PyNetLogo: Linking NetLogo with Python

Methods for testing and analyzing agent-based models have drawn increasing attention in the literature, in the context of efforts to establish standard frameworks for the development and documentation of models. This process can benefit from the use of established software environments for data analysis and visualization. For instance, the popular NetLogo agent-based modelling software can be interfaced with Mathematica and R, letting modellers use the advanced analysis capabilities available in these programming languages. To extend these capabilities to an additional user base, this paper presents the pyNetLogo connector, which allows NetLogo to be controlled from the Python general-purpose programming language. Given Python’s increasing popularity for scientific computing, this provides additional flexibility for modellers and analysts. PyNetLogo’s features are demonstrated by controlling one of NetLogo’s example models from an interactive Python environment, then performing a global sensitivity analysis with parallel processing.