A Partial Mechanical Design Compiler

Abstract

I have implemented a simple "mechanical design compiler", that is a program which can convert high-level descriptions of a mechanical design into detail descriptions. (Human interaction is sometimes required.) The program operates in the domain of power transmission equipment composed of discrete, purchasable components. I describe a semantic theory which assigns meanings to the high-level descriptions, and a set of operations on statements in a "specification language" which perform some of the reasoning required by the "compilation" process.