• NetLogo is a tool used to implement ABMs.  It comes equipped with built-in models, tutorials, and a user manual, all of which help us explore the possibilities of the software.  Knowing how to navigate the NetLogo interface is extremely important, and you can use its built-in models and guides to help with that.

2.2 A Quick Tour of NetLogo

• Using the wolf-sheep population model, it is easy to see how the different parameters are set up and manipulated in a model, and what the outcomes are when they are changed.
• The animated output of the models is created by code, and there are examples of how to write it in NetLogo.
• There are four types of agent in NetLogo: mobile agents (or turtles), patches, links, and the observer.  The variables and commands for each are stored in the User Manual.
• Primitives are extremely important; they are built-in commands that tell agents what to do.  They can be commands and reporters.
• Code is "in context"; each piece of code can only be executed by a specified type (or types) of agent.

2.3 A Demonstration Program: Mushroom Hunt

• Programs start with setup and go: setup initializes the world, and go runs the actions to be performed in the model.
• Using the syntax checker often helps to write code quickly
• The ask primitive is the most important and powerful primitive in NetLogo: it makes selected agents perform a block of actions.
• You almost always have to use the clear-all command at the beginning of the setup procedure to make sure everything initializes correctly.
• Instead of "hardwriting" important variables, make them parameters that can be changed
• To keep the go procedure easy to understand, it is short and simple, only calling other procedures from different parts of the code
• Agent Monitors are tools to see and change the variables of an agent.
• From the Command Center, you can send commands to the observer or to all patches, turtles, or links.
• The tick primitive keeps track of how many times our go statement runs.

2.4 Summary and Conclusions

• Learning the basics is important, but you have to keep using the User Manual all the time to work successfully with NetLogo.
• Working with other people is super helpful, for beginners and experienced programmers and scientists.

For me, the biggest struggle will be what the end of this chapter talked about - not thinking that code in NetLogo should be the same as code in Python.  The differences in style are already driving me crazy.