Initial design and testing of the MicroMath Scientific Computing Environment (MMSCE) will be carried out. The MMSCE embodies an object oriented approach to scientific computing. """"""""Computational nodes"""""""" are defined here as entities between which data and other messages flow. In the MMSCE, the scientist-user manipulates computational nodes, automatically linking potentially diverse types of scientific computing tasks. These tasks range from evaluation of simple algebraic expressions to the solution of systems of differential equations, and include virtually any kind of computational task. A computational node generally has the capability of carrying out a single well defined computational task; they may become more complex however, and in fact nodes may even include one or more other nodes. Other types of nodes may act as data sources (e.g. keyboard or file input of data) or may simply have the responsibility of generating tabular or graphical displays. Users may interactively define, test, and interconnect nodes to construct models of arbitrary complexity. The MMSCE represents an innovative, new approach to scientific computing that has the potential of allowing the health science researcher, and scientists and engineers in general, to perform data analysis and explore model behavior that might otherwise be impossible. The MMSCE, as a tool for scientists, is analogous to the spreadsheet for the business person or the word processor for the writer.
