Talk:DataCAD

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(Untitled)

Some comment of the joyous CADKEY ownerships days at least deserves mention.... Also, that DataCAD was the only CAD platform endorsed by the AIA (year?)...

Another addition might be some of the original features that DataCAD (seems?) to have pioneered, that now may have been forgotten. Running "OSnaps" would be my first choice. The scalable screen (that is that the screen could actually be measured with a drafting scale) was vital in the days when drafting was tanstitioning from drawing boards to computer screens. I'm sure that there are other features...

notability established

Notability of the subject by WP:CORP is not in question: Amazon lists 10+ textbooks (secondary sources) with DataCAD as their subject. [1]

At least some of these should be cited, however, maybe in a "further reading" section. Since I did not read any of these books, I think it would be best if others pick a suitable list for "further reading".

Sorted as part of the Notability wikiproject. --B. Wolterding 15:40, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

An Architect's View

Datacad 3f or so from the summer of 1987 was a powerful professional level CAD Program for architectural design and drafting. I have been using the program regularly since that time.

The comment regarding endorcement and sales through the AIA should be considered ancient history in computer timespans since it happened before that time in 1987.

The advantage of Datacad in that era was that it used regular IBM PC's with MSDOS or PCDos, did not require a digitizer, only a mouse and an EGA card and EGA monitor typically, and some kind of plotter. Not terribly high-end. It used a "heads up" display, where the user kept their eyes on the screen rather than splitting attention with a digitizer as Autocad did at that time. Datacad also was somewhat intuitive in that the keys on the keyboard did things you might assume they would. The arrow keys moved your view to left or right. Page up was like moving your head away from the page. Line colors would toggle through a set of 16 colors by hitting the "C" colors one way and the opposite direction by hitting the "c". You would use the Tab key to switch between layers. The default operation was the making of lines, not doing nothing. There was a menu on one side of the screen and you could use function keys to access the listed items. The three button mouse used the left button to start an operation, the middle button to object snap to a nearby intersection, and the right button to disconnect or cancel something.

Datacad seems to have a loyal fan base in the US and Australia and they are quite helpful to each other. The current version of Datacad is 12, and it has the capacity of Autocad without all the encumberances. Datacad is a more specialized tool like a good fork and knife. Not something that tries to please everyone and ends up being, like eating a fine meal using the spoon on a Swiss army knife. Maybe not trulely written BY architects FOR architects, but a very good CAD program. IMHOWonderWheeler 05:50, 14 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Another's Architect's View

Agreed on much of the above. In it's day DataCAD was by far the best choice for most small to medium size firms. Truly large firms had some issues as the software lacked the ability to protoect files on a network. These issues were addressed by the development of a rather cleaver software developed by one firm who sold it to anyone who wanted it. The DataCAD community remains very giving and collaborative. While much of the innovative approaches that DataCAD introduced the CAD world to have long since been forgotten (you could actually measure the screen with a scale - now most kids don't even want to pick a scale up...) it remains a very viable choice for some firms.

A few screen shots might be nice... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.254.88.124 (talk) 17:58, 25 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]