Key Concepts

Our agent-based modeling tool is the Framework for Reconstructing Epidemiological Dynamics, or FRED. It is important to make a distinction between the different aspects of FRED that you may encounter. This includes the following concepts.

language

The FRED Modeling Language refers to the programming language used by FRED. This language was built by Epistemix to simplify the construction, execution, and understanding of agent-based models.

model

A FRED model is a piece of FRED code used to simulate some interaction.

agent

In FRED, agents can represent anything. Often, they will represent individual people. They can have an associated age, gender, race, and other demographic information that can be used within the model.

simulation

A FRED simulation is the execution of a model with a defined set of parameters, especially the specific location and time-frame. The location determines the population, or set of agents that participate in the simulation. During a simulation, the individual agents experience the conditions, make decisions, and are impacted by any other factors defined in the model.

platform

The FRED Modeling Platform refers to the tools provided to build, execute, and analyze FRED models and simulations.