Simulation Programming Skills and Python

[bearophileHUGS at lycos.com]

Richard Blackwood:

>Is the skill of being able to translate in one's head realworld relationships into a model represented by code an inherent/native skill of all programmers?<

I don't think so. Creating a good computational model can be a complex
art.


>Python a good language for simulation programming?<

It depends on the type of simulation. Python can be good to create a
prototype of the simulation program, and it can be good if the
simulation doesn't require much number crunching that cannot be
vectorized :-)
If the simulation require a lot of number crunching, but such
operations can be done with Numarray and the like, then you can
probably use Python or Mathematica, or similar systems.
Otherwise you may need a hybrid program (Python + Pyrex, Swig, or f2py,
ShedSkin, etc).

Bye,
bearophile