Newbie question: Sub-interpreters for CAD program

[David MacQuigg]

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 16:56:03 -0500, Terry Hancock
<hancock at anansispaceworks.com> wrote:
>On Saturday 27 August 2005 03:21 am, David MacQuigg wrote:

>> There is a similar lack of interest in the academic community.  None
>> of this is likely to lead to publications in scholarly journals.
>
>I'm confused by what you meant by this.  Are you saying that academics
>are afraid of using or creating open source CAD tools, or that they have
>a lack of interest in tools development, because it won't generate papers
>(directly anyway)?

It seems like a lack of interest in tools development, because there
are no new fundamental principles, sophisticated math, or anything
that could help directly and in the short term to get a publication.
There is probably also a perception, shared with engineers in
industry, that the complexity of these tools is inherent in the task.
It's OK for a full-time engineer to spend a few months learning the
intricacies of a poorly-designed scripting language that works with
just one tool, but not appropriate for students.

My hope is that we can get a few good projects to demonstrate the
utility of Python in doing sophisticated designs with simple tools.
Then we will have a foothold in the Universities.  Next will be small
companies that can't afford a CAD department with 10 engineers
dedicated to tool setup.

--
Dave