Every year thousands of specialized CAD/CAM applications programs are developed to meet the needs of industry, education and research. The international 3-D graphics standard, PHIGS, has proven to be very useful in the creation of custom CAD/CAM software. Although PHIGS+ promises to deliver some geometric modeling procedures, not nearly enough is being done to support the writing of CAD/CAM software. CAD/CAM applications programmers should have available a standardized high level applications programming environment which supports the creation of device-independent and portable design and manufacturing software.

In this dissertation, one approach towards the establishment of a CAD/CAM programming standard has been presented. This programming environment is called CADMADE - Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing Applications Development Environment. CADMADE includes not only graphics programming support, but also high level procedures to support the creation of geometric modeling, mechanical design, manufacturing, expert systems and user interface software. The requirements of CADMADE have been created. CADMADE consists of five environments: the User Interface Environment (UIE), the Design and Modeling Environment (DME), the Virtual Manufacturing Environment (VME), the Expert Consultation Environment (ECE) and the PHIGS+ Environment. The User Interface Environment has been designed in great detail. A prototype of the User Interface Environment has been created using PHIGS. Examples of applications programs which use the prototype User Interface Environment are presented. The Design and Modeling Environment has also been designed. A new set of logical input/output devices has been created for the Design and Modeling Environment. The requirements of the Expert Consultation Environment and some new concepts in expert system consultation are discussed.