Java, Enterprise Simulation and the Silk Simulation Language

The Enterprise Simulation Server is proposed as an ideal platform which leverages the power of the Internet for the development, execution and distribution of simulation models throughout the enterprise. The development of Javabased simulation languages is a necessary step toward the realization of this vision. The design of the new Java-based Silk simulation is described and promoted as the methodology which must be implemented to allow full object-oriented, component-based modeling to emerge. Silk merges familiar process-oriented modeling structures with powerful object-oriented language features in an intelligent design that will encourage model simplicity and reusability. An important aspect of this design is the use of Java's built-in support for multithreaded execution which is employed as a means to coordinate the concurrent entity flows in process-oriented simulations. We also demonstrate how the use of JavaBeans supports graphical assembly of Silk modeling components in software environments such as Symantec's Visual Café, IBM's VisualAge, and Microsoft's J++.