Douglas T. Ross
1929–2007 · American computer scientist
Topics: software design, history of computing
From the computer application point of view the primary problem [of Computer-Aided Design] is not how to solve problems, but how to state them.
— Douglas T. RossWe never have any understanding of any subject matter except in terms of our own mental constructs of "things" and "happenings" of that subject matter.
— Douglas T. RossEven though we started in the days when the equipment itself wasn't able to do very exciting visual things, we were always concentrating on this matter of communication and meaning.
— Douglas T. RossComputer-aided design is not automatic design, although it must include many automatic design features. By automatic design we mean design procedures which are capable of being completely specified in a form which a computer can execute without human intervention.
— Douglas T. RossAutomatic design has the computer do too much and the human do too little, whereas automatic programming has the human do too much and the computer do too little. Both techniques are important, but are not representative for what we wish to mean by computer-aided design.
— Douglas T. Ross