CSci 405: Computer Simulation
Spring Semester 2000
Syllabus

Locations

The spring semester 2000 class meets in 351 Weir Hall at 11:00 to 12:00 noon. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

The class is taught by Prof. Conrad Cunningham, whose office is in 312 Weir Hall. The official office hours for this class are 1:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and by appointment at other times.

Prof. Cunningham's voice telephone number is (662) 915-5358 and fax number is (662) 915-5623. His WWW home page is http://www.cs.olemiss.edu/~hcc/ and his email address is cunningham@cs.olemiss.edu (send?).

The WWW home page for this class is http://www.cs.olemiss.edu/~hcc/csci405/ .

The final examination for this class is scheduled for 8:00 A.M. on Tuesday, 9 May 2000.

Course Goals

The primary goals of this course are to increase each student's abilities (1) to design useful models of real world situations and (2) to implement those models so that they can be executed on computers to answer questions about the real world. The course will focus primarily upon object-oriented modeling techniques for building discrete-event simulation models using the process interaction approach. A secondary goal of this course is to increase the student's understanding, knowledge, and skill in application of object-oriented design and programming techniques to such problems.

Course Description from Catalog

Introduction to computer-based simulation and its applications to engineering, the sciences, and management.

Prerequisites

CSci 211, Math 262, and a statistics course.

Concurrent enrollment in a statistics course is acceptable.

Source Materials

Required textbook:

No physical textbook has been selected as yet. The reserves the "right" to select a book later if it becomes appropriate.

Online hypertext manuscript (under development):

Richard Kilgore. Java-based, Object-oriented Simulation with Silk, ThreadTec, Inc.

Readings:

Various journal, conference, or WWW materials as appropriate.

Software:

Java 1.1 and the Silk version 1.2 simulation package.

Course Topics

The following is a tentative list of topics. Since this is somewhat of an "experimental" course and since it is using relatively new software, this list of topics will be refined as the semester progresses.

1. Introduction to modeling and simulation.
2. Review object-orientation concepts.
3. Object-oriented conceptual modeling.
4. Fundamental concepts of simulation.
5. Process-interaction approach to simulation.
6. Single-server queueing models.
7. Multi-server queueing models.
8. Models with priority.
9. Resource synchronization.
10. Statistics and data analysis.
11. Model animation.
12. Web-based execution.
13. Component architecture and Javabeans.

Professional Conduct

As a student in CSci 405, you are expected to conduct yourself in a professional manner according to the Honor Code of the School of Engineering, the Information Technology Appropriate Use Policy, the M Book, and any other relevant policies.

Limited Collaboration Policy. Unless otherwise indicated, any homework assignment or programming exercise given in this class will be an individual assignment. The work you submit is to reflect the knowledge, understanding, and skill that you have attained as an individual. However, the instructor does want to encourage the development of a community of scholars who are actively engaged in discussion of the ideas related to this course. With this in mind, you are allowed to discuss solutions of the homework and programming problems with other students if done so according to the following guidelines:

• You may discuss ideas for homework and programming assignments with your classmates. However, you cannot collaborate on writing the solution or the program code. That is, you can talk about the problems and ideas for solving them, but you cannot write things down with anyone else. You are, of course, prohibited from copying or seeing another student's written solution, and you are not allowed to show your work to anyone else. Similarly, you are not allowed to copy text or program code from a book or a page on the Web unless explicitly authorized to do so by the instructor.

• You should accept help with care. If you work too closely with another student, you might mislead yourself into believing that you understand the concepts and techniques better than you actually do. Don't forget that the instructor has office hours and can probably give you hints or suggestions to get you started.

• You should give help with care. Do not help anyone too much. When you have solved a problem, it is tempting to just tell other students how you solved it. Instead, try to allow them to come to the solution on their own. Maybe give them a hint to help them get "over a hump." Remember that helping someone too much will hurt them in the long term if they can't work through problems on the exams by themselves. So avoid the temptation to do so. If you can't help other students without giving away the whole solution, direct them to see the instructor (who may or may not have a way to "edge" them toward the solution).

• You are not obligated to help anyone. If you feel uncomfortable helping another student for any reason, please direct them to see the instructor.

• Except as described above, all work in this class is covered by the School of Engineering's Honor Code statement on plagiarism. It is plagiarism "to knowingly deceive, copy, paraphrase, or otherwise misrepresent your work in a manner inconsistent with professional conduct".