The PascGalois Software System: Applications & Applets

Applications (Java or other) are programs that must be downloaded and installed on either your computer or a computer network to run. Follow the installation instructions on the application's download page to install the application on your computer. Applications have the added feature of being able to save and load information to your computer as well as transfer information through the system clipboard.

Applets will run the program through your web browser, so there is no need to download and install the program. Applets do have the restriction of not allowing you to save information to your computer or transfer any information through the system clipboard. For these facilities please download the application and install it on your computer.

If you have difficulty running or viewing the applets or applications make sure that you are using a current version of the Java JRE (version 1.5 or later). You can download the most current version of the Java JRE from www.sun.com.

Application Downloads

• PascGalois JE: PascGalois JE is a platform independent multiple document interface Java application for exploring one and two dimensional cellular automata over finite group structures. It currently supports the integers under addition mod n, the integers under multiplication mod n, the symmetry group for a regular n-gon, the Quaternions, the generalized Quaternion groups, dicyclic groups, and the group of permutations on n letters. Furthermore, there is an advanced mode that allows the user to work with arbitrary products and quotients of these structures. The program also has a facility where the user can input their own structure via an operation table.

  The program allows the user to alter color schemes, zoom in and out on portions of the image, select regions for element counts, period and death calculations of finite automata, three dimensional viewing as well as level and density graphing modes for two dimensional automata, animation options and POV-Ray export facilities and, of course, file saving and loading of program information.

• PascGalois Zn: PascGalois Zn, like PascGalois JE, is a platform independent program developed for the exploration of one and two dimensional cellular automata. The difference between the two is that PascGalois Zn produces cellular automata over only Z_n but allows you to use update riles that employ both addition and multiplication. PascGalois JE produces cellular automata over several classes of finite group structures, and hence the update rules can contain only the single group operation. So if you are only working over Z_n you probably want to use this program but if you are interested in automata over other groups like D_n or S_n the PascGalois JE program might be a better choice.

  As with the PascGalois JE application, this program allows the user to alter color schemes, zoom in and out on portions of the image, select regions for element counts, period and death calculations of finite automata, three dimensional viewing as well as level and density graphing modes for two dimensional automata, animation options and POV-Ray export facilities and, of course, file saving and loading of program information.

• Pascal GT: The Pascal GT program is the original cellular automata explorer developed for the Windows operating system by Dr. Kathleen Shannon.
• AVI Composer: The AVI Composer is a simple Windows based application that will take a sequence of BMP, PNG or PPM files and create an AVI video file. The PascGalois JE and PascGalois Zn applications have several features where it will save an animation sequence of images so this program can be used to paste the sequence together into a video file.

PascGalois JE Applets

The following applets were created using the same layouts and functions as the PascGalois JE program. Hence the user interface between all of the applets and the PascGalois JE appllication will be very similar. The PascGalois JE program has many options and can be overwhelming to the beginning user, hence when we constructed this sequence of applets to introduce the options a little at a time.

The Single Group Viewers, created by Katie Ford, include only the most basic options for viewing one-dimensional cellular automata. These applets also focus on exploring a single class of group structure. The Viewers with Group and Seed Options, created by Israa Taha, allow the user to select the group structure and enter more complecated seeds. It also allows the user to use the advanced group structure mode and has a facility for user-defined structures. The Viewers with Group, Seed and Update Rule Options, created by John Zimmerman, adds several further options along with the ability to alter the update rule. Finally, the Viewers with Full Options add the ability to do element counting and include the group calculator.

All of the applets have associated applications that can be downloaded and installed on the user's local machine. These files can be downloaded from each individual applet page. Also, each applet has the option of running full screen which will open the applet up in its own window. To run the applet in full screen mode simply click on the Full Screen link at the bottom of the applet page.