The purpose of this thesis was to develop a program that would accept, as input, a finite set of algebraic equations and simple if-then conditional expressions that model a natural system, and then produce a continuous computer simulation with graphics and tabular output. The equations and conditionals can be in any order and key elements can be missing. The program can be used to run existing models or as a development tool to produce immediate prototypic computer simulations through synergistic man-machine interactions.
The theoretical aspects of automatic program generation were discussed, as well as the architectural design of the system. The simulation system was used to develop a computer simulation of an exploited Northern Utah pheasant population and the results were compared to the results from an earlier FORTRAN computer simulation of the same model.
It was concluded that the simulation system developed for this thesis produces verified computer simulations from mathematical models that are at least as accurate as the corresponding simulation written in FORTRAN. The system was easy to use and should be useful for unsophisticated users. Some "tuning'' of the input was needed to produce a verified simulation and it was concluded that further work was needed here.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-8086 |
| Date | 01 May 1986 |
| Creators | Pimentel, Richard |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. |
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