Effects of Functional and Declarative Modeling Frameworks on System Simulation

Abstract System modeling frameworks can be categorized into imperative and declarative paradigms. A model's paradigm effects its efficacy: imperative models allow simple execution, while declarative models capture the behavior of the underlying system. This paper compares these paradigms, as well as functional and object-oriented frameworks, in light of physics-based systems. This is done by exploring the principles of systems modeling and simulation. Simulation is shown to be the composition of functions representing system behavior. Simulatable frameworks can be differentiated by their ability to identify and compose these functions for a specific input and output pairing. The various frameworks are explored, applying concepts more typically studied in computer science to general systems engineering. The frameworks are investigated by comparing simulations of a driven double pendulum in various modeling languages. Observations include that functional, declarative models allow for greater reusability and holistic system simulation.