Seven Obscure Languages in Seven Weeks

Introducing Computer Simulation

By prefixing code with top-level system classes, Simula can be transformed into application-specific languages. For instance, class Animal lays the foundation for a zoo, SIMSET (class for manipulating two-way lists, called sets) turns your code into a list processor, and class Simulation makes it a discrete-event simulator.

Drawing Random Numbers

The first order of business in any simulation environment is (pseudo-)random number generation. Random numbers are the soul of computer simulation. They introduce variance and uncertainty, making otherwise deterministic algorithms lifelike. Genuine random numbers are cryptographically safe (impossible to predict) but also are hard to generate and cannot be reproduced ...