DESMO-J in a Nutshell

What Is DESMO-J?

DESMO-J is an object-oriented framework targeted at programmers developing simulation models. The acronym "DESMO-J" stands for "Discrete-Event Simulation and MOdelling in Java". This longer name highlights DESMO-J's two significant properties:

• DESMO-J supports the discrete-event simulation paradigm. In models of this type, all system state changes are supposed to happen at discrete points in time. Between such events the system state is assumed to remain constant. Discrete-event simulation is therefore particularly suitable for systems in which relevant changes of state occur suddenly and irregularly, like queueing networks for example.
• DESMO-J is implemented in Java. Using this framework to build simulation models ultimately results in writing a Java program.

Thus, you need to understand both the basic concepts of discrete-event simulation and programming in Java in order to apply DESMO-J. Please refer to the Prerequisites section of this tutorial if you need assistance on how to obtain knowledge of these topics.

DESMO-J is based on a number of earlier DESMO systems, all developed at the University of Hamburg in the context of students' projects. The original DESMO, written 1989 in the programming language Modula-2, was derived from DEMOS, a package for discrete-event simulation in Simula developed by Graham Birtwistle in 1979. For a more in-depth account of DESMO-J's history you may refer to the DESMO-J web site. Since 1999, when the core DESMO-J framework was completed, it has been extended in various aspects, e.g. to provide special components for the simulation of production systems or harbour logistics.