This article appeared in:
The Use of Supercomputers in Stellar Dynamics ,
(Lecture Notes in Physics #267, Springer Verlag, 1987) p 193-198.
ON TOOLBOXES AND TELESCOPES
Piet Hut
The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540
and
Gerald J. Sussman
Dept. of Electrical Engeneering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Campbridge, MA 02139
Abstract
We outline new ways of using computers as scientific tools, introducing two
concepts which go beyond traditional numerical simulations. On the level of
software, we describe a "dynamicist's workbench", an environment to provide
interactive support for setting up, executing and analyzing
computational experiments. On the level of hardware, we discuss the concept
of a "computational observatory", especially designed and manufactured for
specific problems in stellar dynamics.
1. Introduction
2. A Dynamicist's Workbench
2.1 Beyond numerical simulation
2.2 An Example of an Interactive N-body Experiment
2.3 Analysis
3. A Computational Observatory