home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- antithetic variable: X and Y are antithetic for a probability
- distribution with cumulative function F if
- F(X) = 1 - F(Y). Antithetic streams can be governed by
- SETANT.
-
- attribute: is a numerical characteristic of the entities, e.g.
- size, color code in a floating point number. Attributes
- may differ among entities. They are updated/initiated for
- current entity to v by SETA(v). They can be accessed by
- A(n), AIC(r,n), AIQ(m,r,n).
-
- calendar: a list of scheduled or created, entities, that is
- entities whose events occure at some simulted time in the
- future. The calendar is created by calling INIQUE(q,b,s).
- Entities are put on the calendar by CREATE(g,i) or
- SCHED(g,e,i). Entities are removed from the calendar by
- NEXTEV() or REMVFC(r).
-
- current entity: the entity under present treatment. There must be
- at most one such entity at each time. Its number at any
- time is given by NCEN(). An entity becomes current after
- calling one of: NEXTEV(), REMVFC(r), REMVFQ(m,r)
- and stops being current after
- calling one of: DISPOS(), QUEUE(m,p), SCHED(g,e,i).
-
- discipline: the ordering of entities in a queue, may be one of:
- FIFO=first in first out, LIFO=first in last out,
- SVF=smallest value first, BVF=biggest value first.
- Ties are broken for BVF by FIFO and for SVF by LIFO. The
- discipline is set in SETQDC.
-
- entity: the basic constituent of simulation which undergoes a few
- processes in time like a customer, a part, a pellet, etc.
-
- event: an occurrence of a specific operation at a certain time,
- like arrival, end of servicing, etc.
-
- event code: a nonnegative integer (0, 1, 2, etc) characterizing
- an event. Event code 1 is preserved for the arrival
- event and is generated by CREATE, while 0 means that no
- more events should be considered. Any other event has a
- distinct code larger than 1 determined by the second
- parameter of SCHED. Examples are: 2 for
-
- event loop: "case loop" (or its equivalent in FORTRAN) which is
- driven by the entities in the calendar and function
- NEXTEV() which removes the entity from the calendar whose
- event time is closest to present simulated time and makes
- it current. NEXTEV() returns the event code of the entity,
- which is directed to its respective label (such as
- ARRIVL). Event code 0 causes to exit the event loop.
- NEXTEV() returns 0 when the calendar is empty or time set
- by SIMEND arrived.
-
- id, identity: is used to differentiate between various kinds of
- entities, e.g. parts, pellets and transporters on a
- factory floor as integers. They are set to i by
- CREATE(g,i), SCHED(g,e,i), SETIDE(i).
-
- queue: A buffer where entities are waiting. QUEUE places the
- current entity to a queue while REMVFQ removes it.
-
- priority: a number which determines the rank of an entity in a
- queue having a BVF or SVF discipline - the entities are
- sorted by their priorities.
-
- random stream: the sequence of pseudo random variates. It is a
- function of only the first variate and the given
- generator.
-
- rank: the place of entity in calendar or queue.
-
- returned value: the value returned by a (non void) function.
-
- run: simulation of a certain length.
-
- seed: the first variate of a random stream, set by SETSEE.
-
- simulated time: time that the simulator's clock shows, not
- related to real time or computation time.
-
- stochastic process: is a variable which changes at some points of
- time and we are interested in its time average rather
- than its simple average. An example is inventory: if
- first three days we have 5 units, and the fourth day only
- 3 then the time average is (5*3 + 3*1)/4 = 4.5 and while
- the simple average is (5 + 3)/2 = 4.
-
- subroutine: a procedure or function.
-
- time persistent statistic: a statistic about a stochastic
- process.
-
- transient period: is the time needed to "warm up" the system from
- a "cold start".