Speaker:   Andrew Szilard, (Western University - Emeritus)
Title:    Recursive Designs

Location:  CS Auditorium (#127)
           Goldberg Computer Science Building
	   Dalhousie University
           6050 University Avenue, Halifax

Abstract:

More than a hundred years ago, starting with G. Peano and followed by D. Hilbert, H. von Koch, W. Sierpiński, mathematicians were forced to realise that curves of potentially infinite length can be constructed by iterating simple geometric transformation rules, that these curves can be approximated by fractured lines and that some of these curves were space-filling as they could go arbitrarily close to any point in a closed region of the plane, as if they were two-dimensional. These curves, while only mathematical curiosities at first, were termed as monster curves for their peculiar properties such as being nowhere differentiable.

The study of these curves gave rise to some useful applications. Lindenmayer systems (aka L-systems) of parallel rewriting and recursive turtle graphics made possible a concise definition, analysis and simple implementations of these curves using only a few lines of program code. Recursive tiling of planar regions are intimately related to these curves. A number of illustrated programming examples are given through graphical interpretation of L-systems.

Brief Bio:

Prof. Andrew (Andy) Szilard, received his Ph.D at Western University in 1974, where he taught in the Dept. of Computer Science from 1969 until 2000. Recipient of many awards, including for teaching, Andy as Professor Emeritus, is active in international Computer Science conferences. His latest publication on Programming Examples of Space-fillingCurves is the subject of the talk.

Host:  Jamie Blustein    jamie@cs.dal.ca