AgentSheets has promised to make the web more beautiful, dynamic, and interactive with the release of AgentSheets with Ristretto. The new applications allows multimedia applications to be easily converted into Web friendly Java. According to AgentSheets:
AgentSheets, Inc., an innovator and provider of agent-based authoring environments for lifelong learning, today announced the availability of its new Macintosh software environment called AgentSheets with Ristretto. The agent-based software environment is the first to enable non-technical and technical users to easily create interactive, multimedia simulations and instantly transform them into superfast Java applets that run on Java-enabled browsers and all platforms without plug-ins. AgentSheets with Ristretto empowers students, educators and professionals alike to significantly improve learning, teaching and idea sharing by providing the means to simulate virtually anything and share it with others worldwide via the Internet.
AgentSheets' flexible and easy-to-use system is based on three integrated components: end-user programmable agents; spreadsheet-like workspaces; and Ristretto, the automatic Java applet generator. Users easily program agents to collect/report real-time information from Web pages and databases, play MIDI sound, speak, compute formulas, or react to mouse and keyboard commands.
Programming is simplified by using the system's "IF… THEN" rule-based programming tool, Visual AgenTalk. The tool introduces a new tactile/visual programming approach that is based on interactive interfaces and visual representations so users from children to adults can effortlessly write, understand, and share programs.
The system's spreadsheet-like workspaces enable users to organize and manipulate agents in a grid called the "agentsheet." The agents then communicate with each other directly or via spatial relationships provided by the agentsheet. Users can simply drag and drop any language components onto agents to test conditions and experience the consequences of actions.
With Ristretto, users transform AgentSheets projects directly into superfast Java applets at the push of a button without having to learn the Java programming language. Ristretto-generated Java applets are embedded in Web pages as interactive simulations that run on Java-enabled browsers and all platforms without plug-ins. Entire simulations and individual agents can be shared via the Internet by simply dragging them from a Web page into the AgentSheets environment. The AgentSheets Behavior Exchange provides users a Web-based forum in which to freely share and exchange agents for interactive simulations and games.
AgentSheets with Ristretto is being offered for a limited introductory price of US$150. You can find more information at the AgentSheets web site.
