Dave Cooper of Genworks published an AIAA paper where he defines the minimum set of features for a Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) system. These features include: Functional Coding Style: programs return values, rather than modifying things in memory or in the model. Declarative Coding Style: there is no “begin” or “end” to a KBE model – [...]
The Scientific Computing World web site is a great resource that provides information in the areas of Data Analysis, Modelling, Simulation, Data Management and High Performance Computing. The site also provides a free subscription to the magazine and numerous articles.
Acceptance tests define exactly what stake-holders expect of a system and are therefore a critical part of the system specification. Automation of these tests has gained popularity within the agile software community, following the success of Test and Behaviour Driven Development, and are commonly referred to as Executable Specifications. The popularity has given rise to [...]
Engineering analysis software has been traditionally dominated by large commercial vendors such as MathWorks (MATLAB), MSC (NASTRAN/PATRAN), ANSYS (ANSYS and Fluent), Dassault Systemes (CATIA) and SIEMENS (NX and FEMAP). This is probably because these tools attract a comparatively small user base and therefore have not featured heavily within the Open Source community. However, that assumption [...]
I came across the Open Channel Foundation in a quick search for the NASTRAN source code. They provide software for a wide range of engineering and scientific applications. Note: The NASTRAN source code costs around $4000 USD.
Coming from an engineering background, I have seen the issues that well meaning engineers encounter when attempting to develop software. These include: Inappropriate technology or language selection Poor architecture and strong coupling between components Inadequate or non-existent testing As a result they often spend much of their time fighting with the software instead of solving [...]
I’ve had a couple of first hand experiences using both Follow the Sun and Remote Working models for both engineering design and software development. In each case the model was based on moving the work between sites in different time-zones/geographic locations and the results were mixed. Recently, the issue has come up again at work, [...]
The effectiveness of software application frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, automated build tools like Maven, and architectural design patterns like Model-View-Controller, demonstrate the value of a structured approach to development tasks. For me, the expression “convention over configuration” really sums it up. When I’m developing an application I’m far more interested in the business [...]
Agile software development methods evolved as a reaction to traditional project management methods that focused on documentation, change control and the linear execution of tasks. Agile methods recognize the complex and highly non-linear nature of software development and address the associated risks by encouraging a range of working practices. While these practices are well accepted [...]