Bristol, BS34 7QW
United Kingdom
Abstract
A Problem Solving Environment (PSE) is a complete, integrated computing
environment for composing, compiling and running applications in a specific
problem area or domain. We describe a visual code development tool within a PSE,
which enables computational scientists to construct applications by connecting
components. The granularity of each component can vary from being a complete
code, to a mathematical routine such as a matrix or PDE solver. We first
outline the requirements of such an environment, illustrating these with our
implementation. The implementation of a computational electro-magnetic solver
is then described using this code development tool, based on a 2D boundary
element code. We emphasize lessons learned, and the importance of using such an
environment to support new application development.
M. S. Shields, O. F. Rana, D. W. Walker, and D. Golby,
A Collaborative Code
Development Environment for Computational Electro-Magnetics
in The Architecture of Scientific Software, eds. R. F. Boisvert and
P. T. P. Tang, pub. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Massachussets, USA,
pages 119-141, 2001. ISBN 0-7923-7339-1. This book is the proceedings of the
IFIP TC2/WG2.5 Working Conference on the Architecture of Scientific Software,
held October 2-4, 2000, in Ottawa, Canada.