Hi. I'm pleased to announce the thirty-fourth development release of PythonCAD, a CAD package for open-source software users. As the name implies, PythonCAD is written entirely in Python. The goal of this project is to create a fully scriptable drafting program that will match and eventually exceed features found in commercial CAD software. PythonCAD is released under the GNU Public License (GPL).
PythonCAD requires Python 2.2 or newer. The interface is GTK 2.0 based, and uses the PyGTK module for interfacing to GTK. The design of PythonCAD is built around the idea of separating the interface from the back end as much as possible. By doing this, it is hoped that both GNOME and KDE interfaces can be added to PythonCAD through usage of the appropriate Python module. Addition of other PythonCAD interfaces will depend on the availability of a Python module for that particular interface and developer interest and action. The thirty-fourth release builds on the graphics improvements from the previous release. A number of small optimizations again reduce unneeded screen redraws, and a variety of redraw issues have been corrected. The newest PythonCAD release is the first release using Cairo graphics routines for entity drawing. If the Cairo routines are not available on the system then the existing GDK routines will be used, so only people running PythonCAD on recent PyGTK/GTK+ releases will see the change. The latest release includes the new ability to rotate objects around an arbitrary point in addition to the entity display improvements. Finally, a variety of other bug fixes and code improvements are included in the release. A mailing list for the development and use of PythonCAD is available. Visit the following page for information about subscribing and viewing the mailing list archive: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythoncad Visit the PythonCAD web site for more information about what PythonCAD does and aims to be: http://www.pythoncad.org/ Come and join me in developing PythonCAD into a world class drafting program! Art Haas -- Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. -Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822 -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list