Editing Computervision (section)

==CADDS product history==
[[File:Computervision piping.agr.jpg|thumb|A Computervision Inc. CADDS3 system being used to create a [[piping and instrumentation diagram]] in a training lab, circa 1979.]]
Computervision's first product, CADDS-1, was aimed at the [[printed circuit board]] layout and 2-D [[technical drawing|drafting]] markets. CADDS stood for Computervison Automated Design and Drafting System. The CADDS-1 system featured a combination digitizer and plotter mounted on a large drafting table.

[[Integrated circuit]] layout was added with the CADDS-2 product, which had a dedicated operating system and a 16-bit graphic database. When this proved insufficient resolution for [[very-large-scale integration|VLSI]] (very large scale integration), the company developed CADDS-2/VLSI in the late 1970s. CADDS-2/VLSI included a new operating system, a 32-bit database, and user expandability through a dedicated [[programming language]] called [[ICPL]] (integrated circuit programming language), which was a [[programming language dialect|dialect]] of [[BASIC programming language|BASIC]], based on an interpreter licensed from [[Fairchild Semiconductor]]. The original CADDS-2 ran on [[Data General Nova]] 1200 computers. CADDS-2/VLSI ran on Computervision's own hardware/software which was a modified Data General Nova with a modified version of DG's [[Data General RDOS|RDOS]] operating system.

CADDS3 was introduced in the late 1970s on the CGP80 and CGP100 using [[Tektronix]] [[storage tube]] vector devices as display terminals and graphics tablets with menus for operator input. CADDS3 was written in [[Fortran]] and based on software developed by [[Patrick J. Hanratty|Patrick Hanratty]] and acquired from S<sup>3</sup> Corporation around 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cadhistory.net/15%20Patrick%20Hanratty%20and%20MCS.pdf |title=Patrick Hanratty and MCS |website=CD History}}</ref> In 1975, Computervision introduced an improved database that allowed additional entities and data types to be introduced easily. Other improvements, including a [[B-spline]] package and improved refresh performance led to adoption by many large customers, including [[Boeing]], which purchased dozens of systems for the 757/767 aircraft program.

Improved 3-D design was added in the early 1980s with the CADDS4 product on the CGP200. This version of CADDS moved display technology from [[storage tube]] base displays to [[raster graphics]] and introduced the dedicated graphics co-processor board known as the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

With CADDS4, tailored packages were available for CAD drafting, CAM ([[computer-aided manufacturing]]), 3-D modeling, piping and plant design, [[printed circuit]] board layout, instrument panel design, and many other applications. During this period, they also contributed to the development of the [[IGES]] standard for [[CAD/CAM]] data exchange, along with [[Applicon]] and other competitors.

The major breakthrough in 3-D Design was with the CADDS4X on the CGP200X running CGOS200X. This version of the operating system and hardware improved memory management (not true virtual memory) and increased program size. In 1984 a cluster of CGP200X with a proprietary 32-bit processor Analytic Processing Unit (APU) was offered as the Computervision Distributed System (CDS) 4000. The APU was sometimes called "All Paws Up".

CADDS production continued into the twenty-first century. As of 2019, CADDS (now at version CADDS5) was offered as a CAD/CAM system specialized for shipbuilding.<ref name=cadds5/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ptc.com/en/products/cadds-5|title=Creo CADDS 5 — Specialized CAD/CAM Software for Shipbuilding|publisher=Parametric Technologies Inc.|accessdate=June 14, 2019}}</ref>