A Discrete-Event Simulation Course Based on the SimPy Language

Professor Norm Matloff
Dept. of Computer Science
University of California at Davis
Davis, CA 95616

Note, October 2011:

Unfortunately, I do not have time to maintain this site. It thus does not illustrate some of the latest features in the excellent SimPy package. Nevertheless, I believe you will find it helpful in learning about discrete-event simulation in general and SimPy in particular. If you notice errors or have suggestions, please let me know.

The SimPy discrete-event simulation (DES) language is an open-source project written in Python. The use of Python's high-level constructs greatly simplifies DES programming, and thus also makes it easier to learn DES

I have put together an online textbook which can be used in a DES course (or for self-learning). Copyright N.S. Matloff, 2006-. Permission to use these materials in teaching is granted, provided the copyright page is displayed in each unit. I would appreciate being notified, just for the purpose of knowing the materials are being put to use, but this is not required.

No prior knowledge of Python is necessary. Those without this background should read my quick Python tutorial (just the introductory tutorial unit), at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/python.html.

The material is designed to be presented in roughly the following order: