This document outlines the history of simulation software development from 1955 to the present in distinct periods: - The Period of Search (1955-1960) focused on developing unifying concepts and reusable code for simulation. - The Advent (1961-1965) saw the emergence of early simulation programming languages like FORTRAN, ALGOL, and GPSS. - The Formative Period (1966-1970) refined language concepts and the development of GPSS/360 in response to hardware advances.

1. HISTORY OF
SIMULATION
SOFTWARE
Shashwat Shriparv
dwivedishashwat@gmail.com
InfinitySoft

2. • History of simulation software is
based on Nance[1995].
• Breaks the years 1955 to 1986 in to
5 periods.

3. • 1955-60 : The Period of Search
• 1961-65 : The Advent
• 1966-70 :The Formative Period
• 1971-78 : The Expansion Period
• 1979-86 : The period of
Consolidation and Regeneration

4. • Later one more period is added
which is most recent period:
• 1987-Present:The Period of
Integrated Environment

5. The Period Of Search
(1955-60)
• Much effort was expended in the
search of :
• Unifying concepts and
• Developments of reusable routines to
facilitate simulation.

6. The Advent (1961-65)
• The simulation programming lang. in
use today appeared in this period.
• In the beginning there were:
• FORTRAN: Based on packages such
as SIMSCRIPT & GASP (General
Activity Simulation program )
• ALGOL : Descendent of SIMULA
• GPSS (General Purpose Simulation
System )

7. • The first process interaction SPLs:
• GPSS (General Purpose Simulation
System )
• It is used for quick simulation of
communication and computer
systems.
• GPSS got popularity due to easy in
use.
• It based on block diagram
representation similar to process flow
diagram and is suited for queuing
models of all kind.

8. • SIMSCRIPT(1963) which is influenced
by FORTRAN but later it uses its own
SPL.
• It is based on event scheduling.
• GASP(1961) based on ALGOL but later
it based on FORTRAN.
• GASP also used flow chart symbols
• It is not a language proper but a
collection of FORTRAN ROUTINES

9. The Formative Period
(1966-70 )
• Concepts are reviewed and refined to
promote a more consistent representation
of each language’s world view.
• In this period due to rapid H/W
advancement and user demands forced
GPSS to undergo major revision:
• GPSS/360:Extension to earlier version of
GPSS.
• Emerged for the IBM 360 computer.

10. • SIMSCRIPT II: it having adv in SPLs
with its free from English-like
language and forgiving compiler.
• ECSL, descendent of CSL was
developed.

11. The Expansion Period
(1971-78)
• Effort were made this period to
attempt to simplify the modeling
process.
• GPSS/NORDEN: a pioneering effort
that offered an interactive, visual
online environment.

12. • GPSS/H(1977): for IBM Mainframes,
later for minicomputers and PC.
• It compiled and reportedly 5-30
times faster than standard GPSS
with interactive debugging.
• GASP –IV(1971): It uses state
events in addition to time event.

13. Consolidation and
Regeneration(1979-86)
• It is beginning of SPL ,written for, or
adapted to desktop computers and
the microcomputers.
• GASP appeared:
1)SLAM II
2)SIMAN

14. • SLAM (Simulation Language for
Alternative Modeling ) provide
multiple modeling perspectives and
combined modeling capabilities.
• SIMAN (SImulation ANalysis )
proposed a general modeling
capability found in SPLs such as
GPSP-IV,but it also had a block
diagram component similar in some
respect to SLAM and GPSS.
• It run under MS-DOS constraints.

15. The Present Period
(1987-Present)
• For the growth of SPLs on personal computer and
the emergence of simulation environments with
graphical user interfaces, animation and other
visualization tools.
• Many of these environment also contain input
data and output data analyzer.
Shashwat Shriparv
dwivedishashwat@gmail.com
InfinitySoft