This document is intended to explain how threads are used in Soar 8.6 and later (this document is being written against 8.6.3). It assumes you already have a passing familiarity with both Soar and the SML interface language. This is advanced reading, for those who want to understand everything that's going on "under the hood".

What Threads Exist

As with all things related to SML, we need to divide up the world into client-side threading and kernel-side thread...

This document provides help on reading the output link of Soar agents using SML.

General Advice

• Read the output link after the agent's output phase but before the next decision cycle's input phase.

This is usually accomplished by registering for an event that fires in this range and reading the output link in there.

• Excercise care if you save commands (or other working memory elements on the output-link) to use later and return control back to Soar.

Working memory elements can be...

Introduction

The SML API is the standard method to get Soar agents to communicate with external environments, such as simulations or games. The API was written natively in C++, but has Java, Python, and Tcl bindings generated via SWIG. This page lays out the steps required to compile C++, Java, and Python SML client programs successfully on Linux/OSX/Windows. These instructions are for the 9.3.2 and later releases. Previous releases required a slightly more complex compilation process....

SML (Soar Markup Language) provides an interface into Soar based around sending and receiving commands packaged as XML packets. The interface is designed to support connecting environments to Soar (where input and output data structures are sent back and forth) and to support debuggers (where commands to print out specific productions or working memory elements are sent back and forth).

We refer to these environments and debuggers as "clients".

The details and...

Getting Soar

Where are the latest Soar releases?

Check the downloads page for pointers to downloads and release notes. Alternatively you can check out the development trunk from git. See the build documents for more information.

Running Soar

How do I run Soar?

If you downloaded a Soar release, navigate inside the extracted archive and run the shell scripts or batch files to run the various Soar components. The scripts set essential...