...objects.1
That is, they are implemented in some object oriented programming environment such as Java or C++ etc. Technically a single agent may consist of a number of distinct objects, but that will not affect the presentation here.
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... cannot.2
Except in the degenerate sense of individual agent creation and destruction; but even then, the repertoire of available classes, and their associated methods, is taken to be static and immutable.
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... behaviours.3
If this were not the case then the model might even be regarded as rather useless; see Mitchell (2000).
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... systems''.4
Tierra is not, in fact, implemented with the strict, object-oriented, ABM architecture we have presented in the section Agent Based Models (ABMs); however, this is a technicality which does not affect the arguments we present.
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... mechanics.5
A number of technical implementation issues would arise here, particularly due to the discrete nature of space and time. These will not be addressed in detail here; but see also, for example, Rasmussen et al. (2001).
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