This site first appeared in October 1997 as about 10 pages of hypertext and an early version of the Hawk vs. Dove applet. In November 1997 I added an early version of the Hawk, Dove, and Bourgeois applet and some accompanying hypertext. Total development time for the hypertext and simulations of the"version 1" website was about 120 hours, most of it tied up with the simulations (since I was just learning Java).
During the fall '97 semester, my Sociobiology students used the site and their comments and questions provided valuable insight into the shortcomings of both the hypertext and simulations.
At the end of the semester, in Dec. 1997, I asked Dr. Jeff Lucas of Purdue Univ. and Dr. Cathy Langtimm of the Biological Resources Division of the USGS to review the site critically. It was an enlightening if not humbling experience. Their comments, coupled with the reaction of my students led me to believe that to make an effective site, a very substantial revision was in order.
I undertook the revision in the summer of 1998. This involved totally re-writing the simulations and creating both applet and application versions. The interface for these programs was made far more "user friendly" and hopefully the programs are better proofed against folks who don't like to read instructions. I entirely re-wrote the accompanying hypertext. Although I do not regard the hypertext as the site's main contribution (textbook treatments are very complete and excellent) nevertheless, extensive hypertext was necessary if I wanted a truly interactive site that students could explore independently of a teacher (see the section on "Igor"). A "beta" version of the site was completed after about 180 hours of work (this time, mostly on the hypertext).
The "beta" of version 2 was reviewed in early Sept. by Drs. Jeff Lucas, Cathy Langtimm, and Susan Riechert (Univ. of Tenn, Knoxville). It was evident that the war of attrition section needed a lot of work and expansion. So, over the fall and early winter I wrote the war of attrition simulation (far more involved than the earlier applets) and greatly expanded the hypertext sections on the war of attrition (and my own knowledge). All that I can say is that this took hundreds of hours (no exaggeration).
A largely final version of the site was published on 2/23/99.