PIPE2

Statistics and representations of ideas help us greatly because we can better visualize each step and the whole process to check a project for errors before actual implementation. Based on action and consequence, a Petri net can be used to simulate various business, industry or academia situations. In this regard, PIPE2 gives you the possibility to easily design and run Petri nets.

When it comes to visuals, the application is based on a simple, but highly-intuitive interface. Most of the main window represents your interactive workspace where you insert needed elements to run a simulation. Most creation and analysis tools are cleverly stored in an upper toolbar so that everything you need is quickly accessible.

Luckily, the application comes equipped with a decent amount of examples you can load at the press of a button. These act just like any other project you create so you can even use them as templates for your work to get a little kick start.

A decent amount of drawing utilities are at your disposal. Needless to say that without places, transitions and arcs, your design is not a Petri net. You can add annotations and tokens for an enhanced overall experience and better description of situations.

By default, your workspace is covered in a grid so that elements get snapped. This makes arrangement practical and you can do this simply by dragging objects around. Arcs cleverly bend around according to your design which makes every element quickly identifiable and the simulation easy to follow.

Depending on the complexity of your ideas you can end up with a flooded schematic. However, there's no easy way to keep track of elements you insert, because of no integrated objects browser. There's a side panel attached to your canvas, but it's used to store several modules you can use to analyze the project, such as classification, comparison, invariant analysis, incidence and marketing, performance query editor, simulation and more.

In order for simulations to return the desired result, you need to spend some time and set attributes for each object you create. Depending on the type you select, a small box pops up letting you set name, default value, capacity, rate, timing, priority or weight.

All things considered, we can state that PIPE2 is a handy application with which to create and simulate Petri nets for various circumstances and needs. Functionality might seem a little flawed here and there, creating a slightly false impression of a well-polished application. However, if you restrain yourself from incredibly thorough processes, you can get a powerful result.