MetaChem: An Algebraic Framework for Artificial Chemistries

Abstract

We introduce MetaChem, a language for representing and implementing Artificial Chemistries. We motivate the need for modularisation and standardisation in representation of artificial chemistries. We describe a mathematical formalism for Static Graph MetaChem, a static graph based system. MetaChem supports different levels of description, and has a formal description; we illustrate these using StringCatChem, a toy artificial chemistry. We describe two existing Artificial Chemistries -- Jordan Algebra AChem and Swarm Chemistries -- in MetaChem, and demonstrate how they can be combined in several different configurations by using a MetaChem environmental link. MetaChem provides a route to standardisation, reuse, and composition of Artificial Chemistries and their tools.