an outline of the requirements for a computer-aided design system
In the early 1950's at M.I.T. the Servomechanisms Laboratory (now the Electronic Systems Laboratory) devised and developed the first automatically controlled milling machine. The controlling information for the machine was introduced in the form of punched paper tape, on which all dimensional information and instructions for the various feeds and cutter speeds was contained. At first the punched paper tape was prepared manually by some human operator who translated, in effect, the detail drawing of the part to be machined into numerical form and then into appropriate patterns of holes in the tape. This was a tedious and entirely mechanical chore, and it was only natural that short cuts in the process began to suggest themselves. The scope of such short cuts began to spread through the fabric of the technique, and it was not long before the computer was involved in implementing them.
requirements computation design systems laboratory control informal paper instruction human operability effect drawing pattern process