About Open Source Physics:
Library

Library

Although there are many computer-based resources for teaching physics, few are based on an object-oriented open source code library.  What is needed by the physics education community is not another computer program (although programs are essential), but a synthesis of curriculum development, computational physics, computer science, and physics education research that will be useful for students and adaptable for teachers wishing to write their own simulations and develop their own curricular material.  The Open Source Physics (OSP) project was established to meet this need.  OSP is an NSF-funded curriculum development project that is developing and distributing a code library, programs, and examples of computer-based interactive curricular material.

OSP includes a free Java class library for writing computer simulations, including:

• Scatter and line plots, histograms
• Lattices, vector fields, scalar fields, complex fields, contour plots
• User-interface components for handling input and output
• Tooltips, zooming, mouse event handling
• Drawing framework for easily performing custom visualizations
• Ordinary differential equation (ODE) solvers
• Three-dimensional drawing framework
• Record your simulations and save them as QuickTime movies using Tracker
• Embed simulations in a web page
• Export directly to postscript using the EPS Graphics2D package
• Save the state of a simulation in XML

Source code is under being distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. 

Screen Shots

Scatter Plot	Lattice
Histogram	Vector Field