A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR COMPUTER SIMULATION,
Abstract
Computer simulation is a cooperative venture between researcher and information processor, but the processor's role customarily begins too late. The researcher can benefit substantially by bringing the computer up into the earlier, creative phases of the simulation process. An on-line computer system that makes this possible is described. The OPS system is open-ended and modular in a very fundamental sense. The user can add his own parts over a period of days or months as he increases his understanding of his problem. The OPS system is relatively free of rules and formats. The user creates his own language and his own conventions. He has the widest latitude to express his problem in its natural terms and to be inventive. Gradually his system takes on an individual character appropriate to the purpose it is to serve. The user can create his own symbols and his own mapping of common storage by means of standard operators. He can also create his own operators and add them without limit to the set of standard operators supplied to him. Operators are functional subroutines programmed in any language that the computer can compile, such as FORTRAN, MAD, or FAP. OPS-2 provides the user with a simple mechanism for compounding operators or creating K-OP's. A K-OP table in common storage has one line for each operator in the concatenation of operators that the user forms.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0609288
Entities
People
- Martin Greenberger
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology