Data acquisition with the IBM PC/XT/AT Family—II. An application in chromatography

Software is described for a medium speed data acquisition system for the IBM PC/XT/AT family. The software has been written primarily for chromatographic systems, but it can be modified for other instrumental purposes. The software consists of two main parts: a BASIC main program and two assembly language subroutines. It possesses most features found in commercial integrators and in addition has two new advances: immediate on-screen autoranging and curve extension for overlapping peaks. The software runs on all IBM PC/XT/AT compatibles with a color graphics display (CGA) or any other display system that can simulate a CGA.     

The design and implementation of the GINO 3D graphics software package

The design and implementation of a general purpose graphics software package (GINO) is described. GINO provides facilities for 3D graphics (co-ordinate transformation, clipping, intensity modulation) but is organized so that 2D facilities form a clean subset. It is device independent, permitting use of refresh CRT displays, storage tube displays and plotters. A characteristic feature is the use of small satellite computers attached to a large multiaccess computer (ATLAS 2) GINO takes the form of a subroutine library accessible from FORTRAN and other languages, and the case for this level of graphics software is argued. The reasons for not using a mandatory graphical data structure are also discussed. GINO is not biased towards any particular style of interaction, but two techniques are described; one based on the light pen and the other on teletype command languages Efficiency of implementation is achieved without loss of flexibility by use of a systems programming language (SAL).     

A display package for CAD of control systems

A multi-access computer system has been installed at the Control Systems Centre of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. The application of this computer to research into the computer aided design of industrial control systems involved the connection of two keyboard display terminals to the system. The ARDS storage tube displays chosen had the advantages of being teletypewriter compatible and not requiring the connection of a satellite computer A graphics package for the entry and structuring of data derived from the stability analysis of control systems was required as soon as possible after the installation was commissioned. The initial package enabled data to be entered by program and then selected and plotted by keyboard requests. Translation, scaling, alteration of the method of plotting (with points or vectors) and the selection of different items for the display were all carried out by keyboard interaction For long term CAD work a more extensive graphics package was required, the specification was determined following feedback from users of the initial package. It provided additional facilities for graphic interaction, alphanumeric annotation of the displays, specialized drawing and data entry functions and the storing of any pictures built up by the user, as well as a more linked data structure. The structure and facilities of this package are described.     

Generation of interactive displays from FORTRAN using the PDP - 10/LDS-1 computer graphics system

The PDP-10/LDS-1 combination is a powerful and versatile computer graphics system. A package of programs described here permits the generation of displays and interaction with them by means of simple calls from FORTRAN programs. This makes computer graphics available to individuals who know a little FORTRAN but no assembler language. It serves also as a useful introduction to the LDS-1 for experienced programmers who intend to learn the assembler language and to write their own programs Experience with the language has shown that it is learnable quickly by the class of users at which it is aimed. In addition, the same package has been used by more experienced programmers as a powerful research tool in the study of conformations of biological macromolecules, such as proteins, DNA and RNA.     

GD3—A system for two-dimensional computer graphics

GD3 is a system for graphic input and output, which has been developed at CERN over the past several years primarily for the laboratory's scientific community. An important feature of the system is the production of an intermediate data file called the “display file”, which allows a user's program to be truly device independent. The system is written largely in FORTRAN and although the main implementation has been on CDC 7000/6000 series computers at CERN, it has also been implemented on other machines both within CERN and at laboratories outside CERN.

The main facilities available to the user are described including the system's interactive capabilities. Use has also been made of GD3 to provide the graphics part of other special user oriented packages developed at CERN.     

Run-time diagnostics in pascal

A compiler maps abstract data and control structures into equivalent representations at the order code level of a computer. When a program written in a high level language fails, there is presented the problem of interpreting the state of the abstract (high level) machine in terms of the state of the physical machine which is all that is available. This interpretation is undertaken by a program usually known as a run-time diagnostics package. In this paper a novel package is described which provides diagnostics for dynamically created data structures in addition to the usual facilities. It has been implemented for the language Pascal and has been used successfully for 18 months.     

Implementation of an interactive relational graphics database

The benefits that accrue from the use of design database include (i) reduced costs of preparing data for application programs and of producing the final specification, and (ii) possibility of later usage of data stored in the database for other applications related to Computer Aided Engineering (CAE). An INTEractive Relational GRAphics Database (INTERGRAD) based on relational models has been developed to create, store, retrieve and update the data related to two dimensional drawings. INTERGRAD provides two languages, Picture Definition Language (PDL) and Picture Manipulation Language (PML). The software package has been implemented on a PDP 11/35 system under the RSX-11M version 3.1 operating system and uses the graphics facility consisting of a VT-11 graphics terminal, the DECgraphic 11 software and an input device, a lightpen.     

An example of a pragmatic approach to portable interactive graphics

Standards for graphics subroutines would encourage the coding of portable programs using graphics. However such standards do not yet exist. In this paper a small set of generally available primitive subroutines, and fortran, are used to pragmatically provide a degree of portability for a second level graphics package. This package consists of only nine subroutines and yet provides considerable power for coding interactive graphical numerically oriented programs.     

A programming tool to generate multi-site daily rainfall using a two-stage semi parametric model

Many problems in hydrology and agricultural science require extensive records of rainfall from multiple locations. Temporal and/or spatial coverage of rainfall data is often limited, so that stochastic models may be required to generate long synthetic rainfall records. This study describes a multi-site rainfall simulator (MRS) to stochastically generate daily rainfall at multiple locations. The MRS is available as an open-source software package in the R statistical computing environment. The software includes statistical analysis and graphics functions, and can display statistics and graphs at multiple time scales, including from individual sites and areal averages. The MRS thus provides a detailed set of modelling functions to simulate and analyse daily rainfall. The capabilities of the package are demonstrated using 30 gauges located in Sydney, Australia, and the results show that the model preserves observed year-to-year variability, interannual persistence and various daily distributional and space–time dependence attributes.     

ICARO: a package for wind field studies over complex terrain

ICARO is a software package developed to construct, examine, and compare wind fields in complex terrain. The user may interactively run mathematical models to evaluate three dimensional wind fields from available experimental measurements. Graphics and post-processing programs are implemented in ICARO to analyze and intercompare wind field results, as well as verify results with measurements. These features may be extended to results from other fluid-dynamic models. Different vertical grid resolutions are possible for verification of models performance. ICARO has proved to be a very quick and useful tool for both case studies and field experiments. The package is written in FORTRAN 77 and runs on DEC-VAX computers with a VMS operating system using NCAR graphics routines.     

A graphics interface to an engineering economy program

A general purpose engineering economy problem solving package has been created. This software allows the user to type in equations involving compound interest factors and unknown variables and will calculate the results or solve for the unknowns. The program is also able to compare alternative sets of cash flows using PEX, AEX, and ROR methodology. The program also includes interactive graphics features. This paper describes those features.

For graphical output the program includes the capability to graph up to six equations with respect to one independent variable. This allows for the display of PEX vs. I graphs and breakeven graphs. The program will also draw cash flow diagrams and network diagrams.

Cash flow data can be input graphically, using a mouse, by selecting a cash flow pattern (single amount, uniform series, or gradient series) and pointing to the position on the cash flow time line where the pattern should be placed. The program can calculate the net equivalent worth of the cash flows at any point in time given an interest rate, or find an interest rate at which the equivalent net cash flow is zero.

This software is written in FORTRAN and can be linked to available graphics libraries on various computers. The author currently has versions for the VAX minicomputer, and IBM PC compatibles.     

JavaFit: A platform independent program for interactive nonlinear least-squares fitting using the Levenberg—Marquardt method

The JavaFit program is a package for carrying out interactive nonlinear least-squares fitting to determine the parameters of physical models from experimental data. It has been conceived as a platform independent package aimed at the relatively modest computational needs of spectroscopists, where it is often necessary to determine physical parameters from a variety of spectral lineshape models. The program is platform independent, provided that a Java runtime module is available for the host platform. The program is also designed to read a wide variety of data in ASCII column formats produced on DOS, Macintosh and UNIX platforms.     

An interactive/graphics software system for function minimization

An interactive/graphics based software package for solving unconstrained function minimization problems is described. The intent of the package (called INTEROPT) is to provide a computing environment which properly matches the experimental nature of the function minimization problem. A number of multidimensional minimization algorithms are provided for the user, together with a number of linear search algorithms. Through a simple command language, the user is able to make selections from among the available options and to specify values for the various parameters which control the program execution. This dialog is carried out with the user on a graphics CRT screen. Various types of graphical output are available in INTEROPT both to assist the user in evaluating the progress of the minimization trial and to enable him to interact with it, if he so chooses. The INTEROPT system also includes provisions for the interior penalty function approach to handling problems with constraints. The package therefore has a wide range of applicability.     

A Method for the Representation, Evaluation and Display of CSG Models in PHIGS and PHIGS+

The Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System (PHIGS) is about to become a standard graphics system ^† which caters for the definition, display and modification of two and three-dimensional graphical data.
PHIGS , however, is mainly a wireframe system, and the PHIGS⁺ , extensions to it have been put forward to allow the incorporation of shaded 3D graphics into PHIGS. ,
One area that is important to a large constituency and which has so far not been considered in PHIGS , and PHIGS⁺ , is that of solid modelling. This paper addresses one aspect of solid modelling by describing a simple method for the representation, evaluation and display of Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) models in PHIGS , and PHIGS⁺. .     

图形变换和运动的共形几何代数表示方法*

共形几何代数是一种新的几何表示和几何计算工具,它具有直观、简洁、高效、统一、雅致等特性。在简单介绍外积、内积和几何积等基本概念之后,重点论述了共形几何代数在图形反射、旋转、平移等变换和刚体运动、螺旋运动等方面的描述和计算方法,并给出了实验示例。共形几何代数在计算机图形学、计算机视觉和机器人学等领域将有广泛应用。     

An interactive computer graphics approach to the design of marching band routines

The availability of inexpensive minicomputers and low cost digital/analog conversion equipment enables one to use interactive graphics in situations where such techniques were previously infeasible. The University of Tulsa is presently developing an interactive graphics package entitled BANDMARCH to assist the choreography of marching band drills. The graphics hardward consist of a 32K Interdata Model 70 minicomputer, a 5MB Diablo Disc system, a Tektronix 603 monitor with 256 × 256 point display provided by a pair of Detel 8 bit D/A converters. The program enables a band director who is most likely not computer oriented to prepare a routine in an existing language (About Face, Left Flank) and view the result of his ‘design’ in real time. The obvious interactive features of editing, cataloguing and accessing standard functions must be provided in a way that can be easily understood.

T.U.'s BANDMARCH (not an acromym) provides such features. Common data structures in a relatively novel environment are a demonstration of the soundness of these techniques to an interactive graphics situation.     

A standard Pascal event simulation package

A package implemented using standard Pascal is described. It provides the user with basic tools for discrete event-orientated simulation, and includes facilities for scheduling and causing pending events, handling of LIFO and FIFO queues, control of periodical dumping of statistics and comprehensive initialization and error routines. Two versions of the package have been implemented, using tree and linked list structures for scheduled events. Their relative performances are compared. The tree structure proves to be more efficient except in the minority of cases where the set of scheduled events has to be searched frequently; it also provides a much more efficient scheduling algorithm than does a linked list structure. This package is primarily intended as a communication network design tool, and a simple example of this type of usage is included. It could also be used in undergraduate teaching. Coding examples are given for the main procedures, in the two implementations.     

Software Systems for Computer Graphics

This paper describes some software packages and programming systems for computer graphics applications, in the process considering software features for both passive and interactive graphics. It examines the structure both of subroutine libraries for use with some base language and of complete programming languages, and outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each, along with facilities that should be present in any software package.     

GRASP—A 3D graphics system for Pascal users

This paper describes a 3D graphics package ‘GRASP’ implemented in Pascal language and interfaced with the Pascal compiler developed for the DEC PDP-10 machine, by Urs Amman et al. GRASP supports storage tube and raster scan graphics terminals and pen plotters. The package is incorporated as a set of standard procedures into the enhanced Pascal compiler. The various features of the package are presented here and a comparison is made vis-a-vis the other existing 3D graphics packages. GRASP is simple to use and provides a valuable tool for the development of application programs written in Pascal and requiring a graphics capability.