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The final model will be used to represent a library checking in/out system at a library. The basic assumptions will be that there are a number of library users that wish to return (check in) a number of books or they may wish to take out (check out) a number of books. A number of library employees will be available to serve the library users and deal with checking in/out of their books. One employee will deal with one user at a time. There maybe any number of employees working at the same time, each serving a user. The library keeps a store of the current state, what books are in stock and which are taken out. The users, employees will have unique identification and information about the books will be stored in the data store as well as methods for changing the state of the data.
The model will be specified using LSD notation. Agentification of the library user, employees and data store will first be looked at. The Abstract Definitive Machine (ADM) will then be used to convert the LSD into code that can be executed and animated. The ADM code can then converted into EDEN code that be run using the Warwick EDEN interpreter. The Donald [7] notation will be used to construct a 2D model and the Scout [8] notation will define the layout.
A project created Neil Turner [9] which simulates a five-a-side football game will be used to help development. This has similar problems in animating agents and used the LSD/ADM notation to create his model. This will deal with the users/employees being animated. Modelling concurrent access using LSD and ADM to a centralized data store has not yet been implemented in a previous project specifically for concurrent analysis. LSD together with ADM can specify behavior concerning how a resource is accessed so should have sufficient expressive power. The design of the ADM by Mike Slade [3] and a research report [10] looking into a database from an agent perspective will be used for help in constructing the data access components.
The aim is to have an animated representation of users queuing who are then served by an employee. Concurrent access of the data store maybe performed when a number of employees access it. A user will have their books taken if they are checked in or they leave with them if they are checked out, depending on what they wish to do.