Imagine we have n particles in our "universe". These particles have a random initial x, y, and z coordinates to begin with. Defined by Newton's law of universal gravitation, each particle attracts every other particles in this universe using a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. As as result, these particles gain (and lose) velocities and change positions over time. The modelling of this physical mechanics is called a N-body simulation.
There currently exists many N-body simulation algorithms. Some are less advanced and highly computational costly (execution time in the order of O(N^2)) - but simple and easy to understand. Some others are more advanced and significantly more efficient (execution in the order of O(n*log(n)) - but not as simple and easy to understand. This articles focuses on the implementation aspect of the less advanced toy algorithm - for the benefit of ease o