AutoCAD

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What Does AutoCAD Mean?

AutoCAD is a computer-aided design (CAD) program used for 2-D and 3-D design and drafting. AutoCAD is developed and marketed by Autodesk Inc. and was one of the first CAD programs that could be executed on personal computers.

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Techopedia Explains AutoCAD

AutoCAD was initially derived from a program called Interact, which was written in a proprietary language. The first release of the software used only primitive entities such as polygons, circles, lines, arcs and text to construct complex objects. Later, it came to support custom objects through a C++ application programming interface. The modern version of the software includes a full set of tools for solid modeling and 3-D. AutoCAD also supports numerous application program interfaces for automation and customization.

DWG (drawing) is the native file format for AutoCAD and a basic standard for CAD data interoperability. The software has also provided support for Design Web Format (DWF), a format developed by Autodesk for publishing CAD data.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.