Beta Swarm User Survey

[glen e. p. ropella]

Swarm Users,
Here is the user survey for the Beta version of Swarm.  The intent
is that responses to this survey will help us to prioritize development
of the Swarm package *and* start the structure for a long-lasting
user community.  Please respond to any of the questions you have an
opinion on and don't feel like you have to answer every question.
We tried to ask all the important questions; but, if there's something
we left out, please add it at the end.

Also, we've set up a special address here at SFI to receive these
responses.  Please send them to 

    address@hidden

NOT to address@hidden  Otherwise, the swarm-support
list might get too cluttered.  We will post a summary of all
the responses after they stop coming in.  

Thanks.
glen (on behalf of the hive)

---------------------------cut here---------------------------------
                          Swarm Users Survey
              (Please reply to address@hidden)

   I. Versions:

      A. Which platform are you using? (OS and hardware)

      B. What are the stats of the machines you use? (RAM, CPU speed)
 
      C. Which version(s) of swarm have you worked with?

  II. Installation:
                
      A. How did the installation process go? 

      B. How long did it take to install?

      C. What did you have to do to get swarm to run?  (List changes to the
         environment, tools, Swarm, support software, etc.)

      D. If you have built Swarm more than once, how did the later installs
         differ from the first install?
 
 III. Supplied Applications: (heatbugs, mousetrap, market, etc.)

      A. Have the applications worked? What problems have you encountered
         with them?

      B. Are the applications and their documentation clear? Do the code and
         comments make sense?

      C. Was it clear what the applications were trying to illustrate?

      D. Do the applications show the generality and applicability of the
         Swarm kernel or do the details of each app obscure it?

  IV. Your own applications:

      A. have you started to build your own applications yet? (If no, skip
         to question IV-B.)

         1) If yes, please give a brief description of what you're modelling
            and how.

         2) Are they significantly different from any of the supplied
            applications?

         3) Are you re-implementing a model already running in another
            system?  (either off-the-shelf or specialty code)

            And if so, how does using Swarm compare to using the other
            system?  (implementation, cost, understandability, ease of use,
            etc.)  [Also see question V-G.]

         4) Are there any abstracted or generalized principles you've
            developed for implementing your model(s) in Swarm or other
            systems that are either enhanced or impeded by the way Swarm is
            designed?  If so, please comment.

         5) Do you think Swarm can or will make it easier to communicate and
            compare your model and your results to others in your field?

      B. What problems have you had in building your own apps?

   V. Swarm itself:

      A. Does Swarm itself make sense to you? If not, what do you find
         confusing or even wrong-headed? What do you consider good, useful,
         or promising?

      B. Do you like they coding style and layout of the Swarm (or the app)
         source code?

      C. Given that the documentation is admittedly sparse, what
         documentation do you consider most helpful now, and what would be
         the most critical kind of documentation to have in the near future?
         (for v1.0)

      D. Given that the libraries are still fairly incomplete or even
         nonexistent, what feature(s) do you consider of highest priority to
         be added (or improved) in the near future? (e.g. 3D space, graph
         lib, etc.)

      E. What support tools would you most like to see added soon?  (e.g.
         editors, browsers, visualization, debugging, etc.)

      F. What types of systems would you like to see interfaced to swarm?
         (e.g. GIS, Khoros, Symbolic math and Statistics packages, etc)

      G. What other simulation packages or frameworks have you used and
         how do they differ from Swarm? [Also see question IV-A3.]

  VI. User Community and Maintenance

      A. How many people at your site are using Swarm?

      B. Do you know anybody who tried to use swarm but quit or would like
         to use Swarm but can't for some reason?

      C. We are planning a User Meeting sometime in February '97 where users
         will be able demonstrate their models and compare notes with other
         users.  Are there any other ways that you think would help foster
         communication between the various users of Swarm?

      D. Up to this point, the Swarm Project has tried to develop a
         "grass-roots" or bottom-up approach to the development of Swarm in
         order to encourage a user-driven growth pattern.  How do you think
         the user/developer relationship should be handled in the future?

      E. How is the swarm-support mailing list?  Is it meeting the users'
         needs?  Should it be split into an "installation/maintenance" list
         and a "model/design" list?

      F. How should user contributions of library and tool objects be
         handled?  Should a type of "peer review" and validation be
         implemented via, for example, submissions to swarm-support?

      G. The Swarm libraries are distributed under the Library GNU Public
         License
         (ref http://www.santafe.edu/projects/swarm/release/LICENSE-libs).

         The applications are distributed under the GNU Public License
         (ref http://www.santafe.edu/projects/swarm/release/LICENSE-apps),
         with the exception of template, which you are free to copy in any
         way.

         Is it acceptable to place all user contributions of libraries and 
         tools under the terms of the LGPL?

      G. What do you think of the way Swarm is distributed and released? Do
         you have any suggestions on how it should be distributed in the
         future?

 VII. Web Site

      A. Do you have any suggestions on how the web pages should look?

      B. We are planning to have a spot on our web pages that will cross-
         reference as many users of Swarm as possible.

         1) Would you mind if we published your introduction as posted (or
            to be posted) to the swarm-support mailing list on our web page?

         2) Do you have descriptions of your models and references already
            on the web that we could link to?

         3) If you have papers or models would you mind if we included them
            on our web pages?

 VII. On a scale of 1-10, list your frustration index: 
      (0 = not at all frustrated, 10 = threw it out the window and don't
      intend to ever talk to you folks again....)

VIII. Please make any additional comments or suggestions,



(Please reply to address@hidden)