Product Guide: Engineering and Computer Science
CAD Products
AutoCAD LT 2000
AutoCAD LT 2000 offers more than 200 new features and enhancements, making it easier to use and more productivity packed than ever. For instance, the AutoCAD DesignCenter feature provides an intuitive, efficient, Windows Explorer-like dialog box for easy access to content located in any drawing–open or closed, local or remote. Drag-and-drop hatching lets you quickly apply hatch patterns from the AutoCAD DesignCenter to any enclosed area of your drawing. AutoCAD is also available in a student version, LT 98, at a special academic price. Features include revision cloud to highlight recent or needed revisions, a customizable interface, a drag-and-drop feature, undo/redo function, and region modeler, which lets users create and modify complex and intelligent 2D objects. Contact: Autodesk, San Rafael, CA; (800) 531-3227; www.autodesk.com.
ViaGrafix DesignCAD Pro 2000
DesignCAD Pro 2000 offers numerous high-end features, including integrated 2D/3D modes, solid modeling, animation and presentation functions, smart editing, customizability, and Internet readiness. DesignCAD Pro 2000 is available for Windows 95, 98, or NT. Contact: ViaGrafix, Pryor, UT; (800) 842-4723; www.designcad.com.
Design and Simulation
CircuitMaker Pro
MicroCode Engineering offers CircuitMaker Pro, which provides the features of high-end software at a student price. Promising fast, powerful schematic design and simulation in one complete program, the application includes a host of advanced schematic features, a library of more than 6,000 device models, and support for SimCode high-level programming language for creating custom digital models. Included are eight virtual instruments and eleven powerful analyses. Contact: Microcode Engineering, Provo, UT; (800) 419-4242; www.circuit-maker.com.
Electronic Laboratory Simulator
The Electronic Laboratory Simulator provides a computer-based circuit laboratory for students studying introductory electronics. Students gain hands-on experience constructing circuits and operating complex instrumentation to analyze circuits. The application consists of nine interactive experiment modules that simulate the environment of a physical electronics laboratory. In each lab, the students build a specified circuit; designs range from series RC circuits to multiple-pole filters. Contact: Falcon Software, Wellesley, MA; (781) 235-1767; www.falconsoftware.com.
Pr'Engineer 2000i Student Edition
Pr'Engineer 2000i Student Edition provides integrated capabilities for creating detailed solid and sheet-metal components, building assemblies, designing weldments, and producing fully documented production drawings and photorealistic renderings. The Student Edition includes many full-functioning capabilities, including Pro/Engineer parametric, feature-based 3D solid modeling; behavioral modeler; mechanism design; sheet-metal design; welding; detailing, drafting, and plotting; Web publishing and reporting; photo-realistic rendering; and MCAD and ECAD import and export. Contact: Parametric Technology Corp., Waltham, MA; (781) 398-5000; www.ptc.com.
Programming and Development Tools
ClassExplorer Pro
ClassExplorer Pro is an integrated software development tool that provides strong object-oriented code navigation, code creation, and code documentation capabilities to Delphi and C++Builder development environments. ClassExplorer Pro enhances programmer productivity in complex object-oriented development projects of any size. Contact: toolsfactory, Vienna, Austria; www.toolsfactory.com.
CodeWarrior Professional
CodeWarrior Professional is designed to give users the tools for serious, industrial-strength programming. Empowering users to develop advanced C/C++ applications, CodeWarrior is ANSI/ISO C/C++ compliant. Users can develop projects in different languages for different target processors and operating systems all using the same development tools. Available for Mac OS, Windows 98/95/NT, and Linux operating systems, CodeWarrior can be purchased for student use at a deep academic discount. Contact: Metrowerks, Austin, TX; (800) 377-5416; www.metrowerks.com.
IDL Student Version
IDL (International Data Language) Student Version gives students the opportunity for hands-on IDL development experience at a fraction of the cost of a commercial license. The Student Version integrates a flexible structured programming language with solid math libraries, a broad range of statistical routines, and state-of-the-art graphics. Useful for data analysis, visualization, and cross-platform application development, IDL includes a rich suite of mathematics, statistics, graphics, image processing, mapping, and general data manipulation features. Contact: Research Systems, Boulder, CO; (303) 786-9900; www.rsinc.com.
LabView 5.1
With LabView, the computer becomes a multipurpose laboratory, allowing students to use a PC interface to work with scientific and industrial instruments. Version 5.1 offers increased system performance, improved Internet integration, and new functionality, including the ability to call MatLab code directly from LabView, and more than 100 new math, analysis, and visualization functions. Contact: National Instruments, Austin, TX; (512) 794-0100; www.ni.com.
Technical Data Analysis
TecPlot Version 8.0 for UNIX
TecPlot Version 8.0 offers a variety of features for plotting and modeling data. Users can animate data; slice 3D surfaces and volumes; pan, zoom, or rotate 3D objects; create vectors and streamlines; plot structured and unstructured grids in 2D or 3D; utilize a variety of finite element types to represent real-world structures; and create contour plots. Repetitive tasks can be automated. TecPlot gives the user control of plot layout and design for presentations. Contact: Amtec Engineering, Bellevue, WA; (800) 676-7568; www.amtec.com.
HiQ 4.0
National Instruments’ HiQ is an interactive problem-solving environment for analyzing, visualizing, and documenting real-world science and engineering problems.
HiQ uses a notebook methodology that combines interactive analysis, data visualization, and report generation in a single environment. The tools of HiQ can be used to create data objects, analysis, and graphs that can be moved, rotated, and customized to bring out important points in the data. The end product is a complete interactive technical document. Contact: National Instruments, Austin, TX; (512) 794-0100; www.ni.com.
PDEase Pro
PDEase solves a wide range of nonlinear problems in heat transfer, solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, groundwater flow, electromagnetics, chemical reaction diffusion, financial modeling, and quantum mechanics. It allows for finite element analysis with automatic gridding, automated error analysis, flexible solution methods, and a simple input language. PDEase Pro includes over 160 sample problems in mechanical and electrical engineering and is designed to be easy to use. Contact: Macsyma, Arlington, MA; (800) MACSYMA; www.macsyma.com.
S-PLUS 2000 Professional
S-PLUS from MathSoft is a version of the object-oriented S language for performing exploratory data analysis and building predictive models. S-PLUS provides over 3,800 data analysis functions and a complete range of exploratory graphics techniques. S-PLUS also offers Trellis graphics, which are designed to help discover hidden relationships in data by computing graphical views sliced on one or more conditioning variables. Also featured are an extensive selection of 2D and 3D graph types, customizable graph capability, and easier importing and exporting of Excel, SAS, and SPSS databases. Contact: MathSoft, Cambridge, MA; (617) 577-1017; www.mathsoft.com.
Training
Heathkit Courses
Heathkit Educational Systems develops training resources along with outlines on how to teach the material. The company provides text material, computer-based training, hands-on training hardware, final exams, and test grading services. The courses are designed for individual study, corporate training, or secondary/post-secondary settings. Heathkit now offers Microsoft Certified courses, including the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification, and Network+ Certification. Contact: Heathkit, Benton Harbor, MI; (800) 253-0570; www.heathkit.com.
VRML Courseware
for Higher Education
Ligos Technology offers VRML Courseware, which facilitates teaching and learning using a tested method in a ready-to-go package. The course uses V-REALM Builder to empower students to dive right in and create 3D content, then later analyze the underlying code. VRML is presented from the top down, from scene-level construction to code-level detail. The interface provides an outline of raw VRML code available simultaneously with the 3D scene, to give students an understanding of how their creation relates to actual VRML code. Contact: Ligos Technology, Monterey, CA; (888) GO4-VRML; www.ligos.com.