Currently we have a number of settings in the simulation, including number of voters, the number and strategies of parties, the name of the log file, and so forth. These are all somewhere coded in our simulation code.

It would be much more user-friendly, and better for replication purposes, if we have a separate file with all setup parameters, a configuration file.

To create a helpful configuration file it is easiest when it is text-based, so that any text editor can be used to easily open and edit the file, while it still has a very clear structure, so that our computer program can also easily interpret the contents. There are a number of options for this, but we'll be using JSON (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON).

1a.  Create a separate Configuration class where program settings can be recorded.
1b.  Develop the Configuration class so that it saves the configuration as a JSON file. See below what the JSON file should look like.
1c.  Have the simulation set up the parties based on the configuration.
1d.  Update the run() methods in the Simulation class to have the simulation run the number of iterations as in the configuration, reporting vote results for each election.

Example JSON configuration file:

{
    "log": "simulation-001-log.txt",
    "voters": 1000,
    "parties: [
        {"name": "FF", "x": 0.7, "y": 0.7, "strategy": "hunter"},
        {"name": "FG", "x": 0.8, "y": 0.6, "strategy": "aggregator"},
        {"name": "Lab", "x": 0.4, "y": 0.3}, "strategy": "sticker"},
        {"name": "SF", "x": 0.2, "y": 0.4}, "strategy": "predator"}
    ],
    "iterations": 100
}