My Software Platform

by François E. Cellier --- 12/25/1997

Engineering Software

Dymola 4.0

Dymola 4.0 is a must have for all physical system modelers! It is by far the best physical system modeling environment on the market! Dymola offers an object-oriented graphic modeling engine with icon editor (Dymodraw) to graphically design your model. The results of a Dymodraw design are saved either as a Dymola model or as an html file. The former is needed for simulation, the latter for documentation and model exchange. The Dymola program is then compiled by the Dymola equation manipulation tool. Dymola collects the equations from the various objects, adds connection equations, and generates a simulation program in a variety of formats including Dymosim, ACSL, and SimuLink. The native (and most recommended) simulator is Dymosim. Dymosim is a C program. It generates output for either Matlab or Dymoview. Dymoview can display simulation results, but it can also be used as a post-simulation animator. Dymoview can save the animation as a VRML file for documentation and sharing. The Dymola environment is worth every penny you pay for it!

Matlab 5.3

Matlab 5.3 is a must have for all engineers! It is the best high-level software development tool on the market! Matlab is primarily a matrix manipulation tool. It understands linear algebra, and offers a wide palette of excellent numerical linear algebra algorithms. However, Matlab is also a programming environment. Over the years, an impressive number of Matlab Toolboxes for various purposes, such as control system design, signal and image processing, and system identification, has been developed by the top researchers in their respective fields. Check it out! Matlab is definitely worth every penny you pay for it! Students: Notice that there exists an excellent Student Edition of Matlab 5. You can buy it in the book store for less than $100. The student edition comes with the control, signal processing, and symbolic toolboxes. Most importantly: you get a thick book with instructions for how to use Matlab. The book itself is worth buying, i.e., you pay for the documentation, and get the software for free ... this is how educational software should always be priced! Check it out!

SAPS-II

SAPS-II is a Matlab Toolbox for fuzzy modeling and simulation. It is based on the Fuzzy Inductive Reasoning paradigm. Check it out! You can download the software from this page if you like. It comes as a zipped file.

Maple V

Maple V is a very useful extension to Matlab. Maple V is primarily a symbolic math toolkit. It allows to perform symbolic computations. I recommend Maple V over Mathematica because of its neat integration with Matlab. Students can buy a Maple V Student version for less than $100. Although Maple's web page talks about the student version, it doesn't tell you how to get it! You can order it on the web from Springer-Verlag. Notice that Matlab's symbolic toolbox offers only a kernel of Maple's features, i.e., you need both Matlab 5.0 and Maple V installed on your system to get the full power of the combined toolset. Most importantly: you get a thick book with instructions for how to use Maple. The book itself is worth buying, i.e., you pay for the documentation, and get the software for free ... this is how educational software should always be priced! Check it out!

Webpage Authoring Software

GraphX Viewer 1.51

GraphX Viewer is one among several programs to display thumbnail pictures of all graphics files in a directory. This is useful when scavanging the cache area for reusable graphics (such as buttons). It used to be freeware!

HTML Reference Library

HTMLib is a very nicely written help library for HTML. Highly recommended reading! The library was written by a 15 year old high school kid! Wwouuwwh! You can download the software from this page if you like. It comes as a zipped file.

HTMLib Color Wizard 3.0

The HTML Color Wizard is a useful tool for encoding colors for HTML. Neat intuitive user interface. The tool was written by a 15 year old high school kid! Wwouuwwh! It comes together with the HTML Reference Library.

InfoLink Link Checker 1.9

InfoLink Link Checker 1.9 is a useful software for checking whether all hyperlinks in your web pages are still accurate. You can download an evaluation version of the software from this page if you like.

IrfanView32 Version 3.05

IrfanView32 is one of the most useful freebees on the web! It allows to view almost any graphical image saved in the most obscure formats. This widely used tool was written by a student of the University of Vienna. Great job! You can download the software from this page if you like.

Screen Capture 1.4.7

Screen Capture 1.4.7 is one among a number of available screen capture programs. I use it, because it is a freebee (why pay for something you can get for free). This is how I produced the icons on this page. I simply captured a small portion of the desktop. Screen Capture saves the captured screen image as a BMP file. This is not useful, because not all web browsers understand this format. Therefore, I then opened the BMP file using IrfanView, and saved it once more, this time as a JPEG file. You can download the software from this page if you like.

Spyglass HTML Validator 1.0

Spyglass 1.0 is a very useful HTML validator. It is a freebee! It checks whether your html code is syntactically correct. You can download the software from this page if you like. It comes as an executable image file with self-install capability.

Frontpage 98

Frontpage 98 is probably the best among Microsoft's programs currently on the market. It does everything that any of the above-mentioned web authoring programs does, and it often does it better. For example, IrfanView only generates JPEG files, whereas Frontpage 98 also can generate GIF files. This is important, because large JPEG files tend to "bleed" due to the inherent data compression algorithms used, GIF files don't share this problem. InfoLink can check for broken links, but you have to test one file after the other. Frontpage 98 can check your entire web site for broken links. I still like the above programs, because they come for free. Frontpage 98 is not freeware. However, educators and students be aware that this program is sold with a substantial educational discount. Thus, don't buy Frontpage 98 from your regular book store. Go to a place like The Learning Zone (I haven't found a web site for them yet, but their phone number is +1(800)817-5728) to buy the software with educational discount. Check it out! The software is worth every penny you pay for it.

RealPlayer G2

RealPlayer G2 is a very useful freebee. It is a web movie player needed to display movies stored in "real" format, but capable of displaying other formats as well. You can download the software from this page if you like.

RealPresenter

RealPresenter is a very useful web authoring tool. It is a plug-in to Powerpoint 97. It allows you to convert narrated powerpoint files to "real" presentations that can then be viewed using the RealPlayer G2 mentioned above. This is not a freebee, but the software is fairly unexpensive, and definitely worth its money.

Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

The Acrobat Reader is a very useful freebee. It is a tool that allows you to display files stored in PDF format. This can be done through your web browser. You can download the software from this page if you like.

Adobe Acrobat 4.0

Adobe Acrobat is a very useful software. The software is needed to produce files in PDF format. Windows is capable of generating for free files in postscript format that can be viewed using Ghostview. To this end, simply print the file that you wish to store onto a file using a postscript printer driver. Unfortunately, postscript files are huge thereby eating up your diskspace fast. Furthermore, huge files are unwieldy for download across the Internet. The PDF format is much more handy, and also more powerful, as PDF files are searchable and may contain hyperlinks. The Acrobat Distiller, one of the tools coming with Adobe Acrobat, allows you to convert postscript files to PDF format. PDF files are usually about 1/10 the size of their corresponding postscript equivalents.

Textprocessing Software

MicroEmacs 4.0

Beside from the obvious textprocessors for Windows, there is one additional one worth mentioning: MicroEmacs 4.0. Emacs comes with TEX/LATEX (all versions), DviWin to preview the compiled DVI file, DviPs to convert the DVI file to a postscript file, Ghostview to preview the resulting postscript file, and a Spell Checker to correct your typos. It is a freebee for non-commercial users! TEX/LATEX are not as easy to use as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, but they are much more powerful! I write almost everything in TEX or LATEX. As far as I can tell, the distributors don't have a web page! Clicking on the icon gets you to an anonymous ftp site for download. Unfortunately, the installation of MicroEmacs 4.0 is not as painless and simple as with most Windows 98 software.

File Transfer

Norton Secret Stuff

Although this is rarely the case in academia, sometimes there arises the need for encrypting stuff that one sends through the Internet. Encryption is just another facet of data compression. The optimally compressed data file must look from the outside like uncorrelated white noise. The entire information is in the key. Hence, zipping the file with setting a password usually provides sufficient protection. However, if there arises need for more protection, it may make sense to encrypt the already zipped file once more using the Norton Secret Stuff encoder while setting a second password. This should provide enough security for Fort Knox! The tool is a freebee. You can download the software from this page if you like.

Winzip 7.0

WinZip 7.0 is a useful tool for packing an entire set of files together into a single compressed file for shipping them across the Internet. Unfortunately, WinZip isn't freeware, but it isn't expensive either. It's worth its price.

WS_FTP LE 5.05

WS_FTP is a useful tool for transferring files across the Internet from one computer to another. WS_FTP has a nice intuitive interface. The limited edition (LE) of the software is free of cost for academic curstomers.

Multimedia Communication

Netmeeting 2.1

Netmeeting 2.1 is a multimedia chat facility developed by Microsoft. This is an excellent program! Furthermore, it's a freebee! I use it to talk to my students around the globe. You find me on the channel ils.four11.com.

Virus Protection

Dr. Solomon

There exists a site license agreement between the University of Arizona and Dr. Solomon. The license grants free access of this software to all UA employees. Hence I use it! The software seems to work fine -- at least my computers still seem to be bug free as far as I can tell.

Money and Uncle Sam

Quicken 99

Quicken 99 provides full electronic banking. In particular, it is possible to upload bank and credit card statements directly into the PC. This saves a lot of time before April 15, when the next tax declaration is due!

Turbotax 98

Until last year, I always used a CPA to do my taxes. In the past, the tax programs had been so user-unfriendly that even a computer freak like myself needed a lot of time to learn to use them -- so much time that it wasn't worth my effort! The new version of Tubotax guides me through the tax declaration in exactly the same manner as my CPA used to do. Also in the past, I would have had to do the State Return by hand, because there were still too few people living in Arizona to make it profitable for the program producers to make available an electronic version. This has changed. By now, State Return preparation programs are available for all 50 States. Quicken prepares the data, Turbotax uses these data in the electronic preparation of the Federal Return, and Turbotax State uses the data prepared by Turbotax to generate the State Return ... the only unhappy person is my former CPA!

Reference

Encarta 99

The Microsoft Encarta 99 Encyclopedia is beautifully made. Requires a multimedia station to run in all its splendor. Although there are other encyclopedias on the market, possibly with more entries than the Encarta offers, the Encarta has the great advantage of being fully integrated with other Microsoft tools. For example, it is very easy to take any material from the Encarta and insert it in any Microsoft Word document. The Encarta is great fun for the whole family!

Research Organizer

This is an addition to the Encarta. It is meant to help organize research leading to a publication. The tool is directed more at K12 than at College level, but it is still nicely done! Requires a multimedia station to run in all its splendor.

Virtual Globe

This is an addition to the Encarta. It is also carefully made. Provides more information than any printed collection of maps. Also, the Virtual Globe offers different perspectives of all the maps. Unfortunately, one aspect is still missing: Roads! It would be awfully nice to be able to check from where to where there exist roads and/or train tracks. Oh well! One of these days, this aspect will certainly be added. I can't be the only one bitching! Yet, the Virtual Globe is certainly worth its money already now. Requires a multimedia station to run in all its splendor.

Bookshelf 98

The Microsoft Bookshelf 98 is in itself something like a small encyclopedia. Although less glamorous than the Encarta, it is still a nice piece of work. Requires a multimedia station to run in all its splendor.

The Road Ahead

A book about the future of computing. Very inexpensive. Comes with a multimedia CD Rom. Written by a person who not only has a vision -- but even the means to make his vision come true. It's kind of cheating!

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