An XML-based microworld simulator for business modeling education

This work addresses the education of business modeling for the college students, and is intended to teach the basic knowledge and skills necessary for the business modeling by combing introductory programming, UML modeling, XML marking-up, and computer simulation using a graphical modeling simulator. The students can design and build their own worlds using an XML-based modeling language which allows the visualization of the world as well as the description of the behavior of the objects. The language consists of two layers; the basic layer provides the general scripting functions such as variables, if and do-while, and the world layer provides the specialized scripting functions such as say, move, and route. The visualization is provided by a simple game-like animation in an isometric view. By constructing and simulating their own worlds, the students can learn the basics of business modeling. This paper presents the overview of the work as well as the design and implementation of the simulator.