GD3—A system for two-dimensional computer graphics

GD3 is a system for graphic input and output, which has been developed at CERN over the past several years primarily for the laboratory's scientific community. An important feature of the system is the production of an intermediate data file called the “display file”, which allows a user's program to be truly device independent. The system is written largely in FORTRAN and although the main implementation has been on CDC 7000/6000 series computers at CERN, it has also been implemented on other machines both within CERN and at laboratories outside CERN.

The main facilities available to the user are described including the system's interactive capabilities. Use has also been made of GD3 to provide the graphics part of other special user oriented packages developed at CERN.