Category Archives: Reactor Lab history

Design your own reactor network in Web Labs

Flow-based programming, HTML5, Reactor Lab history, Software Development, Web Labs

The desktop version of Reactor Lab had a lab that allowed you to design a reactor network with units that you selected and placed on a flowsheet. See our Annual report 2005 at the Desktop Lab tab above. That desktop version was built with the development tool LiveCode. If you have a LiveCode subscription, you can run a copy of the desktop Lab you download from our github site.

We are focusing on our Web Labs, now that we no longer support the desktop version. Today we posted our web version of the networks lab at the Web Labs tab, Reactors, Reactor Networks lab.

This web version was built with simple Javascript with no added libraries. It works by inserting and removing html code linked to Javascript objects as units are added and deleted from the flowsheet. This lab is less complex than apps which also build flowsheets, such as Aspen Plus and COCO, but this lab is easy to use to gain basic understanding of reactors and system dynamics.

Below are three screenshots: one from the new Web Lab (top) and two from the desktop Lab. In the bottom screenshot, you can see a reactor network that utilizes both local desktop units and remote units, where the local and remote units exchange messages over the Internet during a dynamic simulation.

Reactor Networks in Reactor Lab's Web Labs
Reactor Networks in Reactor Lab’s Web Labs (2025)
Reactor Networks in the Desktop Reactor Lab, circa 2005
Reactor Networks in the Desktop Reactor Lab (2005)
Reactor Networks in desktop Reactor Lab
Reactor Networks in desktop Reactor Lab exchanging messages with remote unit on Internet during dynamic simulation (2009)

What happened to the desktop Lab?

Reactor Lab history, Software Development, Web apps, Web Labs, Web Site

As of July, 2022, I am no longer providing downloads of the desktop versions of our software.

After retiring from the university eight years ago, I stopped maintaining the desktop (standalone, executable) versions for several reasons.

The main reason is that web technology has developed to the point that interactive web apps can be written once, then distributed and run on all varieties of mobile devices and computers. One important development has been the dramatically increased speed of Javascript in web browsers, which enables fast computation and graphics animation.

Another reason is that I have chosen not to spend the cost in time and money required to update and build desktop executables for multiple operating systems, as the versions of our development tool, LiveCode, and operating systems change.

The source code of our desktop software is posted at our GitHub site.

Please see our Web Labs, for which the source code is also posted at our GitHub site.

Please send us a message letting us know what you think at support@reactorlab.net

Links to external sites open in new browser tabs.

25th anniversary of Reactor Lab this month!

Interactive Learning, Reactor Lab history, Software Development

Reactor Lab is a pioneer in developing interactive simulations for active learning. This is a screenshot of an experiment in the Lab in March 1993 – 25 years ago this month. The Lab was a single HyperCard stack. Click on the image to see a larger version.

RL_March_1993

Here is the same experiment in today’s desktop Reactor Lab.

RL_now

A brief history of the development of Reactor Lab through 2006 is available at LiveCode Journal (hit browser back button to return here). The article refers to Revolution, which was LiveCode’s previous name. LiveCode is the development tool used to build the desktop version of ReactorLab.

23 years of Reactor Lab and interactive simulations for active learning

Interactive Learning, Reactor Lab history, Software Development

Reactor Lab is a pioneer in developing interactive simulations for active learning. This is a screenshot of an experiment in the Lab in March 1993, when the Lab was a single HyperCard stack. The screenshot was taken after it was converted to a LiveCode stack to keep it alive and operable on today’s computers. Click on the image to see a larger version.

RL_March_1993

Here is the same experiment in today’s Reactor Lab.

RL_now

A brief history of the development of Reactor Lab through 2006 is available at LiveCode Journal. The article refers to Revolution, which was LiveCode’s previous name.