Accession Number:

AD0774735

Title:

Computer Program Modularization.

Descriptive Note:

Technical memo.,

Corporate Author:

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV SILVER SPRING MD APPLIED PHYSICS LAB

Personal Author(s):

• Gieszl,Louis R.

Report Date:

1973-09-01

Pagination or Media Count:

31.0

Abstract:

The paper presents a five-step procedure for writing a complex computer program in such a way that the product is modular to the user as well as to the designer. This form of modularity is shown to be most needed in large-scale simulations hence attention is restricted to this field. It is further assumed that the designer has already constructed some form of logical model decision table, flow chart, list of specifications, or an existing but nonmodular program. The process is demonstrated by example, step by step. The example used is that of rewriting SWIM, a 20,000-instruction, computer-reliant war game. It could just as well have been a similarly complex medical simulation either a logical model to be programmed or a program too difficult to change, too obsolete to use, but - like SWIM - too full of insight to just throw out. In each step, the difference between modularizing a program and creating a modular program is carefully pointed out. Author

Descriptors:

• *Computer programming
• Computerized simulation
• War games
• FORTRAN

Subject Categories:

• Computer Programming and Software

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE