Multimedia parallel programming tool for cellular automata systems

The Active Knowledge Studio group at the University of Aizu is studying, designing, and developing multimedia programming tools for various domains. These special purpose tools are developed within the frame-work of a more general environment (Active Knowledge Studio) and based on common design and implementation approaches. However, because of the orientation to different domains, each tool possesses its own features represented through specific multimedia objects and interface panels. In this paper, we provide an outline of our approach to programming cellular automata systems with one of our multimedia tools. We also provide a brief explanation of a user interface subsystem and discuss concepts and features of a program generator subsystem in this tool. We pay special attention to the parallel template programs supporting the automatic generation of executable codes from the multimedia specifications.