What's next?
This workshop has provided only a short introduction to Monte Carlo. To learn more, I would recommend that you follow a workshop that uses ProtoMS to teach free energy methods. The workshop is available here, and the workshop files are available from here. I helped produce this workshop (with Dr. Julien Michel), and both he and I are happy to answer any questions you may have if you run into problems trying to run this workshop on your own computers.
Finally, while you have now learned a bit about Monte Carlo, and seen some programs, this workshop has not provided much of the mathematical background behind Monte Carlo. Daan Frenkel has produced an excellent book chapter that provides a complete background on Monte Carlo methods. You can download it from here, or from its original location here (this last link is to the complete book, which is well worth reading).
I would also recommend the following books;
- Understanding Molecular Simulation: From Algorithms to Applications, Frenkel and Smit, ISBN-13: 978-0122673511
- Computer Simulation of Liquids, Allen and Tildesley, ISBN-13: 978-0198556459
- Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics, Chandler, ISBN-13: 978-0195042771
- Statistical Mechanics, McQuarrie, ISBN-13: 978-1891389153
- Molecular Modelling: Principles and Applications, Leach, ISBN-13: 978-0582382107
The best way to learn Monte Carlo is to use it. Please play with ProtoMS (or other Monte Carlo programs, such as MCPRO or MCCCS Towhee). Read and work through the tutorials and then try to adapt the examples so that you can model your own systems. Above all, have fun!