From the earliest days of electronic computers, some of the most pressing applications involved not just organization and processing of data, but digital replication of scenarios in the physical world to improve our understanding or make decisions. Computer simulation allows us to conduct virtual experiments that would be impossible, expensive, or unethical to conduct in the physical world, but answer critical questions that could arise from almost any academic discipline. This course will examine a range of simulation methods, such as N-body, finite difference, discrete event, and actor-based modeling. Students who have already completed Computer Science 270 are strongly encouraged to concurrently enroll in Computer Science 355.
Computer Science 167 or 270.