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Why computer programming
- 1. Civil Engineering Skills Computer programming CIV1900 Dr Sam Clarke Introduction
- 2. Have you programmedbefore? A. Yes (C++, Java) 25% 25% 25% 25% B. Yes (Html, CSS) C. Yes (Fortran, Matlab) D. No A. B. C. D.
- 3. How this fitsin... There are 5 weeks of material that combine a short lecture (~ 30 mins), with a 2 hour computer class and a short quiz Today’s intro lecture & variables There will be two sessions (Wks10 & 11) that explain how to accomplish particular programming tasks The final session is more about computer graphics and introduces the programming assessment.
- 4. Assessment 1. Final quiz is worth 10% (wk12) Portfolio elements (printed graphics & code) 10% 2. 4 online tests (weeks 8-11) Unlimited attempts, 70% to pass. Each worth 1.25% You will not be allowed to proceed to the next Quiz without successful completion
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- 6. Contents for Lecture1 Why engineers need to program Computer modelling and its importance for engineering problems How to write an algorithm to solve an engineering task
- 7. Contents for Lecture1 Why engineers need to program Computer modelling and its importance for engineering problems How to write an algorithm to solve an engineering task
- 8. What is anAlgorithm? A. A step-by-step 25% 25% 25% 25% procedure for calculations B. A random computer process C. The music of algae D. The principle of how a computer works A. B. C. D.
- 9. What is anAlgorithm? How a computer executes a process Order Instructions Rules
- 10. On famous physicistRichard Feynman’s blackboard at the time of his death was the following statement: “What I cannot create I do not understand.”
- 11. Hence, an abilityto program or, at the very least, an ability to understand how programs work, is today a vital engineering skill that greatly enhances employability.
- 12. Simple Physics We will have a look at this later…
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- 14. Finite Element Analysis You will learn about this in 3rd year
- 15. Fluid Dynamics You will learn about this in 3rd year
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- 17. Uses Many of the examples we have just seen involve computer models of engineering structures. Modelling is a very important application of programming. Programming can be used to streamline a series of repeated tasks. (such as routine design)
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- 19. Uses Force Resistance Angle 1 Angle 2
- 20. Uses Can you imagine how long this would take by hand!!
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- 22. Uses Angle 1: 0-90°in 0.1° increments (900) Angle 2: 0-90° in 0.1° increments (900) 810000 combinations...
- 23. Uses Eachpixel represents a calculation Automated using computer programming
- 24. Limitations We can only formulate a model for a process if we have some understanding of the relevant physics. This will be a simplification of reality because we are unable to include all possible factors – we try to include those that our engineering judgement deem to be the most relevant. This is closure – we choose to close out some aspects of reality to focus on others.
- 25. Verification & Validation Verification is our checking to see that our model contains the relevant physics and that we solve the equations that we formulate for the processes in an appropriate way. Validation is our checking that the outputs from our model match our expectations of the behaviour of the real system.
- 26. Example In order todetermine the specification for a new bridge you need to estimate the probable 200 year discharge on a river. The traditional method to do this involves finding the largest event in a year and fitting a statistical distribution to these annual maxima. The raw data that your firm have been given are daily discharge maxima.
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- 28. By hand, theprocedure that we would follow to construct the annual maxima is something like: (1) Scroll down through the data finding the first and last values in a particular year; (2) Sort these data in descending order of discharge and isolate the top value (the annual maximum); (3) Write this value into a column in a new file with the year in an adjacent column; (4) Move on to the next year and repeat.
- 29. Programming All programming involvesis the writing of an algorithm such as that just given into a language that the computer can process and understand. The particular language we will be using is that for the Matlab software. Other computer languages tend to work in similar basic ways.
- 30. Repeating Stuff Known asloops For…. loops While… loops For… loops repeat a set of statements a set number of times. While… loops keep repeating WHILE some condition holds. We will cover this more in Week 11
- 31. For our examplefrom the discharge dataset, imagine we have 32 years of data, with either 365 or 366 days in a year.
- 32. Illustrating algorithms withflow diagrams Process Decision Data
- 33. Set Maximum to0 Leap year data Loop through NumDays Is current No Current year a leap N value year? o Yes NumDays = 365 Is this > Maximum ? NumDays = 366 Yes
- 34. Set Maximum to this new value All of the statements that we have written On completion of are themselves the inner loop write embedded in a For loop out Maximum for where the counter runs this year from 1 to 32, meaning that the annual maximum for each year is written out.
- 35. Over the nextfew weeks you will: • Be taught how to use Matlab and gain an experience in writing Matlab code. • Be given an engineering problem which you will have to solve using Matlab Thus, by week 12 you should be able to code up an algorithm yourself.
- 37. Next Week… Guestlecture on Civil Engineering design Peer Assessment period