Aspects of Modern Raytracing Application Design

Simulating the propagation of seismic energy in an inhomogeneous, possibly anisotropic earth model is a challenging problem, both theoretically and from the computer implementation side. While most publications in the geophysical literature focus on the theory, this paper illustrates how recent advances in computer science can be of great value to researchers who try to create numeric realizations of complex geophysical processes such as seismic raytracing. Modern concepts including object- oriented programming, combined with new and often free-of-charge development tools can significantly improve productivity and flexibility in implementing and exploring new ideas.A variety of issues important in wavefront-construction based raytracing are ad- dressed and it is demonstrated how modern program design may help researchers to more quickly produce better software implementations and free up time to focus on the fundamental theoretical problems.