ME 290 - Computer Programming Applications
Introduction

ME 290 is an undergraduate class whose purpose is to introduce the concepts of programming to mechanical engineers.

Mechanical Engineers have traditionally concerned themselves with the design, analysis and manufacturing of mechanical devices. Objects of such studies include everything from automobiles and airplanes to photocopy machines and coffee pots. In fact, any machine that requires energy (gas, electric, heat) and has parts that either move (pistons), or bend (wing of a plane) is a proper focus of the study of mechanical engineering. The field of mechanical engineering depends on several sub-disciplines.

• The discipline concerned with the motion of objects is called kinematics: this word comes from the Greek and literally means the study of motion.
• The discipline concerned with the motion of objects and the forces that produce them is called dynamics: this word comes from the Greek and means the study of power.
• Naturally, materials can move and deform, and they do so with energy. Thus, the study of mechanical engineering is also concerned with the study of energy. This is called: Thermodynamics: how energy is converted into motion. In addition, some aspects of mechanical engineering are concerned with fluids, how they flow, and how fluids re-distributed heat and energy.

Together, these studies, and several others are the foundation of the field of mechanical engineering.

All of the above fields of study can be formulated in terms of mathematical equations that involve the calculus. Often, these equations are quite complicated to solve. Sometimes they are so complicated, their solution requires the use of computers.

To solve complicated equations using computers, the equations have to be very well organized (the process of doing this is called: writing an algorithm). Next, one has to translate the algorithm into a language the computer understands. The language understood by all computers is the binary language.

Consider the following: A computer understands a language called binary. So if we write a computer program in English, one needs to translate that into binary (because humans do not speak Binary and computers do not speak English). ). In between the high level language that we, as humans, speak (i.e., English or Spanish), and the language that computers speak (binary), are a series of intermediate languages. So if we, as scientists, choose to ask a computer for assistance in solving the equations of mechanical engineers, we tend to make the request in one of these intermediate languages. Sometimes, engineers and scientists do not even bother to write a computer program in English: they use a language that is higher up on the scale (but even then, that language must be translated and then translated again and again until it appears in binary so the computer can understand it.

One can use software packages such as Mathematica and Matlab to solve the equations. But if one does that, then that must then be translated and then translated again. The ìcloserî the original language is to Binary, the faster the computer can solve it. So, if you write your algorithm in a computer language that is just a few steps away from Binary (such as FORTRAN, C, PASCAL, ADA), then, with just one translation, the instructions appear in binary and the computer can understand it.

Practically speaking most mechanical engineers today only need the higher level tools such as Matlab or Mathematica. So why, then, do we study language such as C or FORTRAN or Java? We study these languages for two reasons. First, if we understand how the basic lanagues work, it will be very easy to gain an intuitive understanding of how the higher level tools work (for those higher level tools are, themselves, written in C and FORTRAN). But there is a much more important reason to learn these languages: agility.

Today, machines are different; they are not just mechanical. Today's machines have processing units just like computers. Today's machines can think. So if tomorrow's engineers must design thinking machines, it is better for tomorrow's engineers to understand how computers think. And that is made much easier if one understands a language close to the "heart and soul" of a computer.