CTRANS: C Version of the NCAR Translator (1 of 2), 1988

As part of the effort to adopt ANSI Graphics Standards in the 1980s, members of the SCD Graphics Group adopted the Computer Graphic Metafile (CGM) Standard. This standard specifies file storage format for two-dimensional graphic images. To be useful, it was necessary to write code that would operate on CGM files and translate the graphics so contained to device specific formats for display. John Humbrecht wrote an original version of a general-purpose, table-driven translator to accomplish the generation of device specific instructions for a wide array of the output devices available at the time (mainly graphics terminals). The original code was written in Fortran and was left incomplete and untested when John left in 1986. Fred Clare completed the implementation. However, it was thought that the translator should more appropriately be written in C for the sake of efficiency and the superior low-level functions in the language. It was felt that this rewrite in C would be a good student project. On the CU side the team consisted of Bruce Sanders, an instructor in the CU Department of Computer Science, and students John Clyne, Tinsley Galyean, and Gary Horton; on the SCD side the team consisted of Bob Lackman (Graphics Group Head), Fred Clare, and Don Middleton. This project (no small effort) was undertaken in the 1987-1988 school year with a final product delivered in May, 1988. Of course, to be successful such codes require maintenance and continued development and fortunately John Clyne became a full time member of the Graphics Group and saw this code through to its final success over the years. As of 2010, this code is still heavily used. This folder contains the final written report including the original proposal and specifications, as well as a user manual and maintenance manual.