{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T13:46:43Z","timestamp":1777902403646,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,18]],"date-time":"2017-08-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1503014400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["SIMULATION"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>DesignDEVS is a simulation development environment based on the Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) formalism. This paper provides an in-depth overview of the software while focusing on the practical considerations influencing its design. Practitioners who stand to benefit from systems engineering will approach formalism-based simulation tools with little knowledge of the underlying theory. It is therefore important that theoretical principles, such as the separation of model and simulator, be emphasized by the user interface. Other practical aspects of DesignDEVS include the simplicity of atomic model code, a focus on coupling for collaboration purposes, the enforcement of essential modeling constraints, and a reliance on best practices in cases where strict enforcement might inconvenience users. In DesignDEVS, an issue we refer to as the Insidious Pointer Problem is aggressively tackled through run-time error handling. By contrast, the separation of output values from state transitions is left as a best practice for the sake of user convenience. The design decisions explained in this paper are relevant to developers of other formalism-based tools seeking widespread adoption of scalable modeling and simulation practices.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0037549717718258","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,18]],"date-time":"2017-08-18T07:17:19Z","timestamp":1503040639000},"page":"301-326","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Practical aspects of the DesignDEVS simulation environment"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"94","author":[{"given":"Rhys","family":"Goldstein","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Autodesk Research, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Simon","family":"Breslav","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Autodesk Research, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Azam","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Autodesk Research, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Theory of modeling and simulation: integrating discrete event and continuous complex dynamic systems","author":"Zeigler BP","year":"2000","edition":"2"},{"key":"bibr2-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the symposium on theory of modeling & simulation (TMS\/DEVS)","author":"Goldstein R"},{"key":"bibr3-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1965724.1965739"},{"key":"bibr4-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the annual simulation symposium (ANSS)","author":"Fritzson P"},{"key":"bibr5-0037549717718258","unstructured":"MathWorks. Simulink: dynamic system simulation for MATLAB. 2000."},{"key":"bibr6-0037549717718258","unstructured":"Ptolemaeus C (ed.) System design, modeling, and simulation using Ptolemy II. Ptolemy.org, 2014."},{"key":"bibr7-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/CACSD.2000.900199"},{"key":"bibr8-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.22215\/etd\/2009-09081"},{"key":"bibr9-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jocs.2014.06.001"},{"key":"bibr10-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the symposium on theory of modeling & simulation (TMS\/DEVS)","author":"Van Mierlo S"},{"key":"bibr11-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0037549710368029"},{"key":"bibr12-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the winter simulation conference (WSC)","author":"Zengin A"},{"key":"bibr13-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the international simulation tools and techniques conference (SIMUTools)","author":"Sarjoughian HS"},{"key":"bibr14-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0037549711436267"},{"key":"bibr15-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the international simulation tools and techniques conference (SIMUTools)","author":"Traor\u00e9 MK"},{"key":"bibr16-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.simpat.2008.11.003"},{"key":"bibr17-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Imperial College computing student workshop (ICCSW)","author":"Franceschini R"},{"key":"bibr18-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the winter simulation conference (WSC)","author":"Chow ACH"},{"key":"bibr19-0037549717718258","first-page":"174","volume-title":"Fundamental approaches to software engineering, volume 2306 of Lecture notes in computer science","author":"de Lara J","year":"2002"},{"key":"bibr20-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the simulation and planning in high autonomy systems conference (AIS)","author":"Vangheluwe H"},{"key":"bibr21-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the annual simulation symposium (ANSS)","author":"Himmelspach J"},{"key":"bibr22-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the symposium on theory of modeling & simulation (TMS\/DEVS)","author":"Seo C"},{"key":"bibr23-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Design patterns: elements of reusable object-oriented software","author":"Gamma E","year":"1995"},{"key":"bibr24-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the international building simulation conference","author":"Goldstein R"},{"key":"bibr25-0037549717718258","volume-title":"7th International IBPSA conference","author":"Zimmermann G"},{"key":"bibr26-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/01449298208914450"},{"key":"bibr27-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the design, automation, and Test in Europe conference (DATE)","author":"Madlener F"},{"key":"bibr28-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the international simulation tools and techniques conference (SIMUTools)","author":"Barroca B"},{"key":"bibr29-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Building software for simulation: theory and algorithms with applications in C++","author":"Nutaro JJ","year":"2011"},{"key":"bibr30-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the symposium on theory of modeling & simulation (TMS\/DEVS)","author":"Li X"},{"key":"bibr31-0037549717718258","author":"Nutaro J","year":"2013","journal-title":"Online API"},{"key":"bibr32-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/spe.482"},{"key":"bibr33-0037549717718258","unstructured":"Hwang MH. DEVS++: C++ open source library of DEVS formalism, v.1.4.2 edition, 2009."},{"key":"bibr34-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the symposium on theory of modeling & simulation (TMS\/DEVS)","author":"Goldstein R"},{"key":"bibr35-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Effective C++","author":"Meyers S","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr36-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0037549715598570"},{"key":"bibr37-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MC.1982.1653939"},{"key":"bibr38-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the ACM sigsim conference on principles of advanced discrete simulation (PADS)","author":"Doore K"},{"key":"bibr39-0037549717718258","unstructured":"Varga A. OMNeT++ user manual (version 4.6), 2014."},{"key":"bibr40-0037549717718258","author":"nsnam.org","year":"2014","journal-title":"Online API"},{"key":"bibr41-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the symposium on theory of modeling & simulation (TMS\/DEVS)","author":"Goldstein R"},{"key":"bibr42-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the international conference on simulation tools and techniques (SIMUTools)","author":"Vicino D"},{"key":"bibr43-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/103162.103163"},{"key":"bibr44-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the winter simulation conference (WSC)","author":"Hitz M"},{"key":"bibr45-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the symposium on simulation for architecture and urban design (SimAUD)","author":"Breslav S"},{"key":"bibr46-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MCSE.2007.55"},{"key":"bibr47-0037549717718258","volume-title":"Proceedings of the IBPSA-Canada esim conference","author":"Goldstein R"},{"key":"bibr48-0037549717718258","unstructured":"Autodesk Inc. Maya. Computer graphics software, https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/maya\/overview (accessed 13 July 2017)."},{"key":"bibr49-0037549717718258","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/19401493.2013.866695"}],"container-title":["SIMULATION"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0037549717718258","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0037549717718258","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0037549717718258","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T11:28:27Z","timestamp":1777634907000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0037549717718258"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,18]]},"references-count":49,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,4]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0037549717718258"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0037549717718258","relation":{},"ISSN":["0037-5497","1741-3133"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0037-5497","type":"print"},{"value":"1741-3133","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,18]]}}}