Ecology C++ Code
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Question
New to C++ and stuck on how to start coding this problem which is an Ecology question at first to start a cell with plants antelopes and tigers. Based on initial population, birth rates, food supply, dying off and migration into other cells (once 1 cell is discovered then can expand more). Did some tests on paper to see that plants are going to need a Cap because plants multiply more than antelopes can eat them. I dont really know how to start this if anyone can give me a starting point then that will be grateful.
Thank you.
Answer
I sounds like you're trying to build an individual, agent-based, or microscale model: this being subsets of the more general topic of discrete event simulation. Looking into those topics and reading some of the literature and books around them would be a good start.
One way to get started conceptually might be to play with SimPy. Once you think you understand how its pieces fit together and how to build a model, you'll be in a better position to move to a higher-performance language, like C++, where you'll need to build more of the components yourself.
You should also learn how to program. Having to ask a question as general as you are at the beginning of this endeavour should give you pause: people have devoted careers figuring out how to do this the right way. That said: C++ is a decent choice of language because you'll need to run your model not just once, but tens of thousands of times, in order to get an idea of how variable your results are. Remembering that the number of interactions between variables grows exponentially in the number of variables, you'll also want to explore different combinations of environments with an eye to testing the strength of your assumptions.
All of this will also probably require the use of a high-performance environment: you'll want to learn about MPI, R's HPC packages, jug, or Spark: each of which would have to be tamed to work with your implementation of the model.
This paper I recently published has a relatively simple agent-based model, along with an analysis and source code, which might help you get started. It may also help you understand the enormity of the undertaking you propose.
