Discrete event simulation on the world wide web using Java

Abstract

This paper introduces Simkit, a small set of Java classes for creating discrete event simulation models. Simkit may be used to either implement stand-alone models or Web page applets. Exploiting network capabilities of Java, the lingua franca of the World Wide Web (WWW), Simkit models can easily be implemented as applets and executed in a Web browser. Java's graphical capabilities enable the rapid development of intuitive user interfaces. Java's use of interpreted bytecodes, while imposing a performance penalty, enable development of platform-independent models. The language's inherent internet-awareness made other possibilities, such as distributed simulation, much easier to implement.