11 - Data Structure in Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing

Abstract

The efficient management of geometric information, such as points, curves, or polyhedrons, is of significant importance in many engineering applications such as computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), robotics, and rapid prototyping and manufacturing (RP&M). A good representation scheme maps the original data objects into a set of objects to facilitate efficient storage and computation. A data structure is the form of organization imposed on the collection of those data elements. It is defined by specifying what kind of elements it contains, and stating the rules of how to store the elements and how to retrieve them when needed. Data structures may be classified into linear and nonlinear types. Linear structures are those elements that have a sequential relationship. It occupies a special place in the study of data structures because the addressing of storage locations in a computer is nearly always linear, so the set of memory storage locations in the machine itself constitutes a linear structure. Nonlinear data structures are of varied sorts. One category important to the software designer is that of hierarchical structures, in which each element is itself a data structure. A good data structure is vital to the reliability and efficiency of a program or software.