GPSS - finding the appropriate world-view

  • Authors:
  • James O. Henriksen

  • Affiliations:
  • -

  • Venue:
  • WSC '81 Proceedings of the 13th conference on Winter simulation - Volume 2
  • Year:
  • 1981

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Abstract

Every simulation language embodies a world-view which heavily influences approaches taken in building models in the language. In most applications for which a given language is used, the world-view of the language enforces a discipline of programming which results in models which are time- and space-efficient, reflecting the usefulness of the language and the appropriateness of language choice by the programmer. For some applications, however, the programming style encouraged by the world-view of a language can lead to programs which are time- and space-inefficient, even though the programs are natural, straightforward solutions to the problem at hand. In such cases, one may be forced to consider alternative languages or to alter one's approach in application of a given language. This paper briefly summarizes the world-view of the GPSS language and gives two examples of systems which, when modelled with conventional GPSS approaches, result in inefficient programs. For each system, two GPSS models are presented: a straightforward model which is inefficient, and a clever model which is efficient. In both cases, the clever models are easily programmed in GPSS and require only marginally more skill on the part of the programmer than do the straightforward models. Once an appropriate alternative to the obvious GPSS world-view is found, the rest is easy. A working knowledge of GPSS is required to read this paper.