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1 Proceedings of the 2013 Winter Simulation Conference R. Pasupathy, S.-H. Kim, A. Tolk, R. Hill, and M. E. Kuhl, eds OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND SIMULATION IN MASTER S DEGREES: A CASE STUDY REGARDING DIFFERENT UNIVERSITIES IN SPAIN Alex Grasas Helena Ramalhinho Dept. of Economics and Business Universitat Pompeu Fabra / Barcelona GSE Barcelona, 08005, SPAIN Angel A. Juan Dept. of Computer Science IN3 Open University of Catalonia / Autonomous University of Barcelona Barcelona, 08018, SPAIN ABSTRACT This paper presents several experiences regarding Operations Research (OR) and Simulation education activities in three master programs, each of them offered at a different university. The paper discusses the importance of teaching these contents in most managerial and engineering masters. After a brief overview of existing related work, the paper provides some recommendations based on our own teaching experiences that instructors should keep in mind when designing OR/Simulation courses, either in traditional face-to-face as well as in pure online learning models. The case studies exposed here include students from business management, computer science, and aeronautical management degrees, respectively. For each type of student, different OR/Simulation tools are employed in the courses, ranging from easy-to-use optimization and simulation software to simulation-based algorithms developed from scratch using a programming language. 1 INTRODUCTION Operations Research (OR) can be defined as the application of advanced analytical methods to support complex decision-making processes. Among others, some of these analytical methods are: simulation, data analysis, mathematical optimization, and metaheuristics. Thus, OR is an interdisciplinary area which borrows methods and techniques from many fields, including: mathematics, computer science, statistics, and business management. The objective of OR is to provide optimal or as-good-as-possible solutions to decisions encountered in an endless number of real life applications. These applications can be found everywhere, from natural and social sciences to engineering, which explains why OR is taught at universities and colleges worldwide. Their importance became very relevant in the past decades and even business schools found the need for offering OR courses. Borsting et al. (1988) emphasize the value of teaching OR in business programs as it prepares students to be OR consumers or motivates them to learn further to become OR producers. In the end, managers need to solve problems and make decisions, so they should understand the entire decision-support process. Horner (2003) gives ten top reasons for which OR should be incorporated in business schools. According to him, studying OR builds analytical and problemsolving skills that also help in other courses, and provides competitive advantage. This author also mentions that OR is a dominant technology that exploits the computer/communications revolution. Moreover, he declares Simulation within the top ten topics or techniques that should be included in an OR course for business students /13/$ IEEE 3609
2 Simulation is a crucial tool in OR, and according to practitioners and academics one of the three most important quantitative techniques together with statistics and mathematical programming (Lane, Mansour, and Harpell 1993). Originally, it was mainly used to explore different management scenarios and system designs. Thus, traditional applications of simulation cover topics such as project planning, inventory control, production, logistics, queuing, or scheduling (Pritsker et al. 1994). Today, due to the improved computer processing power, simulation also yields pseudo-optimal solutions to ill-structured problems, thus helping in real-world decision-making processes. Simulation is usually employed when systems cannot be analytically modeled, or when data cannot be directly collected. It allows studying the impact of changes in the system, as well as performing what-if analysis on alternative model designs, which may not be possible to do using the real system itself. In this paper we present several teaching experiences that involve OR and Simulation in master courses at three Spanish universities: the Barcelona School of Management that belongs to the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (from now on, BSM UPF), the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). In the first experience at BSM-UPF, we use a simulation game to teach a resolution method for a well-known OR problem in the area of logistics, the vehicle routing problem. In the second experience at UOC a purely online university, we explain how Java-based simulation and simulation with Opnet are employed as driving tools in final degree projects associated with a master in computer science. Finally, the third experience at UAB discusses the use of spreadsheet-based simulation and the Simio simulation software to understand complex processes in an aeronautical management master. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section 2 provides a short overview of related work; Section 3 describes our experiences with business management students at BSM-UPF; Section 4 describes online teaching practices with computer science students at UOC; similarly, Section 5 exposes simulation teaching activities with aeronautical management students at UAB. Finally, Section 6 highlights some relevant aspects of the aforementioned teaching practices which can be useful for other simulation instructors worldwide. 2 RELATED WORK As discussed in Faulin et al. (2009), teaching OR/Simulation is always a challenging task due to the probable heterogeneity of the students with regards their mathematical and programming backgrounds, especially in non-mathematical programs where students can come from very different fields of knowledge. Despite this diversity, in many cases most of these students have little (or no) knowledge of OR. The same can be said about simulation, heuristics, or programming skills. This plays an important role in the design, delivery and success of a course: the course must start from the very basics of the subject. Another possible risk is the students lack of motivation for technical disciplines. Engaging students is then an indispensable condition, and simulation just happens to provide such a condition. Simulation is widely used to teach topics or skills in many different areas such as architecture, business ethics, child development, interviewing skills, laboratory management, medicine, physics, engineering, etc. Many studies conclude that simulation games helped students increase their awareness of real world issues and comprehension of course subjects (Deshpande and Huang 2011). Chwif and Barretto (2003) discuss the use of simulation games in Operations Management, and claim that they should be used not to substitute formal instructional methods but to serve as a complement. According to them, students usually spend more time on the analysis and alternatives than the minimum required by the instructor, which shows the motivation they have for this type of tools. Ezz, Loureiro-Koechlin, and Stergioulas (2012) provide a good review of the benefits that simulation tools offer in different educational fields, and they focus on simulations in management. They also discuss the impact of simulations and cite papers that measure various outcomes of a simulation game. According to Freimer et al. (2004), a first course on simulation at a master level should aim to present fundamental issues and technologies that are critical to a successful simulation project not to create simulation experts. After all, most of the students will have to make professional decisions relying on 3610
3 simulation results to some extent. Altiok et al. (2001) discuss goals and educational strategies for teaching simulation. They expose what should and should not be in a simulation course. Another interesting reference is that of Stahl (2007), who explains his teaching experience in simulation for over 30 years at different universities and countries, and in different programs at undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Finally, Fonseca et al. (2009) discuss some teaching experiences regarding simulation courses at different universities using Internet-based education both pure online and blended learning models. 3 SIMULATING A VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEM AT BSM UPF 3.1 Context The Universitat Pompeu Fabra is a young, public and modern university founded in It structures its studies on three main fields of knowledge, namely: (i) social sciences and humanities; (ii) health and life sciences; and (iii) communication and information technologies. It has about 15,000 students and offers 22 undergraduate degrees, and about 25 official masters. In 2010 UPF launched the Barcelona School of Management to take one step forward in the internationalization of training in business leadership and management. The BSM offers 7 Masters of Science (MSc), an MBA, about 30 executive masters and various postgraduate programs. The first simulation experience we relate has been implemented in the course Management Science and Business Information Systems of the Master of Science in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Strategic Management offered at the Barcelona School of Management for the first time in the academic year This master was created on merging two pioneering international groups within the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the ICT Department and the Economics and Business Department. Its aim is to train professionals specialized in the use and management of information and communication technologies, something that has become increasingly important with the advent of Internet, the convergence of technologies and the new generation of personal devices. Its students have either an Economics or Business background or come from more technical degrees like Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or Physics. The program consists of four terms (15 months) that include a total of 19 courses. In the first term, there are two parallel tracks recommended for each of the two main student profiles (economics/business and engineering/science). The second and third terms offer a selection of strategic management subjects and tools. The last term consists of a part-time or full-time internship and development of the final project. The course Management Science and Business Information Systems is offered in the second term and has a duration of 30 lecture hours, distributed in 20 hour-and-a-half sessions. The course focuses on the use of quantitative analysis and information systems technology for decision making in problems from a myriad of different areas like health, finance, logistics or marketing. The course covers topics like business analytics, linear programming, location and distribution problems, scheduling and simulation. In its first edition, the class was composed of 18 students from 11 different nationalities. Most of these students had some working experience. 3.2 Course Contents One of the OR tools studied in the course are heuristic methods and their applications to business problems. One such a problem is the vehicle routing problem (VRP), which is a logistics problem faced by many companies in numerous industries. All tangible products raw materials, components, manufactured goods, etc. must be transported and distributed to other factories, warehouses, distribution centers, stores, or customers homes. Therefore, companies must design routes to deliver all these products. Typically, there is a central depot that delivers goods to a set of geographically dispersed customers that have placed orders. A fleet of vehicles based at the depot is available to serve these orders. The VRP aims at finding a sequence of deliveries (routes) for each vehicle so that all customers are served and the total distance traveled by the fleet is minimized. This problem has been studied for over 50 years (Laporte 2009) 3611
4 and has dozens of variants that incorporate additional constraints faced in real life. Solving a VRP optimally is very difficult as the problem size increases. Since exact methods can handle up to 50 or 75 customers only, one must resort to heuristic methods for relatively large problems. One of the most fundamental and commonly used heuristic is the Clarke and Wright (1964) savings (CWS) heuristic. This method uses the concept of savings associated to merging two different routes. At each step, all savings resulting from feasibly merging pairs of routes are computed. The algorithm takes the link with the greatest savings and joins the two routes as long as the new merged route is feasible. The merging procedure continues until no more routes can be merged. There exist many more heuristics that build on this savings heuristic to enhance its performance or to solve variations of the standard VRP. 3.3 Application and Insights The simulation of the VRP is played over two consecutive lectures. Grasas and Ramalhinho (2013) offer a complete and detailed description of this application and its supporting material. In this simulation game, students will be responsible for route planning in a fictitious company. They will be competing to each other to see which group can find the best results. To complement this exercise, an open web-based tool was developed. Figure 1 shows a screenshot of the webpage, which can be found at In the first lecture, there is a brief discussion on logistics and the importance of vehicle routing problems for companies. At this point, no solution method or heuristic has been introduced yet. Students are then presented a small case in which a manufacturer needs to distribute its products to a network of 20 stores located at different shopping malls in the Northeast of Spain. The case contains the postal addresses of each mall, the demand for each store, and the capacity of the available trucks. The students are grouped in teams and given 30 minutes to manually design the routes to deliver the products to all stores without violating the truck-capacity constraints. After this, each team must provide a set of routes. Our VRP webpage allows checking the feasibility and cost of the routes proposed by all groups. It is not rare to find groups unable to find a feasible solution within 30 minutes. Students recognize the need for finding some kind of methodology to approach this type of problems as they can imagine the difficulty of solving a real problem instance e.g., a company having to distribute goods to hundreds of stores. In the second lecture, the VRP is described and formulated. Students now know the complexity of the problem and its optimal resolution. To cope with that, we explain that there exist heuristic methods that can find relatively good solutions in little time. This is where we describe the CWS heuristic, and use it to solve an even smaller example with 8 customers. The webpage we developed has also a section showing a step-by-step application of the algorithm. To conclude the class, we solve the initial case with 20 stores altogether using the webpage again. The objective of this simulation game is twofold. On one hand, students learn and apply one of the most used heuristics in vehicle routing problems. On the other, they realize how important the use of advanced analytical tools is for decision making. These tools, or what is known as Business Analytics, are the core of most information systems that companies use. The game had a good acceptance among the students. Putting them in a situation that could be faced by a real company, and challenging them to resolve it in 30 minutes was an excellent way to motivate the problem. These types of hands-on experiences work really well in a class. It is a dynamic and interactive activity that breaks the monotony of regular lectures. In addition, it usually makes an impact on the participants, becoming what they remember the most from a course. 3612
5 Figure 1: Web-based VRP tool (http://vrp.upf.edu/). 4 TEACHING SIMULATION ONLINE AT UOC 4.1 Context The Open University of Catalonia (UOC) is a fully online university with headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. It was founded in 1995 by the Catalan Government with the mission of providing people with lifelong learning and education through intensive use of information and communication technologies. According to official data, UOC offers educational services over the Internet to more than 50,000 students, distributed in several undergraduate and graduate programs. UOC students belong to different parts of the world, but they are mainly located in Spain and South America. About 60% of UOC undergraduate students are adult students (over 30 years old) that typically combine their professional activity and/or family responsibilities with their academic duties. Educational services are delivered by a team composed of more than 2,200 instructors including UOC faculty and UOC online collaborators, most of these professors from other Spanish universities and 550 management staff. UOC uses an asynchronous and student-centered educational model and has already received several international prizes, such as the 2001 ICDE Prize for the best virtual and distance university in the world or the 2004 OEA Prize for educational quality. Currently, up to 22 accredited degrees and official masters are offered via the UOC Virtual Campus, a learning management system entirely developed and maintained at UOC. Some of the most popular degrees (in number of registered students) offered at UOC are as follows: Computer Engineering, Business Administration and Management, Psychology, Telecommunications, Information and Communication Sciences, Law, and Humanities. 4.2 Course Contents MISIO (Modeling and Simulation in Operations Research) is an OR course that is offered at UOC. The main goal of MISIO is to introduce basic OR concepts and techniques to computer science students. The 3613
6 course syllabus is divided into three main blocks: linear programming (LP), discrete-event simulation (DES) and decision-support systems (DSS). These blocks are developed and evaluated in four online collaborative projects, which are distributed along the semester. The first project is related to the LP part, the second and the third ones are related to the DES part, and the fourth project is related to the DSS part. The MISIO course begins with a general overview of the OR discipline and with an analysis of the basic linear programming concepts and techniques. This first part of the course allows students to introduce themselves into the OR world and its potential applications for solving decision-making processes in engineering and business management. In this part, students develop their first collaborative project, which usually consists of the modeling and solving of a set of linear programming problems. The second part of the course focuses on discrete-event simulation. Here, the course introduces the student into the three main paradigms of discrete-event simulation event scheduling, activity scanning and process interaction. In this second part of the course, which spans over eight weeks, students develop two collaborative projects, one related to the process interaction approach and another related to the event scheduling approach. Finally, in the third part of the course, students develop their final project. The main objective of this final project is to combine optimization and simulation techniques to create a complete DSS. Usually, this project requires the combined use of both LP and Simulation techniques in order to develop a DSS able to provide good solutions for a proposed routing or scheduling problem. 4.3 Application and Insights Students can select among several areas related to simulation to develop their MSc thesis. One of these areas is linked with the development of models related to networks and distributed computer systems in the so called Castelldefels Project (Juan et al. 2007a). This project consists of the development of a simulation model that accurately represents the real computer system that gives support to the e-learning environment at the UOC. This model must be developed with the help of network simulation software such as OPNET Modeler (http://www.opnet.com). The main target of the Castelldefels project is to provide the computer system s managers with a realistic simulation model of their system. This model will allow managers to: (i) analyze the behavior of the current system in order to discover possible performance problems such as bottlenecks, weak points in the structure, among others; and (ii) perform what-if analysis regarding future changes in the system, including the addition of new Internet-based services, variations in the number and types of users, changes in hardware or software components, etc. By involving themselves in this project, computer science students learn not only simulation but also how this can be useful in the computer network arena. Another exciting area is related with the development of new simulation-based algorithms for different combinatorial optimization problems in the fields of logistics, transportation, and scheduling (Faulin et al. 2008; Gonzalez et al. 2012; Caceres et al. 2012). These algorithms can be used as an efficient alternative to other approaches based on mathematical programming or even metaheuristics e.g., Simulated Annealing, Tabu Search, Genetic Algorithms, etc., which usually are more difficult to be used in practice since they require complex fine-tuning processes. Here, the students goal is to collaborate with their instructors in the designing, implementation and testing of new algorithms and their applications to routing or scheduling problems. Usually, Java is the programming language employed to develop these algorithms, basically due to its object-oriented properties, and its balanced relationship between developmenttime and execution-performance (Figure 2). Other areas are related with the use of simulation to improve queuing models such as contact centers (Faulin and Juan 2005), or to estimate reliability and availability functions in time-dependent complex systems, networks and structures (Juan et al. 2007b, 2009). The assessment methodology uses the principle of continuous evaluation based on scheduled homework. At each milestone, students must send their deliverables to the instructor, who reviews them according to the initial goals and provides the corresponding feedback to each student. 3614
7 Figure 2: Developing simulation-optimization solutions in Java. 5 SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS AT UAB 5.1 Context The Autonomous University of Barcelona was born in 1968 with the motto of establishing the following four principles of autonomy: faculty hiring, students admission, study plans development, and university s capital administration. It consists of 57 departments in the experimental, life, social and human sciences. UAB has more than 40,000 students and more than 3,600 academic and research staff, and it offers almost 200 qualifications among first degrees, diplomas, engineering degrees, doctoral and other postgraduate programs. UAB is considered the best University in Spain by the 2012 QS World University Rankings. 5.2 Course Contents In a first course on simulation addressed to students of a master in aeronautical management, the focus is centered on the potential applications of simulation for supporting decision-making processes at airports and aircraft management, i.e., the instructors effort is oriented to illustrate the benefits that simulation techniques offer to analyze, understand, and improve complex aeronautical systems. Thus, we usually employ a state-of-the-art simulator such as Simio, Arena, ExtendSim, etc. in order to facilitate the rapid development of interactive models which allow students to experiment with their parameters and estimate the system performance under different scenarios (Figure 3). 5.3 Application and Insights As stated before, simulation courses at UAB allow students to familiarize themselves with some modeling tool which also allows them to perform what-if analysis on a computer model by considering different values for its parameters. Typical systems analyzed include: access control points, check-in points, baggage handling systems, boarding strategies, etc. Additionally, some advanced students who decide to complete their final project master s degree in this field are also able to develop their own software simulators usually employing spreadsheets in combination with MS Visual Basic for Applications to be used in complex stochastic optimization issues such as the aircraft boarding problem or the aircraft turna- 3615
8 round problem. In the first problem, the best boarding strategy must be found among several alternative policies (Mas et al. 2013). Of course, several random behaviors associated with boarding passengers need to be considered here e.g., speed, number and weight of suitcases, number of passengers with specific needs, etc. In the second problem, also characterized by several random behaviors, the take off scheduling of an airplane must be decided having into account several trade-off factors, i.e., costs of each extra minute the aircraft is not flying and costs of each extra minute the plane is delayed with regards its scheduled departure time (Silveiro, Juan, and Arias 2013). 6 CONCLUSIONS Figure 3: Modeling and simulation of an airport control point with Simio. This paper has described several experiences regarding OR/Simulation courses in master degree programs. These experiences refer to three different universities located in Spain, two of them using a traditional face-to-face learning model and one using a pure online learning model. Some of the main lessons that can be derived from these cases are the following: (i) the use of a professionally-oriented approach is highly recommended in most OR/Simulation courses, especially in those masters with a noticeable management focus, i.e., instructors must ensure students understand the real potential of OR/Simulation tools applied to solving real-life problems; (ii) as the amount of OR/Simulation software available for education is large, one of the goals of any course should be showing different alternatives to students; (iii) the OR/Simulation software selected for a given course should depend on the specific master degree, e.g., in the case of management students, the use of easy-to-use and general-purpose simulators might be preferable, while in the case of engineering students an object-oriented programming language can be a good option to develop simulation-base algorithms from scratch; and (iv) in all cases, the use of illustrative case studies and a continuous assessment model is highly recommended, since they increase students motivation for the course and also contribute to promote a correct development of the learning process. 3616
9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (TRA C03) and the Ibero-American Program for Science, Technology and Development (CYTED RT0419), in the context of the ICSO-HAROSA network (http://dpcs.uoc.edu). Alex Grasas and Helena Ramalhinho acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV ). REFERENCES Altiok, T., W. D. Kelton, P. L'Ecuyer, B. L. Nelson, B. W. Schmeiser, T. J. Schriber, L. W. Schruben, and J. R. Wilson Various Ways Academics Teach Simulation: Are They All Appropriate? In Proceedings of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by B. A. Peters, J. S. Smith, D. J. Medeiros, and M. W. Rohrer, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Borsting, J. R., T. M. Cook, W. R. King, R. L. Rardin, and F. D. Tuggle A Model for a First MBA Course in Management Science/Operations Research. Interfaces 14(5): Caceres, J., A. Juan, S. Grasman, T. Bektas, and J. Faulin Combining Monte-Carlo Simulation with Heuristics for Solving the Inventory Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands. In Proceedings of the 2012 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by C. Laroque, J. Himmelspach, R. Pasupathy, O. Rose, and A. M. Uhrmacher, 274. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Chwif, L., and M. R. P. Barretto Simulation Models as an Aid for the Teaching and Learning Process in Operations Management. In Proceedings of the 2003 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. Chick, P. J. Sánchez, D. Ferrin, and D. J. Morrice, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Clarke, G., and J. Wright Scheduling of Vehicles from a Central Depot to a Number of Delivering Points. Operations Research 12(4): Deshpande, A. A., and S. H. Huang Simulation Games in Engineering Education: A State-of-theart Review. Computer Applications in Engineering Education 19(3): Ezz, I., C. Loureiro-Koechlin, and L. Stergioulas An Investigation of the Use of Simulation Tools in Management Education. In Proceedings of the 2012 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by C. Laroque, J. Himmelspach, R. Pasupathy, O. Rose, and A. M. Uhrmacher, 134. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Faulin, J., M. Gilibert, A. Juan, X. Vilajosana, and R. Ruiz SR-1: A Simulation-Based Algorithm for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem. In Proceedings of the 2008 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. J. Mason, R. R. Hill, L. Mönch, O. Rose, T. Jefferson, and J. W. Fowler, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Faulin, J. and A. Juan SimuCall: an Excel Add-In for Call Centers Simulation. Computers in Higher Education Economics Review 17: Faulin, J., A. Juan, P. Fonseca, L. Pla, and S. Rodriguez Learning Operations Research Online: Benefits, Challenges, and Experiences. Int. J. Simulation and Process Modelling 5(1): Freimer, M., L. W. Schruben, T. M. Roeder, C. R. Standridge, C. M. Harmonosky, and I. Stahl You Are Going to Teach Simulation - Now What?: Tips and Strategies. In Proceedings of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by R.G. Ingalls, M. D. Rossetti, J. S. Smith, and B. A. Peters, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Fonseca, P., A. Juan, L. Pla, S. Rodriguez, and J. Faulin Simulation Education in the Internet Age: Some Experiences on the Use of Pure Online and Blended Learning Models. In Proceedings of the 2009 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by M. D. Rossetti, R. R. Hill, B. Johansson, A. Dun- 3617
10 kin, and R. G. Ingalls, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Gonzalez, S., A. Juan, D. Riera, M. Elizondo, and P. Fonseca Sim-RandSHARP: A Hybrid Algorithm for Solving the Arc Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands. In Proceedings of the 2012 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by C. Laroque, J. Himmelspach, R. Pasupathy, O. Rose, and A. M. Uhrmacher, 275. Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Grasas, A., and H. Ramalhinho Distribution Planning for OM students: A Problem-based learning approach. Working Paper, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. Horner, P Course of Action. OR/MS Today 30(4): Juan, A., J. Faulin, J. Marques, and P. Fonseca. 2007a. Castelldefels Project: Modeling and Simulation of the Computer System that Gives Support to the Virtual Campus of the Open University of Catalonia. In Proceedings of the 2007 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. G. Henderson, B. Biller, M.-H. Hsieh, J. Shortle, J. D. Tew, and R. R. Barton, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Juan, A., J. Marques, J. Faulin, M. Sorroche. 2007b. J-SAEDES: A Simulation Software to Improve Reliability and Availability of Computer Systems and Networks. In Proceedings of the 2007 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. G. Henderson, B. Biller, M.-H. Hsieh, J. Shortle, J. D. Tew, and R. R. Barton, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Juan, A., A. Monteforte, A. Ferrer, C. Serrat, and J. Faulin Applications of Discrete-event Simulation to Reliability and Availability Assessment in Civil Engineering Structures. In Proceedings of the 2009 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by M. D. Rossetti, R. R. Hill, B. Johansson, A. Dunkin, and R. G. Ingalls, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Lane, M., A. Mansour, and J. Harpell Operations Research Techniques: A Longitudinal Update. Interfaces 23(2): Laporte, G. (2009). Fifty Years of Vehicle Routing. Transportation Science 43(4): Mas, S., A. Juan, P. Arias, P. Fonseca A Simulation Study Regarding Different Aircraft Boarding Strategies. Springer Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, Vol Pritsker, A. A. B., C. E. Sigal, and R. D. J. Hammesfahr SLAM II Network Models for Decision Support. San Francisco: Scientific Press. Silveiro, I., A. Juan, P. Arias, P A Simulation-Based Approach for Solving the Aircraft Turnaround Problem. Springer Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, Vol Stahl, I Teaching Simulation to Business Students Summary of 30 years Experience. In Proceedings of the 2007 Winter Simulation Conference, edited by S. G. Henderson, B. Biller, M.-H. Hsieh, J. Shortle, J. D. Tew, and R. R. Barton, Piscataway, New Jersey: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES ALEX GRASAS is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management in the Department of Economics and Business at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, and affiliated professor of the Barcelona GSE. He holds a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from University of Florida (USA), and a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain). He is also a researcher of the Business Analytics Research Group at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. His research interests include retail operations management, product assortment planning and vehicle routing. His and web addresses are and respectively. 3618
11 ANGEL A. JUAN is an Associate Professor of Simulation and Data Analysis in the Computer Science Department at the Open University of Catalonia, Spain. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, an M.S. in Information Technologies, and a M.S. in Applied Mathematics. His research interests include computer simulation, educational data analysis and mathematical e-learning. He is an editorial board member of the Int. J. of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies, and a member of the INFORMS society. His and web addresses are and respectively. HELENA RAMALHINHO is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Business at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, and affiliated professor of the Barcelona GSE. She has a Master in Statistics and Operations Research from the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University, New York, USA. She is currently a researcher of the Business Analytics Research Group and the Economics Healthcare Research Centre at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and also of the Centre for Operational Research at the University of Lisbon. Her and web addresses are and respectively. 3619
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text:
On 14-16 April, 2016, Seattle's largest and most ambitious cirque space, Emerald City Trapeze Arts, is transforming into a magical extravaganza of circus arts for Moving Day . This staff production is teeming with international talent and promises to be the best ever. I will quote ECTA here:
"Our international performers hail from POP Circus in Japan, Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba in Florida, Cirque du Soleil - Mystere in Vegas, Circus Juventas in Minnesota, and professional theatrical circus performances in Germany and Spain.
Our Acrobatic Archer, Orissa Kelly, joins us all the way from the UK where she performed for Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Saudi Arabia, and London Fashion Week."
Tickets are $25 for adults - unless you want VIP balcony seating at eye level with the trapeze action!! They are selling out fast - book your tickets here. Doors will open at 9 pm for the 21+ Friday and Saturday shows (which is when I plan on being there).
Honestly, I'm just super excited and in counting-down suspense mode to see this show. Considering that many of the performers are my coaches, mentors and friends, my heroes with whom I get to work with and learn from every day, there can be nothing more exciting than to see them rock it out and do their best!! If you are looking for an unforgettable night in Seattle this weekend, see you there!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- "Daemonic fury, bound into the shells of metal beasts and set loose upon the galaxy. Tell me, mortal: have you ever seen such a glorious sight?"
- — Unnamed Chaos Lord
A Maulerfiend is a Daemon Engine used by the Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legions and the forces of the Dark Mechanicum. Unlike its counterpart the Chaos Forgefiend, the Maulerfiend was designed by the Warpsmiths of the Dark Mechanicum for close-range combat. Maulerfiends thunder towards their foes like giant attack beasts loosed from the leash. The eyes of the beasts glow with the balefire of the Warp as ectoplasmic drool drizzles down through their great fanged maws. The Maulerfiend's primary limbs end in prehensile Power Claws powerful enough to tear an Astartes Dreadnought limb from limb. Should a Maulerfiend catch a squad of less protected warriors, they will scissor them apart or simply squeeze them into paste with a flex of their claws and a growl of satisfaction. Also known as Stalker-tanks or Scalers, these multi-limbed monsters have strength and agility enough to climb even the sheerest walls -- nowhere is safe from a Maulerfiend once it has the scent of the enemy in its nostrils. Unlike the Forgefiend, which is powered by an internal Warpfire Furnace, the Maulerfiend is powered and fulled by the rage of the daemon that inhabits it, and this amplifies the power of its weapons.
The Maulerfiend is also known as a "Stalker-tank" or a "Scaler" to Imperial troops, as these multi-limbed monsters have the strength and agility to climb even the most sheer of walls, and no place is truly safe from a Maulerfiend that has taken the scent of its prey. Chaos Lords often deploy Maulerfiends to disable or destroy heavily armoured targets, as the beasts will grasp hold of vehicles or emplacements and use its front Power Claws to hold its target while the Magma Cutters that protrude from its torso can focus the raw daemonic anger that burns inside it into a white-hot flame that can melt through rockcrete as thick as bastion walls. Many an Imperial Titan has been felled by Maulerfiends clambering up its legs and shearing through its joints with its claws and pinpoint magma blasts.
Some Maulerfiends serve their masters as daemonic battering rams that barrel headlong though the enemy lines. They defend themselves from counterattacks with segmented tendrils that whip out from their throax to crush and confound those around them who would attempt to stall their advance. These "Lashers" gorge themselves on the hot flesh of their victims until their blunt muzzles drip with blood in a twisted parody of feeding, even though they can take no sustenance from the flesh of men.
Once a Maulerfiend has latched on to an enemy war machine or fortification, its target's destruction is all but assured. If even a single Maulerfiend makes it to the walls of an enemy emplacement, it will clamber across the sheer faces, tapping with its claw-pincers until it finds a weak point before peeling open a large section and forcing its way inside. Due to their utility in siege warfare, Maulerfiends are used extensively by the Warpsmiths of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. Even the most redoubtable Imperial defences will fall into deathly silence once a Maulerfiend has breached the walls and set upon the fleshy morsels that lie within.
Ordo Malleus Departmento Analyticus Technical SpecificationsEdit
The technical specifications of the Maulerfiend have not yet been determined by the Ordos of the Inquisition.
Also SeeEdit
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (6th Edition), pp. 50-51, 81, 103
- Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost & The Damned by Andy Hoare with Alan Bligh & Neil Wylie, pg. 114
- White Dwarf 394 (UK), "New Release," pp. 6-7
- Games Workshop Webstore: Maulerfiend
|Daemon Engines
|Chaos Undivided
|Defiler • Decimator • Defiler • Forgefiend • Heldrake • Maulerfiend • Soul Grinder • Wirewolf
|Blood Reaper • Blood Slaughterer • Blood Throne of Khorne • Brass Scorpion • Cauldron of Blood • Death Dealer • Doom Blaster • Kytan • Lord of Battles • Lord of Skulls • Skull Cannon of Khorne • Tower of Skulls
|Blight Drone • Contagion • Plague Hulk • Plague Tower
|Doom Wing • Fire Lord • Silver Tower


text:
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text:
Sackful of opportunities
Draft offers hope for Pats to upgrade their pass rush
Credit: AP (File)
INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots have a terrific opportunity to boost their pass rush in April's draft, which is loaded with talent on the front four.
There might be a dozen players with first-round grades and another wave of quarterback-attacking monsters that will stretch into the second and third rounds. The Patriots could jump after one of them at No. 29, wait until their next pick at No. 59 or maneuver through the board to find someone to their liking.
They almost certainly won't pluck the top pass rushers in the draft, such as Texas A&M defensive end Damontre Moore, Florida State defensive end Bjoern Werner and Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. But there are plenty of other options amid a group that is still sorting itself out, some of which already happened at last month's Senior Bowl, continued this week at the combine and will progress in the next few weeks at pro days and private interviews.
"We all have different styles of play, and we all have something different that we can bring to the table," Floyd said of the draft's pass rushers. "It's kind of wide open, more than we think, so it's all up to the teams and what they need."
Regardless, the Patriots need to ratchet up the pressure. They got a lot of early production from rookie defensive end Chandler Jones, who recorded all six of his sacks in the first eight games, and defensive end Rob Ninkovich broke out with a career-high and team-best eight sacks. Of course, defensive lineman Vince Wilfork's All-Pro season led the way, so they have some good pieces in place, but the Pats need reinforcements.
The Patriots were tied for 15th in the NFL last season with 37 sacks. Since 2008, their most productive season occurred in 2011 when they finished 14th with 40 quarterback takedowns. And duringthe past five seasons, their 175 sacks are tied for 17th in the NFL. Essentially, they've been average.
Fortunately for them, the draft class is stocked with answers. On the interior, Utah's Star Lotulelei's stock stretches across the first round. Missouri's Sheldon Richardson, Purdue's Kawann Short and North Carolina's Sylvester Williams have good rush ability and could play the 3-technique over the guard. Short, in particular, had 191⁄2 sacks the past three seasons.
"I think it's all an even playing field for anybody," said Richardson, who is versatile enough to shift outside to the edge. "It's splitting hairs, really. It's all what you're looking for."
If offenses double-team Wilfork or Jones, the Patriots need someone to take advantage of one-on-one matchups to get into the backfield. Kyle Love struggled in that area last season, though a lingering knee issue could have been the reason, and Brandon Deaderick added a little burst in that department.
Ohio State's Johnathan Hankins, Georgia's John Jenkins and Alabama's Jesse Williams project as nose tackles who could take up some of Wilfork's burden. A reliable, big-bodied presence would give Wilfork more room to make plays and give him more chances to rest with a potential rotation.
The group on the edge is also difficult to project. BYU's Ziggy Ansah is viewed as an athletic freak with a similar frame to Jones, but he has next-level rawness. Ansah barely knew a thing about football until 2010, played sparingly in 2011 and had 41⁄2 sacks in 2012 before a big Senior Bowl.
Georgia outside linebacker Jarvis Jones was viewed as a top-five pick, but his spinal stenosis is a huge wild card in his stock. The Patriots could also look at LSU's Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery, UCLA's Datone Jones, SMU's Margus Hunt and Texas' Alex Okafor, to name a few.
This is a great time to need a pass rusher because it's a buyer's market.
"With Jarvis Jones and Moore and Mingo, all of the other defensive ends, I think there was competition (to be picked high), but at the end of the day, those guys are great players, are going to be great in this league, and we all respect each other," Montgomery said. "But at the same time, it's about who is going to be the best, who is going to be the (most) dominant."


text:
We decided to ask Cupid.com users what they think are the most important qualities in their partner. What's more, we asked them to tell us the qualities without which a relationship would be impossible. So, what is equally important for men and women? And what…
Dating in Belfast for Nature and Culture Lovers
With great museums, cozy pubs and stunning scenery, Belfast is full of fun things to do on a date if you're hoping to impress someone.
The Botanic Gardens are right smack in the city center, and a stroll here makes for a perfect second or third date when you want to really get to know each other. It's entirely free too, so great if you're on a budget.
If you're going all-out to impress a date who knows their Verdi from their Debussy, you can't go wrong by booking seats at The Grand Opera House for a performance.
To break the ice, it's important to lay on the entertainment. Black Box is something of a Belfast legend. Whenever you turn up, there's bound to be something on, whether it's a comedy show, live music or an art exhibition – perfect for soothing those nerves.
Belfast dating simply offers something for everyone, but if you feel you need a change of scenery, head for the countryside and go on a country walk, stopping to have lunch at a nice pub before heading home again.
Belfast Dating for Foodies
If a dinner date is on the cards, Porterhouse does some of the finest steaks in the city, while Café Conor does a great Irish breakfast, and is just a stone's throw from date-friendly venues like the Lyric Theatre and the Ulster Museum.
Or why not try making your own meal at a cookery class run by the Cookery School at James Street South? You can learn anything from how to roll sushi or how to mix cocktails like a pro. The ice will be broken before you know it.
You can also try themed dates, like going on a chocolate date where you walk around the city trying out different chocolate shops.
Feeling adventures? Turn it into a day trip and head out to some five star restaurant in a nearby town or village. There are gastro pubs dotted out around the countryside that are worth the ride to get there.
If you have been dating for a while you can always invite someone home for a nice dinner as well, or why not for coffee and cake? Like any good Belfast dating site we recommend you have the first three dates in public though to truly get to know each other.
A Free Dating Site - the Best Place to Find a Date
Free online dating doesn't really exist as all dating sites need to make money, so if they're free they're filled with spam. However, any good dating site will have a free trial so that you can find out if the website is for you. Otherwise, how would you know?
Cupid also offers a free trial. Whether you are looking for senior, twenty-something, or gay dating, Belfast has what you're looking for and you can find thousands of singles right here on cupid.com. Fun, flirtatious, serious, or lesbian dating - Belfast has it all!
So what are you waiting for? The city is filled with exciting things to do, so why not sign up to Cupid today so that you can take dates and enjoy all the things Belfast has to offer? After all, most cities look better when you explore them with someone who puts a silly grin on your face because you're in love.
Increase your chances of finding love
Men are usually considered to be those that should take the first step when it comes to starting a relationship. How many men would be happy for a woman to do so instead? Moreover, is it worth it if the man does not consider her…
The health of a relationship largely depends on the maturity of the partners involved. If you're with someone who acts like a child, then the relationship's health will suffer. But if two full-grown adults come to a relationship, you should be able to make it…
I think we can all officially say that Cupid.com just took online dating to the next level
George Matthews, NEWS CULT


text:
A prospect who flew under the radar in the Class of 2010 out of Wichita (KS) East High, Chaquil Reed has flourished in his two years at Butler County. Now, a number of Division One schools are calling on the 6-foot-3, 300-pound sophomore.
One school, however, has earned a spot at the top of his list - the University of Kansas.
Reed made an official visit to the Lawrence, Kan. campus in early December, almost immediately after Charlie Weis was introduced as head coach. Reed came away impressed.
"I liked the campus, I liked the people," he said. "All the teammates seemed pretty close and well-meshed."
Weis and running backs coach Reggie Mitchell conducted an in-home visit with Reed last weekend, and have stayed in frequent contact. Through their conversations, the big tackle has come to see an excellent opportunity for himself at Kansas.
His relations with the coaches, the school's proximity to home and the chance to make an immediate impact are all positives working in the Jayhawks' favor.
"(Weis) was just telling me that they need players that can come in and play right away at my position," he said. "And if I came to KU I had a good chance to come in and play, and I would also leave with a degree."
Reed will visit Troy University next weekend. Following that trip, he believed he would "pretty much" have things decided.
Stay tuned to Phog.net and Scout.com for more as Reed's recruitment progresses.


text:
Columbia Owens Downtown Airport
- 1400 Jim Hamilton Blvd
- Columbia, SC 29205
- Phone: 803-771-7915
- Visit Website
Columbia Owens Downtown Airport (CUB) (AKA Owens Field) is located within the Columbia City Limits, just off Rosewood Drive near the University of South Carolina and Fort Jackson. The airport is owned by Richland County, administered by Richland County Council through their Airport Commission and Airport Manager. The airport serves air ambulance flights, private and business aviation with some military flights. Scheduled airline service is NOT available at the airport.
- Price Range Maximum: $$ - $101-150


text: Betsafe Sportsbook feedback wanted By SBR Tuesday, December 2, 2014 Share with: SBR reported in November 2013 that Betsafe Sportsbook (SBR rating C-) confiscated €22,500 from a winning player. Betsafe initially refused comment on the case citing privacy policy, but eventually shared details of the dispute with an SBR analyst. Betsafe ruled that it had sufficient proof that the player violated their terms and conditions. Sportsbook Review published the following statement per Betsafe's request: "The female player was placing bets on live football matches and although she verified her account with documents from onset, on her third withdrawal our Fraud Team decided to carry out enhanced due diligence by means of calling her to ensure the legitimacy of the account. The outcome of the Phone Verification was negative. It was very apparent that she was being prompted by a third party. We continued to try and contact this player by phone numerous times after the original call, and each time providing more evidence that she is not the one managing the account. As a result we closed the account and confiscated the funds. This decision is final and has been approved by senior management." The player's only recourse was to launch complaints with the Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) of Malta and the UK Gambling Commission, where Betsafe is licensed as a sportsbook and casino operator. Betsafe players with feedback or complaints are encouraged to write to SBR at email@example.com. Players are asked to share their feedback on the payout speed, management, customer service, and bonus incentives offered by Betsafe.


text:
See more than just lines.
Advertising Agency: Adventa Lowe, Kiev, Ukraine
Creative Director: Oleksiy Pasichnyk
Art Director: Ekaterina Amirkhanova
Creative Director: Oleksiy Pasichnyk
Art Director: Ekaterina Amirkhanova
Neil Levy
Aug 11, 2008 - 12:32
i think it's cool. it reminds me a bit of the stuff done for the piercing parlor where posters of faces were put up over rings coming out of buildings and studs etc. but it's still smart and even though the media becomes very depending on finding the right spots, it would still get my attention.
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text:
Well, Here Goes Nothing
During a routine update of my Fedora 13 system, I received the following notification:
You'll notice, upon careful inspection, that the update utility would like to remove my kernel. This ought to be fun.
During a routine update of my Fedora 13 system, I received the following notification:
You'll notice, upon careful inspection, that the update utility would like to remove my kernel. This ought to be fun.
Regular readers of this site will know that I'm no fan of Rhythmbox. When I recently installed Ubuntu 10.04 on my desktop PC, I decided to give Gnome's default media player a few days to win back my affection. Unfortunately, while Novell's Banshee project appears to be moving ahead with lots of great new features, Rythmbox still suffers from the issues that I outlined in my now infamous lambasting of it, nearly 8 months ago. To be fair, the pre-installed version of Rythmbox is only 0.12.8 on Ubuntu 10.04 (the same one that I reviewed previously), while the project has forged ahead to version 0.13.2.
Regardless, I prefer to listen to my music with Banshee, and I'm itching to try the latest version. On November 10th, the project released Banshee 1.9.0, and it looks positively excellent. I decided to give it a go, and downloaded the source tarball from the project's website. Following are the steps that were necessary to install it:
sudo apt-get install intltool libgtk2.0-dev libgtk2.0-cil-dev libmono-dev mono-gmcs libmono-addins-cil-dev libmono-addins-gui-cil-dev monodoc-base boo libboo-cil-dev libndesk-dbus-glib1.0-cil-dev libgdata-dev libgdata-cil-dev libtag1-dev libtaglib-cil-dev sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev libgconf2.0-cil-dev libmtp-dev libmono-zeroconf1.0-cil libmono-zeroconf1.0-cil-dev libwebkit-dev libwebkit-cil-dev libsoup-gnome2.4-dev
sudo apt-get install libgstreamer0.10-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev
sudo apt-get install gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-ugly-multiverse
./configure –disable-appledevice –disable-ipod
sudo make
sudo make install
Banshee should now be installed. From your terminal, type
as a sanity check. Once the application launches, select Help > About and ensure that the version number is 1.9.0. If so, you should be good to go.
I'll try to post a full review of this latest version of Banshee within a couple of days. In the mean time, happy listening!
As sort of follow-up-in-spirit to my older post I decided to share a really straight forward way to use Objective-C to build GTK+ applications.
Objective-C is an improvement to the iconic C programming language that remains backwards compatible while adding many new and interesting features. Chief among these additions is syntax for real objects (and thus object-oriented programming). Popularized by NeXT and eventually Apple, Objective-C is most commonly seen in development for Apple OSX and iOS based platforms. It ships with or without a large standard library (sometimes referred to as the Foundation Kit library) that makes it very easy for developers to quickly create fast and efficient programs. The result is a language that compiles down to binary, requires no virtual machines (just a runtime library), and achieves performance comparable to C and C++.
Marrying Objective-C with GTK+
Normally when writing a GTK+ application the language (or a library) will supply you with bindings that let you create GUIs in a way native to that language. So for instance in C++ you would create GTK+ objects, whereas in C you would create structures or ask functions for pointers back to the objects. Unfortunately while there used to exist a couple of different Objective-C bindings for GTK+, all of them are quite out of date. So instead we are going to rely on the fact that Objective-C is backwards compatible with C to get our program to work.
What you need to start
I'm going to assume that Ubuntu will be our operating system for development. To ensure that we have what we need to compile the programs, just install the following packages:
As you can see from the list above we will be using GNUstep as our Objective-C library of choice.
Setting it all up
In order to make this work we will be creating two Objective-C classes, one that will house our GTK+ window and another that will actually start our program. I'm going to call my GTK+ object MainWindow and create the two necessary files: MainWindow.h and MainWindow.m. Finally I will create a main.m that will start the program and clean it up after it is done.
Let me apologize here for the poor code formatting; apparently WordPress likes to destroy whatever I try and do to make it better. If you want properly indented code please see the download link below.
In the MainWindow.h file put the following code:
#import <gtk/gtk.h>
#import <Foundation/NSObject.h>
#import <Foundation/NSString.h>
//A pointer to this object (set on init) so C functions can call
//Objective-C functions
id myMainWindow;
* This class is responsible for initializing the GTK render loop
* as well as setting up the GUI for the user. It also handles all GTK
* callbacks for the winMain GtkWindow.
@interface MainWindow : NSObject
//The main GtkWindow
GtkWidget *winMain;
GtkWidget *button;
* Constructs the object and initializes GTK and the GUI for the
* application.
* *********************************************************************
* Input
* *********************************************************************
* argc (int *): A pointer to the arg count variable that was passed
* in at the application start. It will be returned
* with the count of the modified argv array.
* argv (char *[]): A pointer to the argument array that was passed in
* at the application start. It will be returned with
* the GTK arguments removed.
* *********************************************************************
* Returns
* *********************************************************************
* MainWindow (id): The constructed object or nil
* arc (int *): The modified input int as described above
* argv (char *[]): The modified input array modified as described above
-(id)initWithArgCount:(int *)argc andArgVals:(char *[])argv;
* Frees the Gtk widgets that we have control over
* Starts and hands off execution to the GTK main loop
* Example Objective-C function that prints some output
* C callback functions
* Called when the user closes the window
void on_MainWindow_destroy(GtkObject *object, gpointer user_data);
* Called when the user presses the button
void on_btnPushMe_clicked(GtkObject *object, gpointer user_data);
For the class' actual code file fill it in as show below. This class will create a GTK+ window with a single button and will react to both the user pressing the button, and closing the window.
#import "MainWindow.h"
* For documentation see MainWindow.h
@implementation MainWindow
-(id)initWithArgCount:(int *)argc andArgVals:(char *[])argv
//call parent class' init
if (self = [super init]) {
//setup the window
winMain = gtk_window_new (GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
gtk_window_set_title (GTK_WINDOW (winMain), "Hello World");
gtk_window_set_default_size(GTK_WINDOW(winMain), 230, 150);
//setup the button
button = gtk_button_new_with_label ("Push me!");
gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (winMain), button);
//connect the signals
g_signal_connect (winMain, "destroy", G_CALLBACK (on_MainWindow_destroy), NULL);
g_signal_connect (button, "clicked", G_CALLBACK (on_btnPushMe_clicked), NULL);
//force show all
//assign C-compatible pointer
myMainWindow = self;
//return pointer to this object
return self;
//start gtk loop
NSLog(@"Printed from Objective-C's NSLog function.");
printf("Also printed from standard printf function.\n");
myMainWindow = NULL;
if(GTK_IS_WIDGET (button))
//clean up the button
if(GTK_IS_WIDGET (winMain))
//clean up the main window
[self destroyWidget];
[super dealloc];
void on_MainWindow_destroy(GtkObject *object, gpointer user_data)
//exit the main loop
void on_btnPushMe_clicked(GtkObject *object, gpointer user_data)
printf("Button was clicked\n");
//call Objective-C function from C function using global object pointer
[myMainWindow printSomething];
To finish I will write a main file and function that creates the MainWindow object and eventually cleans it up. Objective-C (1.0) does not support automatic garbage collection so it is important that we don't forget to clean up after ourselves.
#import "MainWindow.h"
#import <Foundation/NSAutoreleasePool.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
//create an AutoreleasePool
NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
//init gtk engine
gtk_init(&argc, &argv);
//set up GUI
MainWindow *mainWindow = [[MainWindow alloc] initWithArgCount:&argc andArgVals:argv];
//begin the GTK loop
[mainWindow startGtkMainLoop];
//free the GUI
[mainWindow release];
//drain the pool
[pool release];
//exit application
return 0;
Compiling it all together
Use the following command to compile the program. This will automatically include all .m files in the current directory so be careful when and where you run this.
gcc `pkg-config –cflags –libs gtk+-2.0` -lgnustep-base -fconstant-string-class=NSConstantString -o "./myprogram" $(find . -name '*.m') -I /usr/include/GNUstep/ -L /usr/lib/GNUstep/ -std=c99 -O3
Once complete you will notice a new executable in the directory called myprogram. Start this program and you will see our GTK+ window in action.
If you run it from the command line you can see the output that we coded when the button is pushed.
Wrapping it up
There you have it. We now have a program that is written in Objective-C, using C's native GTK+ 'bindings' for the GUI, that can call both regular C and Objective-C functions and code. In addition, thanks to the porting of both GTK+ and GNUstep to Windows, this same code will also produce a cross-platform application that works on both Mac OSX and Windows.
Source Code Downloads
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Originally posted on my personal website here.
When I'm not rocking out my ninja-like linux skillz here at The Linux Experiment, I like to spend my spare time working on SlightlySauced, a weekly round table podcast. When we started the show, we chose to host it on a simple Tumblr blog, because it offered a fast setup experience and didn't require much additional configuration to work well enough for our purposes. In light of this week's Tumblr outages, we've decided to move the show off of the cloud and onto the same hosting provider that this site resides on.
Since I find myself with a little bit of spare time recently, I've also decided to write a custom site for the show using Django, my new favourite web framework. If you're interested in trying your hand at Django development (and honestly, if you're doing web development of any kind, why haven't you tried it yet?), you can follow along with my progress here.
Because Django is a Python-based web framework, it includes SQLite out of the box. My web host of choice provides solid MySQL support, so I've decided to swap out SQLite for MySql. This requires that I install a local MySQL server for development purposes. Ubuntu has posted some handy documentation that I followed loosely. I'll repeat the relevant steps here for posterity and ease of use.
From your terminal, type:
sudo apt-get install mysql-server
During the installation process, you'll be prompted to enter a password for MySql's root user account. If your server is going to be public-facing, it's a good idea to enter a strong password. If it's just for development purposes, you can probably use something weaker and easier to type.
Once the installation has finished, check that your server is running by typing:
sudo netstat -tap | grep mysql
This command should output something like the following:
tcp 0 0 localhost:mysql *:* LISTEN 2556/mysqld
Note: This command didn't actually work for me. I had to remove the pipe and type just
sudo netstat -tap
and then search the resulting list for the MySql entry. I found it easily enough, and was convinced that the daemon was running and waiting for clients.
Once your MySql daemon is up and running, you could edit the /etc/mysql/my.cnf file to alter its configuration. Instead, I opted to use MySQL Workbench, a decent graphical management tool that is distributed by Oracle (the same folks who make MySql). I've used it extensively at work, so I'm familiar with it and comfortable with its quirks. If you care to use it, you'll have to grab it from Oracle's website, as it's not in the Ubuntu repositories. Luckily, Oracle provides a Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit *.deb that can be easily installed with GDebi. For those who care about such things, MySQL Workbench is a fully OSS GPL-licensed product, so there's no funny stuff going on with regards to licensing.
With MySQL Workbench up and running, you'll be presented with a screen like this one:
Click on New Connection under the SQL Development column in the bottom left of the screen, and enter the connection details of your local MySql server. It should be available via the loopback IP 127.0.0.1 on port 3306. The default username is root, and the password is whatever you set during the installation process. Once you get access, you can create a new schema and fire a few commands at it to test your setup.
Head back over to the Home tab and click on New Server Instance under the Server Administration column at the bottom right of the screen. In the dialog that pops up, select Take Parameters from Existing Database Connection and hit Next a bunch of times. The resulting window is a full MySQL daemon monitoring window that details traffic, the number of connections to the server, etc. More importantly, it allows you to set up user accounts and change configuration variables from a handy graphical front end instead of wading through MySQL's extensive configuration files.
I headed over to the Accounts tab and created a user account for Django. At this stage of development, you'll want to give this account full root access to the database, as Django will automatically create and drop schemas and tables as you code your website. Once development is done, you can pare these down to only those that are necessary.
Holy crap, that was a lot of work, and we haven't even gotten our framework of choice installed yet! Let's get on with that. The project has some excellent documentation on this issue. I'll repeat the basic steps here for your convenience, but strongly suggest that you read through the full instruction set if you encounter any issues or want to perform a customized installation.
Since Django is a python-based framework, you'll need to make sure that you have a compatible version of Python installed on your system. At the time of writing, Ubuntu 10.04 ships with Python version 2.6.5. Django only works with Python versions 2.4 through 2.7. If you're not running Ubuntu 10.04, you can check which version you have installed by typing
python –version
in your terminal. Once you've ensured that you have a compatible Python version installed, type
sudo apt-get install python-django
in your terminal to install version 1.1.1 of the framework from your repositories. Once the installation has finished, you should check the installed version. Since Django lives inside of python, you'll need to start a python terminal by typing
in your terminal. Once started, type
import django
print django.get_version()
If you don't see any horrendous-looking error messages, you're good to go. As a side note, if you type
apt-cache search django
you'll see that the Ubuntu repositories include quite a few handy Django plugins and applications that you might want to use in your projects, including a URL shortener, a user-registration module, and a contact form. Each of these can be installed on your system and included in any Django project quite easily. I'll probably end up using one or more in my project to save me some time.
Finally, you'll need to install an extra database connector for python in order to use MySql from within Django. In Ubuntu 10.04, this package is called python-mysqldb.
So you're up and running. If you're not familiar with Django, I suggest that you run through their online tutorial. It's well-written and provides a great introduction to some of the stuff that the framework can do.
Whatever you do, have fun! In my experience, Django makes web development a pleasure because it takes care of a lot of the nitty-gritty crap for you and lets you get on with solving harder problems.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Edit: Added an extra database connector package that's necessary if you want to use MySql with Django.