This looks really cool. I sent in my application. I really want to see more use of R3F and 3D overall on the web.
93 karma · joined September 30, 2013
email:jfoxworth@cadwolf.com
Massive fraud that was carried out with an audacity that would make Boss Hogg blush. When I initially complained, my boss told me that NASA was "a middle class welfare program" and that I shouldn't take it so seriously.
Eventually, I reached a point where I just couldn't sign off on purchasing equipment for testing an item that simply didn't exist. I was working 60 hours a week for low pay doing the work that had been reported to have been done years beforehand and just couldn't do it any more.
After taking two systems from months/years behind schedule to months ahead, I was fired. No discussion, no debate, no warnings, no notifications.
They lied to the Texas Workforce commission and said that I was warned and got caught. TWC refused to do anything about it.
NASA inspector general found that everything that I said was true, but that me being fired was not something they would handle.
There is no wrongful termination in Texas.
A decade later, the project(s) I was working on at the time was finally moved from the contractor to government funded equipment - meaning the government was going to have to do what the contractors were originally paid to do.
No one cares.
If I am giving you money and your are giving bitcoin to the people I am supporting, then mastercard will not allow you to take money if you facilitate right wing views.
If I am giving you bitcoin and you are giving money to the people I support, then Mastercard will cut you off if those people have right wing views.
If I am giving you bitcoin and you are giving bitcoin to the people I support, then how is it different from just giving bitcoin?
It doesn't really solve the free speech problem as what is needed is a way for all views to be paid with the ease of a credit card, instead of just approved views.
Yes it sucks. Life is a series of choices and I choose to loose sleep instead of time with kids or work time. It took a while, but I learned javascript, angular, AWS, heroku, and several other things. It just takes longer.
There are places for users to upload and store data as well - datasets.
As of now, the code solves equations in javascript within the browser. This is why documents have to be opened when a requirement changes - because I have no server side of the code to solve them without the browser. It isn't a long term solution, merely a step in the building on the platform. My next step is to add a server side code that is capable of solver more complex and larger equations on the server. When that is done, changes to requirements will update documents without the need to open them manually. I plan on using python and there are several large libraries available.
This will allow me to link documents to CAD. When the math changes, the CAD will change as well. Once that is done, I will add a finite element meshing and solution system to create an engineering platform that essentially does everything.
I like your site. It's nice to see other people addressing these problems. I am also an aerospace guy. I worked on the shuttle for a while and then designed some components for the Orion. Shoot me an email if you want to talk more.
The plan is to link CAD to the mathematics and then link the finite element to this as well. The system would also function as a sort of github for engineering where users can find and use functions to do most standard analysis. Email is in my profile if anyone is interested in talking.
I believe that my YC applications were better written than the very limited writeup we got here, but I should revisit that before I release the robot army to avenge me.
I've been plugging away at CADWOLF for a while now to get an MVP going and I am really just a few weeks from a solid code base. The feedback I got let me know that I was headed in a valid direction. This whole experience was great.
On a side note, I'll be referring to the company as "the one that came in fourth" for a while. I also may be setting a record for YC rejections. Is there a solid number on that somewhere?
Each equation can be thought of as a line of code. Each web page is both a document like Word and a program. The user adds an equation to the document via a gui and then double clicks on it to edit it. You can enter something like a=1+sin(0.5)/1 and then hit enter. My code parses this text out, finds the "sin" function, solves it, then solves the remaining equation, and then displays it as you would expect to see it on a formal document and gives that equation the name "a". Users can then reference the result of this using the name "a" in a later equation. When an equation changes, its dependents update as well.
I have a number of built in functions. There is everything from an FFT to a differential equation solver to an integral. It also tracks units like "mm" and "in" and does all the necessary math for this.
The code to do this in javascript was as painful and fun as it sounds. With the fellowship time/money I will build a python server side to solve large datasets and start the process of placing a CAD layer on top of it.
If you want to get more into the details of how I make it work, it's mostly in how I store and process the data. Instead of storing files on a server and then calling them down, I store each equation/text block/plot/table/etc as a separate entry in a database. When the user loads a web page I pull down and order all of the items in that document.
This is what lets me connect all of the pieces. A user can pull in one equation from another document into any other document and use it as a variable. When the original variable is changed, I can parse through the database and find files/equations that use that equation and update them accordingly.
The MVP for the documents and for the part tree is already done and there are videos on the website.
I often hear people compare CADWOLF to Jupyter notebook. They are somewhat alike but vastly different in execution. Jupyter lets user create a web page using a programming language. This requires knowledge of programming as well as several other things like installing the software on a server. In CADWOLF, users simply interact with a gui to create a new document and add equations, text, etc. There is no "programming" and all you need to know are the commands for the built in function (sin,cos,FFT, etc).
CADWOLF will link all of these things. This will change the amount of time it takes to design/redesign large systems from months for several engineers to seconds on a computer. It will let managers pull down and see real time information on weight/status/cost, and a number of other parameters.
Onshape can be used as one facet of engineering. CADWOLF will redefine the engineering workflow.
Our system as it stands now with web pages that act as documents that solve mathematical problems is just a first step. It represents a large amount of work already put into the platform, plus the ability of the founder to achieve the stated goals, and the ability to break the system up into steps that can hopefully make the company financially viable without large scale funding.
It would also allow for more conversation since the readers would not have to comb through as many applicants.