The EJS modeling and authoring tool.
The importance of computers in physics and the nature of computer simulation is discussed. Various computer languages also are considered and the Easy Java Simulations modeling and authoring tool is described.
The task of describing, controlling, and visualizing the physical models can be greatly simplified using the proper tools. We have adopted the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling and authoring tool because it is built using the Open Source Physics code library and because the models it produces are XML-based. The use of XML is important because it enables users to describe and store the model at a high level of abstraction, thereby leaving the implementation to EJS. EJS is a free, open-source stand-alone desktop modeling tool.
EJS is developed at the University of Murcia, Spain, by Francisco Esquembre. EJS and the simulations created using it are open source Java programs that can be distributed in a variety of ways such as Internet applets or as stand-alone programs on a CD. EJS users include science majors, teachers, and researchers who have a basic knowledge of modeling but little knowledge of programming.
Anyone interested in computer modeling can download the tool from the EJS home page and install it on Java-enabled computers.
