jACT-R Beta Release. (Java ACT-R)

[Anthony Harrison]

Unsolicited announcement starts now..

At long last I have a beta version of the Java implementation of
ACT-R 5.0 ready to run.

jACT-R and all its related files and documents can be snagged from
http://jactr.sourceforge.net/


For those that are interested, it includes (in no particular
order):
   - Full GUI control for everything
   - Scriptability via javascript
   - Automated bug reporting (it will email me if something goes
     wrong)
   - Fully specified plug-in architecture
   - Full serialization to XML
   - 5.0 compliant for those portions tested so far
      (Base level equations, production parameters,
       associative links [ala 4.0], spreading of activation)

For those that aren't interested, here's why you might want to
be:
   - Java
     - More prolific than Lisp
     - Easier to integrate with existing technologies
     - Con: still about 80% of the Lisp implementation's speed
       but that's more my fault than Java's.
     - Run anywhere (-ish)
   - Object-oriented structure makes experimenting with the
     architecture much easier. Want a different retrieval
     latency equation? A few lines of code, a compile, and
     a change of a string in the model's XML file is all you
     need (for an example see: src/actr/chunktype/five/Competitive
     RetrievalTimeEquation.java)
   - Tools are equally quickly written and interfaced with the
     architecture (see my dirty CPM-GOMS tracer : src/actr/ide/tools/
     cpm/CPMTrace.java)
   - GUI's pretty cool (if somewhat flaky right now)

Caveats:
   - It's beta and behaves as such.
   - Sorry, no PM yet. I know I said it would be ready, but as I'm
     sure Mike would agree, the visual interface is a tough little
     cookie to get right. [although for the truly hard-core, the
     manual interface is released with this code]
   - No production compilation yet.
   - Associative links - they were implemented ala 4.0 and still have
     not been updated to reflect the most recent discussions about it.
   - Retrieval latencies default to the 4.0 (not Competitive) - but
     this can be easily modified in the GUI.
   - No documentation (yet)



You have two options for running it:

   For the lazy : WebStart (http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/index.
html)
                  will allow you to just click on the application in your
                  browser. It will download and run it for you. The
                  benefit of this route is that you will always have access
                  to the most recent version (WebStart caches the program
                  so you can run it offline)
   For the crazy: Download the source tarball and compile and run yourself!
                  (Yes, the process is documented 
(doc/htdocs/downloads/jactr.pdf))



Requirements:
   Macintosh:
     - OS X (10.1.3 recommened since the JVM is much faster)
     - WebStart (installed by default)
     To Compile:
     - OS X has everything you need.

   Windows:
     - JRE 1.2 (or greater)
     Optional
     - WebStart (will install JRE 1.2 for you)
       http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/index.html
     To Compile:
     - JDK/J2SE 1.2 (or greater)


=================================================
    Anthony M. Harrison
    Research Assistant
    Learning Research & Development Center
    University of Pittsburgh

    anh23 at pitt.edu
    http://simon.lrdc.pitt.edu/~harrison/
    Voice: (412) 648-1109
    Fax:   (412) 624-7439

    LRDC, Rm 711
    3939 O'Hara St.
    Pittsburgh, PA 15260
=================================================