Mandelbrot Explorer

Mandelbrot fractal

The Mandelbrot Explorer is a simple application used to investigate multithreading in GUI applications. It paints the Mandelbrot fractal using a customizable number of threads, reporting the amount of time it takes to calculate and paint the fractal.

On multicore systems the fractal is computed in different cores, so you can verify Amdahl's Law yourself.

The application has different features:

  • Serves as an example on how to use the SwingWorker library
  • Partially blocks user input by presenting a translucid GlassPane with a button.
  • An example on how to use alpha transparency.
  • Serves an example on how to separate the model, the view and the controller in Swing applications.
  • Serves me as a basis to build graphical applications that need different tools (zoom, move, etc.) that are switched by using a JLayeredPane.
  • Serves as an example on how to use Java's image tools to save a Graphics object as a PNG or JPG image.
  • Serves as an example on how to use an indexed color map to show different colors, ranging from dark red to yellow.
  • Serves as an example on how to use custom fonts in Swing applications.

The application is hosted in my old Sun blog.