sanjiv@hoss.unl.edu (Sanjiv K. Bhatia) (07/07/90)
Archive-name: combinatorica/06-Jul-90
Original-posting-by: sanjiv@hoss.unl.edu (Sanjiv K. Bhatia)
Original-subject: Algorithm animation software (summary of responses)
Archive-site: cs.sunysb.edu [129.49.2.3]
Archive-directory: /pub/Combinatorica
Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
Here is a summary of responses I received for my request for software for
algorithm animation.
1. Marc H. Brown (mhb@src.dec.com) recommended the use of MacBALSA. This
package primarily contains animations of a slew of fundamental algorithms
covering graphs, geometry, matrices, sorting, and binpacking. It costs
$25.00 with a user manual.
2. Samuel P. Uselton (uselton@wk39.nas.nasa.gov) suggested me to contact Steve
Skiena of SUNY Stony Brook (skiena@sbcs.sunysb.edu) who has written a book
and software package that implements many discrete math/graph theory/
combinatorics algorithms on top of Mathematica. I am giving the details of
this package below.
He also informed that Carleton College was demo'ing an interesting package
at the computational geometry conference in Berkeley.
Also, Jon Bentley's Programming Pearls column about two or three years ago
covered some "Algorithm Animation", not only is that a good article and a
place to start for references, but he might be able to give you an update.
3. The package by Steve Skiena is available by anonymous ftp from
cs.sunysb.edu. The best guide to the system is his book, "Implementing
Discrete Mathematics" published by Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, which came
out two weeks ago. He also maintains a mailing list of people interested
in this kind of stuff.
4. Mark Frydenberg (mfrydenb@cvbnet.UUCP) posted a message in comp.edu about
a film "sorting out sorting" which he claims does a good job of
demonstrating how different algorithms work.
5. siegman@sierra.STANFORD.EDU posted two references on algorithm animation:
Marc H. Brown, ALGORITHM ANIMATION (1988, 186 pp., $30.00). ISBN 02278-8
(1987 ACM Distinguished Dissertation Winner). MIT Press. (publisher
posted by Max Hailperin (max@neon.stanford.edu)
John Stasko, TANGO: A Framework and System for Algorithm Animation (Ph.D.
dissertation, Department of Computer Science, Brown University, May 1989).
(Also Tech. Report No. CS-89-30, same place).
My thanks to everyone who responded. I have decided to play around with the
package by Steve Skiena, primarily because it is available immediately. If I
have further comments on its performance, I'll post them in this forum.
Sanjiv
--
Sanjiv K. Bhatia Department of Computer Science
(402)-472-3485 Ferguson Hall 115
sanjiv@fergvax.unl.edu University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0115