A Task Networking and Visual Programming Language for Jack

Abstract : This report includes how VisualJack was designed as a graphical user interface (GUI) to Lisp PaT-Nets (Parallel Transition Networks). The VisualJack conception was that a user could use the GUI to construct PaT-Nets interactively, see the relationships among the various parts of a PaT-Net program, and thus speed the task of PaT-Net definition. Essentially finite automata, Parallel Transition Networks execute in parallel in the Jack environment.x (See the Appendix for a guide to LISP PaT-Nets). Together with the Jack LISP API, they form an intuitive interface to controlling simulation and behavior of processes and agents in Jack.