Before you start

I Practise reading, translating and memorazing the words given below:

drafting, occupation, practice, numerous, drawings, techniques, explicit,
cumbersome, accuracy, effectiveness, widespread, nonlinear, equations,
significantly, debugging, microcomputer, versatile, automatization, computer-
aided, advances, application, sophisticated, disciplines, modelling, scheduling,
fabrication
II Give the initial forms of the following words:
living, inventor, including, programming, directly, effectiveness, solution,
simplicity, latest, powerful, successfully, development, greatly, designed
Reading
III Before reading the text try to answer the questions that follow:
1. Is it important for technical students to study drafting? Why?
2. What advantages does CAD systems have?
Some facts from the history of CAD
Drafting is one of the oldest occupations. It has been practised since mankind first
felt need to design, invent, build or manufacture to perfect living on Earth. In fact,
the famous artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was himself an accomplished
drafter. Some of his most famous works are detailed plans and drawings for his
numerous inventions.
Over the years the need for drawings has not changed. However, the tools and
techniques used to produce drawings have.
It was noticed centuries ago that drafting or graphical methods could solve very
easily various mathematical problems for which an explicit analytical solution
either did not exist or was very cumbersome. The accuracy of these methods
depends on the scale of drawings, and is therefore limited, but their simplicity and
effectiveness made their use widespread in the pre-computer era in various
branches of applied science, including such fields as the solution of nonlinear
equations and mechanism analysis.
The appearance of the first generations of computers significantly diminished the
use of graphical methods. Computers’ methods were cumbersome at those times,
programming and debugging were tedious since the first generations of computers
did not have any graphical options. The situation has changed greatly with the
latest generations of mini- and microcomputers that have powerful and versatile
graphics capabilities.
All the advantages of graphical methods that made them widespread many years
ago, after automatization, can be successfully used now, giving significant savings
at all stages: programming, debugging, software documentation development and
the use of software itself.
From their very beginning, all computers were graphic systems, that is, they
communicated with human beings by some means of graphic display. In the early
1970s professionals in the field of drafting became interested in automated
drafting, i.e. in computer-aided drafting. Computer-aided drafting systems were the
latest in a long line of technological advances designed to improve on the drafter’s
capabilities. Computer-aided drafting represented and still represents a conversion
from manual to automated drafting. It has given rise to computer-aided design
(CAD).
There have been some radical changes in the CAD industry since the beginning of
the XX-th century. Applications software has become more sophisticated. In
engineering not merely CAD but Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing
(CAD/CAM) and Computer-Integrated Manufacture (CIM) – the linking together
of many different disciplines such as drafting, analysis, modelling, numerical
control and scheduling – are often used.
CAD/CAM systems imply that the products designed in the CAD system are
directly input to the CAM system. An example of CAD/CAM is a machine part
designed in a CAD system, which, after design, becomes direct input to a
numerical control programming language which then generate the machine
instructions to control the fabrication of this part.
IV Answer the questions to check your understanding of the text:
1. Why is drafting one of the oldest occupations?
2. Why do we call Leonardo da Vinci an accomplished drafter?
3. What was the role of drafting and graphical methods many years ago?
4. How did the appearance of computers influence the graphical methods?
5. How can the advantages of graphical methods be used now?
6. What is the function of computer-aided drafting systems?
7. What radical changes in the CAD industry have there been since the beginning
of the XX-th century?
8. What is the connection between CAD and CAM systems?
V Consider if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE. If they are false,
correct them.
1. Leonardo da Vinci is a famous artist who made a lot of drawings for his
numerous inventions.
2. There are no changes in the need for drawings, tools and techniques used to
produce them.
3. To solve various mathematical problems for which an explicit analytical
solution either did not exist or was very cumbersome, drafting or graphical
methods could be used.
4. The scale of drawings influence the accuracy of graphical methods.
5. The appearance of the first generations of computers didn’t diminish the use of
graphical methods.
6. All the advantages of graphical methods after automatization give significant
savings at such stages as programming, debugging, software documentation
development and the use of software itself.
7. Professionals in the field of drafting focused on computer-aided drafting at the
beginning of the XX th century.
8. CAD and CAM are interconnected systems.
VI Find in the text synonyms to the following words:
alter, humanity, produce, sketch, utilize, potential, resolve/clear up, a lot of,
possess, growth, make better, sphere/area, commence/start, progression, only,
timetable
VII Use the text to find the English equivalents for the following word
combinations:
1. одне з найдавніших занять
2. покращувати життя на Землі
3. сам був досконалим креслярем
4. детальні плани та малюнки
5. з роками
6. які використовувались, щоб створювати креслення
7. дуже легко вирішувати різноманітні математичні задачі
8. був дуже обтяжливим
9. залежить від масштабу креслення
10. в різних галузях прикладної науки
11. графічні системи, тобто, вони
12. довгий ланцюг технічних досягнень
13. дало початок автоматизованому проектуванню
14. більш складний
15. не тільки CAD, але й
16. числове програмне управління
17. деталь, розроблена в системі CAD

VIII What do these abbreviations stand for?

CAD, CAM, CIM, CADD
IX Make a plan of the text and summarize it in 60-70 words