[ANNOUNCE] Twenty-fourth release of PythonCAD now available

["Art Haas" <ahaas airmail net>]

I'm pleased to announce the twenty-fourth development release of PythonCAD,
a CAD package for open-source software users. As the name implies,
PythonCAD is written entirely in Python. The goal of this project is
to create a fully scriptable drafting program that will match and eventually
exceed features found in commercial CAD software. PythonCAD is released
under the GNU Public License (GPL).

PythonCAD requires Python 2.2 or newer. The interface is GTK 2.0
based, and uses the PyGTK module for interfacing to GTK. The design of
PythonCAD is built around the idea of separating the interface
from the back end as much as possible. By doing this, it is hoped
that both GNOME and KDE interfaces can be added to PythonCAD through
usage of the appropriate Python module. Addition of other PythonCAD 
interfaces will depend on the availability of a Python module for that
particular interface and developer interest and action.

The twenty-fourth release contains numerous improvements to the code
used for constructing the user interface and the entity drawing routines.
This release utilizes the GTK Action and ActionGroup classes for building
and controlling the menubar and menus. Using these classes greatly simplifies
and enhances the ability to manipulate the menu items, and these features
are used extensively in this release. Many menu choices are now activated
when the functionality they provide can be used, and deactivated when their
use is not possible. More enhancements of this nature will be appearing in
future releases. Another significant improvement is the refactoring of the
entity drawing routines. These routines are now provided as methods for each
entity class, making their usage much clearer and simpler. Changing the
drawing routines has allowed significant simplification of the code
responsible for drawing as well as fixing several drawing bugs. Future
releases of PythonCAD will build on this change to enhance and improve the
graphical behavior of the program even further. A number of PyGTK deprecation
warnings that slipped by in the previous release have been removed, and a
good number of bug fixes and code enhancements are present in this release
as well.

A mailing list for the development and use of PythonCAD is available.
Visit the following page for information about subscribing and viewing
the mailing list archive:

http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythoncad

Visit the PythonCAD web site for more information about what PythonCAD
does and aims to be:

http://www.pythoncad.org/

Come and join me in developing PythonCAD into a world class drafting
program!

Art Haas
-- 
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822