I read in the December 2016 BSS Bulletin about OpenSCAD. So I had to try it.
My website has notes and working sundial programs for DeltaCAD, NanoCAD,
FreeCAD, Blender, ProgeCAD, TurboCAD, and PowerDRAW (includes my trig
functions). So I decided to try OpenSCAD.
I have a 2D depiction of a horizontal sundial and notes on writing 2D
programs for OpenSCAD. The assignment of variables is similar to TurboCAD's
"parametric script", and scope of variables is rather strict. The end
result is that there is apparent duplication of code. Not having a "line"
command or function was somewhat inhibiting, so I used "polygon". The 2D
commands or functions are circle, square, and polygon.
OpenSCAD installed very easily, no additional libraries were needed, and
the 3D display was very clean.
If you wish to play with OpenSCAD, my notes, disorganized though they may
be, might be helpful. I only focused on the 2D aspects of OpenSCAD.
I also updated Programming Shadows to reflect programming for OpenSCAD. The
table of contents, fyi, is:-
INTRO 3 INTRODUCTION
4 Available programming systems and
languages
TECHNIQUES 6 Object Oriented Methods, and classes
8 Language comparisons and
techniques
65 Programming techniques: geometry to
trigonometry to programming
MAINFRAME 74 Early computers
75 IBM 1401 second
programming language I learned
107 IBM 360 third
programming language I learned
140 IBM 7094 (FORTRAN II)
TABULAR 145 Excel Open Office ~ notes for
spreadsheets
CAD 153 *DeltaCAD* programmable 2d CAD
system, uses BASIC
165 *NanoCAD* programmable 2d
CAD system, uses VBS, free
176 *FreeCAD *programmable 2d CAD system, uses Python, free
186 *ProgeCAD* programmable 2d CAD system, uses LISP,
free if non commercial, (AutoCAD compatible)
195 *TurboCAD *VBS
197 Parametric Script
202 notes when manually drafting in 3d
204 *Powerdraw* a Pascal like free CAD program
210 *OpenSCAD* a 2D and 3D free CAD system
SCIENTIFIC 224 Euler Scientific graphical
programmable systems
231 Octave “ “
239 SciLab “ “
PROCEDURAL 244 JustBASIC a free and an upgraded IDE BASIC
system
247 C C++ C# *C++ and* old
fashioned ways of graphics, and *C# and *
modern
graphical methods using Canvas (Visual Studio)
272 FORTRAN *and* old fashioned
ways of graphics
276 Algol first language
I used in 1966, *and* old fashioned graphics
283 ADA
292 Pascal *and* old
fashioned ways of graphics
296 Lazarus a Pascal IDE & GUI
system
320 COBOL
332 Visual Basic Envelop (no longer
available), but good insights, then
the Visual
Express system, and also dotNET, and finally
the* 2013
Visual Studio* implementation.
343 JAVA Eclipse
(as in stand alone Java programs)
352 NetBeans
(as in stand alone Java programs)
367 JavaScript as in web pages,
good introduction to the Java world
383 Python, as in… Blender ~ a free 3D
modeling system
408 Python, as in… as a standalone
programming system
416 Perl stand alone
PERL
--
Simon Wheaton-Smith
www.illustratingshadows.com
Phoenix, AZ
W 112.1, N 33.5
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