Computer Simulation of Quantum Mechanics - Porthouse
The name of this file is README.TXT
This particular file is not copyright.
THIS INTRODUCTORY FILE
is aimed principally at MS-DOS users or anyone currently without a web
browser. If you do have a web browser, then load QUANTUM.HTM as a Local File
and continue from there.
Notice that we said MS-DOS. In versions of MS-DOS from 5.0 on, you will
find the QBasic interpreter available. You will need this to run the BASIC
programs present on this website. Unfortunately, DR-DOS (a rival product) is
not known to have anything equivalent to QBasic.
If you don't have QBasic available, then you may be able to pick up a
copy of MS-DOS 5.0 quite cheaply, since it is no longer a flagship product.
If you have MS-DOS 3.3, say, then if you upgrade this to MS-DOS 6.22
directly, you should find that QBasic is now available.
Apparently QBasic was not supplied with Windows 95/MS-DOS 7.0 in floppy
disk form, but it may be found on the CD-ROM version. Look and see.
Alternatives to QBasic include Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5 and Visual Basic
for DOS. These cost more, however, unless you already have them.
With QBasic available, you can run any of the BASIC programs on this
website, identified by the .BAS extension. They will all run on any computer
from an 8088 to a Pentium. The programs are aimed at EGA graphics, but if
you run them in CGA, you will still see something. We are believers in what
is known as graceful degradation: if you don't have loads of money to chuck
at the latest equipment, you should still be able to learn some physics,
increase your earning power, and save up for that flashy new computer.
You can look at the TXT files with any editor, or list them on a printer
for bedtime reading. You can do exactly the same with the HTM files. They
are just the same as TXT files, but have extra codes like and
which
mean something to a web browser. We have taken the trouble to lay out the
HTM files so that they are as intelligible as possible to someone who is
using an ordinary text editor to look at them. You can look over the HTM
files, and you will be able to read the text which was written to introduce
each BASIC program. Plaintext and HTMLese have been put on separate lines
wherever possible.
Here is a map of the web site to help you:-
Enter-> QUANTUM.HTM --- AUTHOR.HTM --- CHORIN.HTM
|
|-------- EXPON.HTM
|
|-------- BOHM.HTM
|
|-------- BOHR.HTM
|
|-------- OTHER.HTM
|
|-------- SUPERL.HTM
|
|-------- TEXTFILE.HTM --- TEXTAD.HTM
| |
| |-------- VERNAM.TXT
| |
| |-------- BOOKS.TXT
| |
| |-------- GLOSSARY.TXT
| |
| |-------- WPD.TXT
| |
| |-------- BOHR.TXT
| |-------- VORTEX.TXT
| |
| |-------- OOP.TXT
| |
| |-------- RAINYDAY.TXT
| |
| |-------- LINKPAGE.HTM
| |
| |-------- README.TXT (this file)
| |
| `-------- VIRTUAL.TXT
|
|
|-------- BASICPRO.HTM --- BASAD.HTM --- STREAML.HTM
| |
| |-------- ZIPAD.HTM --- UNZIP.TXT
| |
| |-------- BCAD.HTM ---- GO45.TXT
| | |
| | `--------- GOVB.TXT
| |
| |-------- WPD.BAS *
| |
| |-------- WPD1.BAS
| |-------- WPD2.BAS
| |-------- WPD3.BAS
| |
| |-------- DIRAC.BAS
| |
| |-------- SPECIAL.HTM --- DIRAC2.BAS
| | |-------- VEC4.BAS
| | |-------- DWAVEF.BAS
| | `-------- RANDOM.BAS
| |
| |-------- RELAY.BAS
| |
| |-------- RODS.BAS *
| |
| |-------- GRAV.BAS *
| |
| |-------- VALLEN.BAS
| |
| |-------- RFS.BAS
| |
| |-------- SECOND.HTM ---- KHI2.BAS
| | |
| | |---------- KHI.BAS
| | |
| | `---------- KARMAN.BAS
| |
| `--------- THIRD.HTM
|
|-------- FURTHER.HTM
|
|-------- VINT.HTM --- INSTR.HTM
| |
| `-------- SUPERCH.HTM
|
|-------- WASTE.HTM
|
|-------- BAUGH.HTM
|
|-------- HELP.HTM
|
`-------- SEARCH.HTM
The three starred programs, WPD.BAS, RODS.BAS and GRAV.BAS are recommended
for beginners. You will see that the two files TEXTFILE.HTM and BASICPRO.HTM
are probably worth listing on a printer and keeping by your side.
Looking through an HTM file, you will see at the start a lot of
bureaucratic stuff whose meaning you can easily guess. Paragraphs of
plaintext appear between the 'tags' and
. It is mainly this
plaintext that you will be looking at. Where you see text like
Dedication: In memory of David Bohm
this is a 'hotlink'. The web browser user sees the text 'Dedication: In
memory of David Bohm' in a different colour, usually blue, and if he or she
points to this text and clicks on it with a mouse, then the browser loads in
whatever the 'href=..." is pointing to. In this case, the file BOHM.HTM will
be loaded in and displayed. In this manner, the user can jump around the
website whose map we have shown above. You cannot do this if you do not have
a web browser, but it helps to know what is going on.
There is software available for DOS which will enable you to view HTM files
and jump between them as the author intended. A link to a website which
deals with this can be found in VINT.HTM
You may also see a hotlink such as
WPD.BAS --- 14 K --- 525
When a web browser encounters a BASIC program, it can be told to start up the
QBasic interpreter automatically, load the program and run it at once. Here
we have a book with moving pictures. This is the magical part of the
Internet. Max Born once published a book where if you riffled the page edges,
you saw a moving display of electromagnetic radiation. The idea wouldn't have
been too popular with librarians, but look what we can do now, Max.
The author welcomes comments on his website, particularly with respect to
the question of the Virtual Internet and graceful degradation for those who
don't have all the latest equipment.
CLICK ON "BACK" OR "BACKWARD" TO RETURN TO THE PREVIOUS PAGE
______________________________________________________________________________
This author's website is
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/anima/quantum.htm
His e-mail address is
100425.3501@compuserve.com
Fellow CompuServe subscribers may of course contact him on 100425,3501