SIMULATION & MODELINGSIMULATION SOFTWARE

Earlier days simulation models have been developed with the help of programming languages such as C or C++.

For eg various discrete-event simulation models

Commonality of features to most of the simulation programs led to the development of simulation packages

COMPARISON OF

SIMULATION PACKAGES

WITH

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

Advantages of using a simulation package rather than a programming language would include:

• They automatically provide most of the features needed to built a simulation model

• They provide a natural framework for simulation modeling

• Simulation models are easier to modify and maintain when written in a simulation package

• They provide better error detection

Advantages of using a general purpose programming language would include:

• Most modelers already know a programming language

• Simulation model written in C or C++ may require less execution time

• They provide greater programming flexibility

• s/w cost is generally lower

CLASSIFICATION OF

SIMULATION SOFTWARE

General-purpose

Vs

Application-oriented

Simulation Packages

Simulation packages are classified into two major types

• Simulation languages• Application-oriented simulators

Simulation languages• Model development was done by writing

code• Provides a great deal of modeling flexibility• Vendors of simulation languages employed

a graphical model-building approach to make the s/w easier to use

Simulators

• Oriented towards a particular application

• Easier to learn and use

• Not flexible enough for some problems

• Vendors of simulators allows pgmming in certain model locations using an internal pseudo-language inorder to make the s/w more flexible

A general-purpose simulation package can be used for any application, but might have special features for certain ones

An application-oriented simulation package is designed to be used for a certain class of applications