Simulation

Computer generated or enhanced emulation of real world happenings. In the early days of computing simulation was largely a numerical modeling of factory operations, weather systems, planetary movements, etc. The advent of flight simulation ushered in physical reproductions of reality that gave the look and feel of being in a real world happening such as landing an aircraft at night in simulated airports around the world or simulated combat situations. Modern day multimedia computing has ushered in countless applications of visual as well as numerical modeling simulations. The high end technology for simulation today is virtual reality. (See also Virtual Reality)