CAOS - a numerical simulation tool for astronomical adaptive optics (and beyond)

We present recent developments of the CAOS "system", an IDL-based Problem Solving Environment (PSE) whose original aim was to define and simulate as realistically as possible the behavior of a generic adaptive optics (AO) system, from the atmospheric propagation of light, to the sensing of the wave-front aberratoins and the correction through a deformable mirror. The different developments made through the last 7 years result in a very versatile numerical tool complete of a global graphical interface (the CAOS Application Builder), and different specialized scientific packages: the original one designed for AO system simulations (the Software Package CAOS), an image reconstruction package with interferometric capabilities (the Software Package AIRY), and a more recent one being built and dedicated to multiconjugate AO (the Software Package MAOS). We present the status of the whole CAOS "system"/PSE, together with the most recent developments, including parallelization strategy considerations, examples of application, and plans for the next future.