FARnodes

FARnodes is a software that offers a protocol simulation and execution environment. It has a command-line frontend, a protocol code distribution manager, and a statistical analyser based on PyKDE. FARnodes is a suitable entry-level software for people who are interested in this somewhat academic area. It comes with various example algorithms like Consensus and several small tools, and a plethora of documentation.

One of the key features of FARnodes is its high portability and easy extensibility of the framework due to a pure Python implementation. Protocols can assume either fully synchronous or asynchronous systems, or one of FAR (Finite Average Response times) or PS (Partial Synchrony). Channels can exhibit unreliable or stubborn behaviour. Failure detectors include EA-FD and PS-FD, both eventually perfect, but others can be added.

Simulations can expect a virtual timer and can be saved and reloaded in many cases. Tools for remote execution and graphical data analysis make this software more user-friendly.

However, FARnodes has some requirements. Python 2.3+ is required for all operations. Pygame (SDL for Python) is required for the graphical simulation frontend. SSH and SSH utilities are required for distributed execution. PyKDE is needed for the graphical analyser tool.

Overall, FARnodes is a valuable software for users who want to simulate protocols and execute code. Its pure Python implementation and various functionalities make it a notable software in this area.