Using python for a CAD program

[Redefined Horizons]

This is a very interesting discussion. :]

I regularly use CAD and GIS programs at work, and have dabbled in
traditional RDBMS design. I ran into a problem with an open source GIS
program I work with, that reads all features in a shapefile into memory.
This limits the use of the program, given the size of many geospatial data
sets.

I decided we needed to implement a system for storage of features and
geometries that would overcome this memory limitation. I looked at existing
RDBMS and Object-Oriented Databases and decided it would be better to start
from scratch. I am designing an object oriented-database that will work with
CAD and GIS systems. The first implementation will be in Java, but I hope to
create an implementation in Python as well.

It will have features like undo/redo (transactions) and mulit-user access. I
am no expert programmer, so I'm not sure how great this will work, but I
know it will be better than the system we have now.

Scott Huey


On 5/22/06, baalbek <rcs at bgoark.no> wrote:
>
> David Cuthbert wrote:
>
> > This does not mean the design itself should be stored as an RDBMS.  As
> > I've stated previously, CAD data (both electrical and, it appears,
> > mechanical) does not lend itself to RDBMS relationship modeling.
>
> I simply do not agree with this.
>
> A CAD program (like Autocad) is nothing
> but an advanced database editor: the program loads data from a binary
> file and creates its object (in memory) from the tables that it reads
> from the file on the disk.
>
> The point is that this could as well have been stored on tables in a
> RDBMS; the process of loading the object once the data has been fetched
> (either from a binary file, or a RDBMS) the process is similar.
>
> The advantage of having the data stored in a RDBMS is many, amongst them
> the ability to check-out just the data one needs, better administration
> of the drawings (consistent plotting, dimensioning styles, fonts, etc)
> and a much better tool for gathering statistics of the project (sums of
> areas, rooms, doors, etc etc).
>
> What happens in the CAD program (once loaded in memory) is simply
> irrelevant to how the data are stored.
>
> Regards,
> Baalbek
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>
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