You are tasked with building a distributed pendulum simulation in Node.js, which can be visualized and controlled through a React UI. The goal of this exercise is to evaluate your skills in server-side programming, API design, frontend development, and distributed systems coordination. The assignment involves both server and client-side components that need to interact seamlessly.

• Server-side pendulum simulation using Node.js

  • Implement a Node.js server which runs a single pendulum simulation with configurable parameters for: initial angle, mass, and string length.
  • Run five separate instances of this server, so the full system is composed of 5 servers, each responsible for its own pendulum.

• Neighbor Communication

  • Make each pendulum aware of its neighbors and monitor their positions.
  • Define a threshold for collisions; when a collision is detected, send a STOP message to all instances.
  • After a STOP, the simulation should halt. The pendulum sends a RESTART message and waits until all instances receive RESTART messages from all other instances, at which point each pendulum waits 5 seconds and restarts.

• Web-Based UI

  • Build a UI using React to render and configure the pendulums.
  • Add basic simulation controls: start, pause, and stop.
  • Ensure the UI periodically updates pendulum positions (e.g., every few frames).

• Provide an intuitive user experience for configuring pendulums (starting angle, mass, string length, string anchor).
• Use TypeScript for both the frontend and the backend.
• Add wind to the simulation.
• Run the whole stack with one single command.
• Write a few unit tests for the REST API and key logic in the Node.js code.
• Anything else you'd like to impress us with! Have fun!

• Share your solution on GitHub.
• Include a README with instructions on how to run the project.