These are some scientific and some non-scientific articles I have written about different topics (computer science, physics, Linux,...). One of my main interests is visualization and other visual stuff and some articles refer to programs that are available for download with the articles.
This article gives a short overview of methods used for planning the
movements of abstract objects (could be a robot for instance) with several
degrees of freedom, followed by a complete discussion of a probabilistic
roadmap-based approach.
The algorithm described is well-suitable to many motion
planning problems in (mostly) static environments.
The article describes the algorithm in general terms and also
gives a discussion of implementation details and possible optimizations.
You can view the article as postscript
or html!
The Probabilistic Roadmap Planner is a probability-based method for planning the movements of abstract objects with several degrees of freedom. The article describes the algorithm and provides a visualization in the form of a Java application and applet that is well-suited for use as a teaching material.
This is a tutorial that explains how to create and install a
website/bookmark icon (favicon.ico). This article is accompanied by
png2ico, which converts PNG files to Windows icon resource files.
If you're looking for
a program to create a favicon.ico for your website, look no further.
You can find the program in the Utilities section.
The favicon howto is right here.
This article describes a completely visual representation of natural deduction calculus (for classical propositional logic). It is similar to the popular Dominoes game and does not use any textual formulae. This makes it accessible even to people without a background in logic/mathematics who might otherwise be scared away at the sight of a formula. The natural deduction domino game has been implemented as a Java program. This program demonstrates that logical reasoning can be done without any language or symbols, relying purely on the brain's visual capabilities.
Visit the Domino On Acid homepage!
There you can
read the article about the game.
If you have have a Java-enabled browser you can
play the game online.
Alternatively you can download the game
(with Java source code, licensed under the GPL) for offline use.
This article is a bit older and describes MDS, a program written for
teaching physics. It simulates the movement of particles under the influence
of Lennard Jones, gravity, Coulomb and quadratic potential. The program
was designed to be fun to use without making compromises in the physical
simulation part.
You can read the English version or
the German version.
The program can be found in the Old section.
Copyright (c) 2000-2010 by Matthias Benkmann