Interactive simulation on a microcomputer

Abstract

has been a research associate at the Centre in Simulation at Lancaster University in the north of England for the past four years. He is editor of the Centre's Simulation Newsletter and has worked chiefly on combined simulations. After graduating from Oxford University in mathematics in 1966, he spent a year at Jodrell Bank where he received an MS in radio astronomy in 1968 for his work on flare stars. Undecided about how best to spend the next 50 years (or so) of his life, he hitchhiked around various parts of the world in search of the answer, taking in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. During this time he developed an interest in things numerical and returned to the computer laboratory at Oxford University where he obtained his doctorate in 1974. Returning to Canada, Dr. Ellison spent three years as a research scientist with Atmospheric Environment Services in Toronto, working on a model of the general circulation of the atmosphere. IRMA ANGULO de HERSCHDORFER is an assistant lecturer in the System Engineering Department of the School of Electrical Engineering at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Venezuela. She received her BS in electrical engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1969, and her MS in operational research from Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1978. She is currently working on her PhD in the Operational Research Department at Lancaster University in England (sponsored by the Universidad Central of Venezuela). Her field of interest is simulation, and at present she is working on simulation of combined systems on microcomputers.JEAN TUNNICLIFFE WILSON has a BA degree in engineering from Cambridge University and an MA degree in systems engineering from Lancaster University. During the four-year interval between these degrees she completed a graduate apprenticeship with the Central Electricity Generating Board and worked as a power station efficiency engineer.Mrs. Tunnicliffe Wilson is married to a statistics lecturer and has two children. She has worked part-time in the Operational Research Department at Lancaster University for ten years and has been mainly involved in the use of simulation in health care. She is also active in the affairs of the small rural village where she I ives. ABSTRACTThe Apple II microcomputer provides powerful facilities for the writing and execution of both discrete and continuous simulations. Interactive BASIC allows at University of British Columbia Library on June 16, 2015 sim.sagepub.com Downloaded from 162 rapid development of new models, while color graphics provides results that are easy to analyze. Came paddles can allow the user to change parameters and control the simulation as it runs. Two new simulation executives allow both the modeler and the user ready access to the facilities of the computer and the simulation, while preventing the user from making unreasonable or impossible changes. Despite its limited language facilities and relatively low speed, the microcomputer has obvious advantages in user interaction, model development, optimization, a...

Visual Interactive Simulation — History, recent developments, and major issues

“…Crookes and his group at the University of Lancaster in England showed that small microcomputers, such as the Apple II, were adequate for much VIS work (Crookes 1982;Crookes and Valentine 1982;Ellison, Herschdorfer, and Tunnicliffe-Wilson 1982). Subsequently, others used small microcomputers for VIS modelling (for instance, see O'Keefe and Davies 1986).…”

Computer simulation of human behavior

“…Ellison, Herschdorfer, and Tunnicliffe Wilson (1982) programmed a simple simulation model on two machines. On a large computer, the programming required 25 hours, spread over 21 days; compiling the program took five seconds of machine time, and simulating a week of activity required one-tenth second; the costs for programming and machine time totaled E745.…”

“…Many microcomputers are designed for interpreted languages, and their low capital costs allow cheap interactive operations. Third, people find dials, levers, and "mice" easier to use than keyboards, and pictures a lot more intelligible than numbers, so calculations can be much more meaningful with hardware that accepts analog inputs and produces graphic displays (Ellison, Herschdorfer, & Tunnicliffe Wilson, 1982). Such hardware is approximately equivalent to a microcomputer, so microcomputers would be desirable for input and display even if the primary simulation programs execute on large computers (Kepple, 1982).…”