.  It's something I'd like to learn, and this gives me the excuse/leverage
>to do so.)
>
>Unknowns:  Time series graphical output would be necessary, even if it's
>very primitive.  Do you know if the spreadsheet could be set up in such a
>way that cells would change colour depending on their values, or if the
>graph making facilities would be able to create reasonable representations
>of said values so that a series of graphs would be capable of showing up
>phenomena with fluidic (wavelike, turbulent, etc) characteristics?
>
>I'm afraid the temptation to take the hard route my prove too great
>(psychological paradoxes: I always feel good about feeling so terrible about
>these things after I've passed the point of no return in the undertaking,
>and the enormity of the task at hand sinks in - it's a whole adrenalin
>thing), but I'd still like to make a comprehensive assessment of my options
>before I commit to anything.
>
>

Spreadsheets can do anything.  Python can do anything.

To first approximation, at least.  They both have developed
enough to have far more capabilities than you'll exhaust in
a couple of months.

The key questions are:  which better suit your psychology?
Which will get in the way less?  Which support "libraries"
of related material in your "domain" (geography)?

You're not experienced enough with software yet to judge
the first of these questions well.  Whatever first impres-
sions Python or Excel make on you are likely to dwindle to
insignicance after a few more weeks of software exploration.

One of the dimensions your comparison of the two approaches
doesn't cover is robustness of expression and abstraction. 
You aren't in a position to appreciate this yet, but Python
beats spreadsheets all to pieces in these regards.  Crudely,
you can hand a Python solution to someone else, two years
from now, and he'll understand what you've done, and how to
modify or validate or ... it.  I argue strongly that that is
*not* true for spreadsheet solutions.  I therefore regard
spreadsheet approaches, except in specialized circumstances,
as anti-scientific, because they don't promote the free
exchange of ideas.

There's a rich literature on simulation done with computers,
some of it specifically by those coming from geography.  It
would be no particular problem to dissipate the entire two
months just reading up on what you plan to do.  You need to
figure out a very circumscribed goal, and ask experts on what
you should do to achieve it.

Reading through *Thinking ... with Python* certainly can be
part of that path.
-- 

Cameron Laird <claird at phaseit.net>
Business:  http://www.Phaseit.net