Support discrete event scheduling (#2066)

# Summary
This PR adds an experiment feature that puts event scheduling at the heart of how MESA works. An earlier draft of this code was shown and discussed in #2032. This code generalizes #1890 by making discrete event scheduling central to how mesa models are run. This makes it trivial to maintain discrete time progression while allowing for event scheduling, thus making it possible to build hybrid ABM-DEVS models. 

# Motive
Agent-based models can be quite slow because, typically, they involve the activation of all agents at each tick. However, this can become very expensive if it can be known upfront that the agent is not active. Combining ABM tick-based activation with event scheduling makes it easy to avoid activating dormant agents. 

For example, in Epstein's civil violence model, agents who are in jail need not be activated until they are released from jail. This release from jail can be scheduled as an event, thus avoiding unnecessary agent activations. Likewise, in Wolf-Sheep with grass, the regrowth of grass patches can be scheduled instead of activating all patches for each tick only to decrement a counter. 

# Implementation
The experimental feature adds three core new classes: Simulator, EventList, and SimulationEvent. 

The simulator is analogous to a numerical solver for ODEs. Theoretically, the idea of a Simulator is rooted in the work of [Zeigler](https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780128133705/theory-of-modeling-and-simulation), The Simulator is responsible for controlling and advancing time. The EventList is a heapq sorted list of SimulationEvents. SimulationEvents are sorted based on their time of execution, their priority, and their unique_id. A SimulationEvent is, in essence, a callable that is to be executed at a particular simulation time instant. 

This PR adds two specific simulators: ABMSimulator and DEVSSimulator. ABMSimulator uses integers as the base unit of time and automatically ensures that `model.step` is scheduled for each tick. DEVSSimulator uses float as the base unit of time. It allows for full discrete event scheduling. 

Using these new classes requires a minor modification to a Model instance. It needs a simulator attribute to be able to schedule events. 

# Usage
The basic usage is straightforward as shown below. We instantiate an ABMSimulator, instantiate the model, and call `simulator.setup`. Next, we can run the model for, e.g., 100 time steps). 

```python
    simulator = ABMSimulator()
    
    model = WolfSheep(simulator,25, 25, 60, 40, 0.2, 0.1, 20, seed=15,)

    simulator.setup(model)
    simulator.run(100)
    print(model.time)  # prints 100
    simulator.run(50)  
    print(model.time)  # prints 150
```

The simulator comes with a whole range of methods for scheduling events: `schedule_event_now`, `schedule_event_relative`, `schedule_event_absolute`, and the ABMSimulator also has a `schedule_event_next_tick`. See `experimental/devs/examples/*.*` for more details on how to use these methods.

Author: quaquel

benchmarks/Flocking/flocking.py

@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ def __init__(
         cohere=0.03,
         separate=0.015,
         match=0.05,
+        simulator=None,
     ):
         """
         Create a new Flockers model.
@@ -118,18 +119,18 @@ def __init__(
         """
         super().__init__(seed=seed)
         self.population = population
-        self.vision = vision
-        self.speed = speed
-        self.separation = separation
+        self.width = width
+        self.height = height
+        self.simulator = simulator
+
         self.schedule = mesa.time.RandomActivation(self)
-        self.space = mesa.space.ContinuousSpace(width, height, True)
-        self.factors = {"cohere": cohere, "separate": separate, "match": match}
-        self.make_agents()
+        self.space = mesa.space.ContinuousSpace(self.width, self.height, True)
+        self.factors = {
+            "cohere": cohere,
+            "separate": separate,
+            "match": match,
+        }
 
-    def make_agents(self):
-        """
-        Create self.population agents, with random positions and starting directions.
-        """
         for i in range(self.population):
             x = self.random.random() * self.space.x_max
             y = self.random.random() * self.space.y_max
@@ -138,10 +139,11 @@ def make_agents(self):
             boid = Boid(
                 unique_id=i,
                 model=self,
-                speed=self.speed,
+                pos=pos,
+                speed=speed,
                 direction=direction,
-                vision=self.vision,
-                separation=self.separation,
+                vision=vision,
+                separation=separation,
                 **self.factors,
             )
             self.space.place_agent(boid, pos)

benchmarks/Schelling/schelling.py

@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ def __init__(
         density=0.8,
         minority_pc=0.5,
         seed=None,
+        simulator=None,
     ):
         """
         Create a new Schelling model.
@@ -62,10 +63,8 @@ def __init__(
             seed: Seed for Reproducibility
         """
         super().__init__(seed=seed)
-        self.height = height
-        self.width = width
-        self.density = density
         self.minority_pc = minority_pc
+        self.simulator = simulator
 
         self.schedule = RandomActivation(self)
         self.grid = OrthogonalMooreGrid(
@@ -75,14 +74,12 @@ def __init__(
             random=self.random,
         )
 
-        self.happy = 0
-
         # Set up agents
         # We use a grid iterator that returns
         # the coordinates of a cell as well as
         # its contents. (coord_iter)
         for cell in self.grid:
-            if self.random.random() < self.density:
+            if self.random.random() < density:
                 agent_type = 1 if self.random.random() < self.minority_pc else 0
                 agent = SchellingAgent(
                     self.next_id(), self, agent_type, radius, homophily

benchmarks/WolfSheep/wolf_sheep.py

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 from mesa import Model
 from mesa.experimental.cell_space import CellAgent, OrthogonalVonNeumannGrid
-from mesa.time import RandomActivationByType
+from mesa.experimental.devs import ABMSimulator
 
 
 class Animal(CellAgent):
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ def spawn_offspring(self):
             self.energy_from_food,
         )
         offspring.move_to(self.cell)
-        self.model.schedule.add(offspring)
 
     def feed(self): ...
 
@@ -93,26 +92,41 @@ class GrassPatch(CellAgent):
     A patch of grass that grows at a fixed rate and it is eaten by sheep
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, unique_id, model, fully_grown, countdown):
+    @property
+    def fully_grown(self):
+        return self._fully_grown
+
+    @fully_grown.setter
+    def fully_grown(self, value: bool) -> None:
+        self._fully_grown = value
+
+        if not value:
+            self.model.simulator.schedule_event_relative(
+                setattr,
+                self.grass_regrowth_time,
+                function_args=[self, "fully_grown", True],
+            )
+
+    def __init__(self, unique_id, model, fully_grown, countdown, grass_regrowth_time):
         """
+        TODO:: fully grown can just be an int --> so one less param (i.e. countdown)
+
         Creates a new patch of grass
 
         Args:
             fully_grown: (boolean) Whether the patch of grass is fully grown or not
             countdown: Time for the patch of grass to be fully grown again
+            grass_regrowth_time : time to fully regrow grass
+            countdown : Time for the patch of grass to be fully regrown if fully grown is False
         """
         super().__init__(unique_id, model)
-        self.fully_grown = fully_grown
-        self.countdown = countdown
+        self._fully_grown = fully_grown
+        self.grass_regrowth_time = grass_regrowth_time
 
-    def step(self):
         if not self.fully_grown:
-            if self.countdown <= 0:
-                # Set as fully grown
-                self.fully_grown = True
-                self.countdown = self.model.grass_regrowth_time
-            else:
-                self.countdown -= 1
+            self.model.simulator.schedule_event_relative(
+                setattr, countdown, function_args=[self, "fully_grown", True]
+            )
 
 
 class WolfSheep(Model):
@@ -124,6 +138,7 @@ class WolfSheep(Model):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
+        simulator,
         height,
         width,
         initial_sheep,
@@ -139,27 +154,26 @@ def __init__(
         Create a new Wolf-Sheep model with the given parameters.
 
         Args:
+            simulator: ABMSimulator instance
             initial_sheep: Number of sheep to start with
             initial_wolves: Number of wolves to start with
             sheep_reproduce: Probability of each sheep reproducing each step
             wolf_reproduce: Probability of each wolf reproducing each step
             wolf_gain_from_food: Energy a wolf gains from eating a sheep
-            grass: Whether to have the sheep eat grass for energy
             grass_regrowth_time: How long it takes for a grass patch to regrow
                                  once it is eaten
             sheep_gain_from_food: Energy sheep gain from grass, if enabled.
-            moore:
-            seed
+            seed : the random seed
         """
         super().__init__(seed=seed)
         # Set parameters
         self.height = height
         self.width = width
+        self.simulator = simulator
+
         self.initial_sheep = initial_sheep
         self.initial_wolves = initial_wolves
-        self.grass_regrowth_time = grass_regrowth_time
 
-        self.schedule = RandomActivationByType(self)
         self.grid = OrthogonalVonNeumannGrid(
             [self.height, self.width],
             torus=False,
@@ -175,10 +189,13 @@ def __init__(
             )
             energy = self.random.randrange(2 * sheep_gain_from_food)
             sheep = Sheep(
-                self.next_id(), self, energy, sheep_reproduce, sheep_gain_from_food
+                self.next_id(),
+                self,
+                energy,
+                sheep_reproduce,
+                sheep_gain_from_food,
             )
             sheep.move_to(self.grid[pos])
-            self.schedule.add(sheep)
 
         # Create wolves
         for _ in range(self.initial_wolves):
@@ -188,33 +205,50 @@ def __init__(
             )
             energy = self.random.randrange(2 * wolf_gain_from_food)
             wolf = Wolf(
-                self.next_id(), self, energy, wolf_reproduce, wolf_gain_from_food
+                self.next_id(),
+                self,
+                energy,
+                wolf_reproduce,
+                wolf_gain_from_food,
             )
             wolf.move_to(self.grid[pos])
-            self.schedule.add(wolf)
 
         # Create grass patches
         possibly_fully_grown = [True, False]
         for cell in self.grid:
             fully_grown = self.random.choice(possibly_fully_grown)
             if fully_grown:
-                countdown = self.grass_regrowth_time
+                countdown = grass_regrowth_time
             else:
-                countdown = self.random.randrange(self.grass_regrowth_time)
-            patch = GrassPatch(self.next_id(), self, fully_grown, countdown)
+                countdown = self.random.randrange(grass_regrowth_time)
+            patch = GrassPatch(
+                self.next_id(), self, fully_grown, countdown, grass_regrowth_time
+            )
             patch.move_to(cell)
-            self.schedule.add(patch)
 
     def step(self):
-        self.schedule.step()
+        self.get_agents_of_type(Sheep).shuffle(inplace=True).do("step")
+        self.get_agents_of_type(Wolf).shuffle(inplace=True).do("step")
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import time
 
-    model = WolfSheep(25, 25, 60, 40, 0.2, 0.1, 20, seed=15)
+    simulator = ABMSimulator()
+    model = WolfSheep(
+        simulator,
+        25,
+        25,
+        60,
+        40,
+        0.2,
+        0.1,
+        20,
+        seed=15,
+    )
+
+    simulator.setup(model)
 
     start_time = time.perf_counter()
-    for _ in range(100):
-        model.step()
+    simulator.run(100)
     print("Time:", time.perf_counter() - start_time)

benchmarks/global_benchmark.py

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 
 from configurations import configurations
 
+from mesa.experimental.devs.simulator import ABMSimulator
+
 # making sure we use this version of mesa and not one
 # also installed in site_packages or so.
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath(".."))
@@ -15,13 +17,16 @@
 # Generic function to initialize and run a model
 def run_model(model_class, seed, parameters):
     start_init = timeit.default_timer()
-    model = model_class(seed=seed, **parameters)
-    #   time.sleep(0.001)
+    simulator = ABMSimulator()
+    model = model_class(simulator=simulator, seed=seed, **parameters)
+    simulator.setup(model)
 
     end_init_start_run = timeit.default_timer()
 
-    for _ in range(config["steps"]):
-        model.step()
+    simulator.run_for(config["steps"])
+
+    # for _ in range(config["steps"]):
+    #     model.step()
     #       time.sleep(0.0001)
     end_run = timeit.default_timer()
 

mesa/experimental/devs/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+from .eventlist import Priority, SimulationEvent
+from .simulator import ABMSimulator, DEVSimulator
+
+__all__ = ["ABMSimulator", "DEVSimulator", "SimulationEvent", "Priority"]