Modeling and simulation allow students and researchers to study the effects of many different types of experiments (chemical, physiological, economic, even social) by simulating them on computers and observing the result without having to conduct a real experiment. The process of using models of experiments has been successfully introduced in many fields. The results are in some respects impressive. To cite one example: researchers at Stanford studied the effects of providing a computer-based tic-tac-toe game for young children to play. They found that the students went through three phases in playing the game: an initial "gee-whiz" phase as they learned that the computer could respond (this was done prior to the availability of video games); a second phase of serious game-playing; and then a third phase, characterized by repetitive playing of exactly the same set of moves, after which the child would feel compelled to point out the "error" that the computer made in this sequence. Expressed in another way, the child was questioning the logic of the program, and in effect suggesting a revised, improved program to make the computer play the game better. In other situations, such as models of biological systems, students go through similar phases, eventually realizing that the model is not perfect and suggesting changes that would improve it - a profound change from the level of intellectual understanding usually accomplished in real world laboratory experiments today.
The two kinds of graphic or picture creation programs available for computers are paint programs and draw programs.
Windows Paintbrush is a simple paint program that comes with Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Windows95. It can be found in the Accessories group/menu.
Publisher's Paintbrush is a more powerful (and expensive) paint program for Windows. Some of these figures below were shown during the live graphics demonstration. Today you will see overheads of them as well as some new figures. Examples of pictures created by this program are:
Windows Draw is a good (inexpensive) draw program available for Windows. There are no free draw programs included in Windows. Windows Draw costs about $50. Some of these figures were shown during the live graphics demonstration. Examples of pictures created by this program are:
As you have seen, draw and paint images are stored in different formats
You can do many of the same things with both kinds of images. Some actions, however, may be more difficult or almost impossible in one format while being very easy in the other.
Paint images are stored as a bitmap
Draw images are stored as a group of vectors or objects (Note: These are not the same objects as in object-oriented programming).
The same two kinds of formats are found with fonts. There are outline fonts - where the "shape" is stored, and bitmap fonts, where a bit pattern is stored. When outline fonts are enlarged, they look smooth. When bitmap fonts are enlarged, they look very jagged.
Clipart consists of pre-drawn figures in some format (paint or draw). Collections of clipart are available free or for purchase (usually inexpensive). Many draw and paint programs include clipart.
Desktop publishing programs are more sophisticated (have more features) and are more expensive than word processing programs. In turn, word processing programs are more sophisticated and more expensive than editors. The additional features provided by desktop publishing packages include advanced page layout capabilities and graphics like the the following:
The first 20 minutes of a video titled "Computer Animation Magic" (55 minutes) was shown in lecture. Another video may also be of interest on this topic, ECS15 Video #12 titled "Computer Modeling and Simulation" (23 minutes). Both of these videos are available for viewing in the Media Center in 1101 Hart Hall.
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