PascGalois Zn Help: Introduction to the PascGalois Zn Program


The PascGalois Zn program is a multiple document interface (like a word processor) with standard file and window operation facilities. Each of the internal (or child) windows contains all of the information and facilities needed to explore an automaton, as well as some other group theoretic concepts. Each of the options and facilities will be discussed in more detail in their own section. We will simply hit the highlights here to give you a feel for the program's capabilities.

The Main Window

The main window has very little functionality, its main purpose is to simply hold the child windows. Due to the fact that you will probably want to have several windows tiled together we have minimized the amount of space needed for the main tools by including only a toolbar and not both a toolbar and menu bar.

The main toolbar is pictured below,

The first two tools are to create a one-dimensional automata window and a two-dimensional automata window respectively. The next four options are for automatically arranging the child windows. They are to tile, cascade, minimize and restore respectively. The next three tools are for closing child windows, they are to close the current window, close all windows and close all but the current window respectively. The final two tools are to invoke this help system and to display the about dialog for this program.

The Child Windows

There are two types of child windows, one for one-dimensional automata and one for two-dimensional automata. These are pictured below. If you open a one-dimensional automata window you can not change it to a two-dimensional automata window and vice versa. You can open as many child windows as you would like.

One-Dimensional Automata Window

Two-Dimensional Automata Window

Although the child windows have distinct functions they are layed out in a similar manner. In fact, their toolbars are exactly the same.

The first three tools are to open a file, save a file and save a file as respectively. The next tool, n, allows you to select a modulus. The last three tools will change the display of the window. The first changes to the view screen where you can view and manipulate the image of the automaton, the second switches to the advanced counting screen and the third switches to the automaton setup window where you can change the options, seed and update rule for the automaton. We will discuss each of the screens in their own sections.


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