Fractint is a freeware open source software package that can render and display many kinds of fractals. Its name comes from the words fractal and integer, since the first versions of it computed fractals by using only integer arithmetics, which led to much faster rendering on x86 computers without math coprocessors. Since then, floating-point arithmetics and "arbitrary precision" modes have been added, the latter of which emulates an arbitrarily large mantissa in RAM. The arbitrary-precision mode is slow even on modern computers. Freeware (also called gratis software or free as in beer software) is computer software which is made available free of charge and is not free to be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... The Mandelbrot set, named after its discoverer, is a famous example of a fractal. ... The integers consist of the positive natural numbers (1, 2, 3, …), their negatives (−1, −2, −3, ...) and the number zero. ... x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor architecture first developed and manufactured by Intel. ... A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor (the CPU). ... The significand (also coefficient or, more informally, mantissa) is the part of a floating-point number that contains its significant digits. ... Look up RAM and random access memory in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Different types of RAM. From top to bottom: DIP, SIPP, SIMM 30 pin, SIMM 72 pin, DIMM, DDR DIMM Random access memory (sometimes random-access memory), commonly known by its acronym RAM, is a type of computer storage...

Fractint can draw most kinds of fractals that have appeared in the literature. It also has a few "fractal types" that are not strictly speaking fractals, but may be more accurately described as display hacks. These include cellular automata. A cellular automaton (plural: cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory and mathematics. ...

The program originated on the MS-DOS platform, but has since been ported to X and Microsoft Windows. It is currently at version 20.0, and no new versions have been released for several years. As of early 2004, the Microsoft Windows version does not include arbitrary precision mode, and the X version is somewhat counterintuitive to use. Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... In computing, the X Window System (commonly X11 or X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays. ... Microsoft Windows is a range of operating environments for personal computers and servers. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

Fractint originally appeared in 1988 as FRACT386, a computer program for rendering fractals very quickly on the Intel 80386 processor using integer arithmetic. Most '386 processors of the era did not come with floating point units, so the integer approach was much faster. 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... An Intel 80386 Microprocessor The Intel 80386 is a microprocessor which was used as the central processing unit (CPU) of many personal computers from 1986 until 1994 and later. ... A floating point unit (FPU) is a part of a CPU specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. ...

Early versions were written by Bert Tyler, but were based on an even more ancient program for rendering the Mandelbrot set called DKMANDEL.ARC (written by J. Douglass Klein), although by the time of the first popular version, FRACT386 2.1, no original code from this program remained. A rendering of the Mandelbrot set: black points represent the stable points under the iterative map In mathematics, the Mandelbrot set is a fractal that is defined as the set of points c in the complex plane for which the iteratively defined sequence: does not tend to infinity. ...

In February 1989 the program was renamed Fractint. February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

It is written and maintained by the "Stone Soup Group" who took their name from the fable of the stone soup. With Emacs and Nethack, it is one of the oldest free software programs still being maintained. A group of programmers who created the free Fractint software. ... The fable of the stone soup is about co-operation amid scarcity. ... The GNU Emacs interface, running in a graphical environment. ... The Oracle level NetHack is a roguelike computer game. ...

External links

• Fractint official homepage