Predator-prey simulation

Running locally

What you need to run this app in development:

1. Download NodeJS (https://nodejs.org/en/)

   Any recent version (16.X, 18.X, 19.X) should work - I'm using node v19.3.0

2. Install pnpm package manager (npm install --global pnpm)

3. Install Rust (and MSVC compiler if on windows)

   Detailed cross-platform instructions here: https://tauri.app/v1/guides/getting-started/prerequisites

   You may need to reboot your PC after installing these.

4. Install JS dependencies (pnpm install)

5. Run the project (pnpm start)

   The first build is painfully slow (took me 5 minutes), but next builds are ultra fast.

How this works

Python code serves as the 'backend' which calculates every step of the animation. This code is then executed in the browser using Pyodide (CPython in WASM). We then use use it in a webworker, from which we request calculating a new step 30 times per second. The data from python backend is deserialized into JS using pyodide after each simulation step. Then that data is rendered on a canvas using pixi.js and on a line chart using chart.js

For technical reasons, the python code must be shipped as a .zip file in public directory. The package.json has a script - zip-python which will take every file from src-python/src and get them zipped into public/python.zip

When you run pnpm start it will not only start the tauri app, but also start a filesystem watch for changes on any python file. When a change is detected in python files, the zip will be recreated and the entire app will refresh.

why

@PiotrG99 wanted to make the simulation in python, but I wanted to make it in JS, so we decided to mix them.

...

pyodide npm package doesn't actually do anything (does not include 200mb of compiled WASM) so we need to import it from CDN.