The Concept

The following issues had to be considered for the implementation:

• From the outset, the implementation was seen as a prototype for the suggested model. It was inevitable that alterations would need to be made during the project, and this required the development of a flexible implementation.
• One area of interest was to investigate the generalization performance on large input spaces. This requires a fast and efficient implementation.
• In order to compare the monolithic network with the modular system it was desirable to have the same implementation for both.
• It would also be advantageous to be able to use the implementation to model different modular architectures. This implies the development of a `construction kit' form of the implementation.

These constraints as well as the hardware available led to the decision to use the C$++$ programming language. This provided an object-oriented environment, that was both flexible and fast. Another advantage of C$++$ that was used, is the portability of the language.