Introduction

In this chapter, we are going to start implementing actual physics. All of the physics related code will be provided within the chapter. A framework for creating windows and visualizing our Physics System is provided with the downloadable materials for this book. Things such as window management and graphics are outside the scope of this book. We will, however, dedicate a section of this chapter to exploring the framework provided so you can build new physics simulations without having to rewrite the visualization layer.

After we cover the framework provided with this book, we will start implementing our first physics simulation. In this chapter, we focus on particles, the laws of motion, and integrating the equations of motion. Particles are a logical starting point for physics as they have mass, but not volume. This will allow us to focus on integration without having to worry about things like rotation.