Development of a User Support Package for CPESIM II (A Computer Simulation for CPE (Computer Performance Evaluation) Use.

In 1983 a SLAM computer simulation was developed to be used as an educational tool in computer performance evaluation (CPE) and Queueing Theory classes at AFIT, Lack of user friendliness and additional requirements necessitated the development of a user friendly interface, i.e. this thesis effort. The interface consists of two programs: one for the instructor and one for his students. The students' interface allows them to modify and display the initial or subsequently modified computer configurations and to do a data reduction and histogram analysis on output software monitor data after a simulation run. Any student configuration changes are stored in an Ingres database. The instructor's interface allows hin to easily create initial configuration, the cataloog of available hardware, and the system's workload of one to ten jobstreams. He can also display any or all configurations of any or all student teams on his terminal or direct that display to a file for later printing. The interface as a whole is menu-driven, user friendly, and very portable; it operates on any UNIX system (which has Ingres and SLAM) regardless of the hardware (including terminals) that the operating system is implemented on. A student and instructor user's manual is provided. Additional keywords: Computer program verification, Validation.