From the Future... #577

    I think it would be very useful for everyone to try out and review this program to gain lots of ideas for the future of optical design. There is a trial version and a set of tutorial videos that give a taste of how it works. I really believe your project is worthwhile, and you still have time to incorporate many of the ideas being implemented in that program. Some of these could be added as options without having to change the core functionality. Some ideas that I think could be very interesting: Thicknesses measured from the rear surface; Working in modules or blocks and composing systems (Sequences); Cell-based programming, that is, the application of user-specific subroutines to almost any parameter that can define or compose an element (surface, field, wavelength, aperture, shape, etc.). And the possibilities offered by not having to restrict a system to non-sequential, sequential or multi-configuration modes, but simply joining blocks that can interact however one chooses to program them. 
          
    Because, furthermore, I believe that being able to work in command mode (configuration-based Python programming) as Optiland allows is a very powerful option that Quadoa does not have (at least as a core feature, since it does have an API accessible as a separate package).

Thinking about the potential—and, I hope, successful—growth and progress of this initiative by Kramer Harrison,  I would like to encourage you to make the effort to invest some time in considering some of these issues.

When I think back to the optical design programs available in 1983 when I started out—including one I developed myself during my postgraduate studies—and how I gradually abandoned it (there was no capacity for collaboration, either in terms of hardware or contacts)—and considering what we have now, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to offer some insight into where I believe the future of optical design applications is heading.

A Hug and a happy future,
Rober