Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 20:05:02 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: cjclark@alum.mit.edu, "Jason C. Wells" <jcwells@nwlink.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Language for Modeling Mechanical System Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000726195620.04ab6ee0@localhost> In-Reply-To: <20000725234453.C307@pool0460.cvx20-bradley.dialup.e> References: <Pine.SOL.3.96.1000725232454.25887B-100000@utah> <Pine.SOL.3.96.1000725232454.25887B-100000@utah>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
At 12:44 AM 7/26/2000, Crist J. Clark wrote: >> I figure there just has to be something out there that does mathematical >> modeling. I just haven't found it yet. > >It's what FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) was made for. No; despite the name, FORTRAN is very much a general-purpose computing language. It has only one possible advantage in a mathematical modeling setting: because of its long use in scientific and engineering work, FORTRAN compilers traditionally perform extensive optmization on floating point calculations. The strength reduction, expression rearrangement, loop unrolling, and parallelization facilities in a good FORTRAN compiler are second to none. However, with today's fast PCs, these optimizations aren't necessary unless you're doing VERY complex modeling -- stuff like fluid dynamics. And since FORTRAN is rather primitive, you'll spend a lot more time coding than you would if you had a better tool for this particular task. One package you might consider is Mathematica. It has wonderful facilities for integration, differentiation, graphics, and more. It's what I'd reach for first -- partially because I know it, but mostly because it makes sophisticated tasks easy and fun. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?4.3.2.7.2.20000726195620.04ab6ee0>