All simulation tools and auxiliary data-manipulation tools and
gridders
are accessed through a layer of binding functions
that
encapsulate tool specifica, establishing a set of VLISP functions to
allow the invocation of all simulation tools in a uniform manner
as simple function calls.
All tool parameters as well as output and error
redirections are passed as arguments to the binding function, ensuring
a maximum of independence of the tool binding layer and the task
control layer. All binding functions together are organized as the
tool application layer
that makes all tools available to the task control layer.
At the other end of the functional hierarchy, task-level tools are
interfaced with the task control layer by interface
agents
that establish communication channels with concurrent executables like
optimizers, design-of-experiment (DoE) tools,
and response-surface-modeling (RSM) modules.
While being run as clients of the task control layer, they also
operate as servers for more complex applications, and are linked
together by callback
connections. Interface agents are fully integrated with the EVE
class of objects; see below in Section 3.5 for more details.