CellScript: A DSML for Cell-DEVS Modelling and Simulation

Abstract

: Cell-DEVS combines the spatial grid of cellular automata with the discrete-event timing of DEVS and is well-suited for modeling systems that evolve over both space and time. However, existing tools either require low-level C ++ or Python programming or lack compile-time validation and modern IDE support, which limits adoption outside specialist communities. We present CellScript , a domain-specific modeling language for Cell-DEVS implemented with the Xtext language workbench. CellScript provides a declarative, rule-based syntax aligned with Cell-DEVS concepts, an Eclipse-based IDE with code completion and static validation, and a model-to-text code generator targeting PythonPDEVS. We accompany the language with a four-step modeling methodology that guides users from spatial structure definition to executable simulation. Evaluation on four scenarios from the literature shows a consistent 10 × reduction in the code a modeler must write, relative to the executable PythonPDEVS code that CellScript generates automatically, with code generation time remaining constant regardless of grid size.