PLate OPtimizer: Difference between revisions

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{{about|the CAD program, PLOP|the computer language conference group, PLoP|Pattern Languages of Programs}}

'''PLate OPtimizer''', or '''PLOP''' is a [[CAD]] program]] used by [[Amateur telescope making|amateur telescope makers]] to design [[primary mirror]] [[Mirror support cell|support cells]] for [[reflecting telescope]]s. It was developed by [[telescope]] maker David Lewis, first described in 1999,<ref>{{Cite journal| title = Cures for Unsupportive Mirror Cells| last = Lewis| first = David| journal = Sky & Telescope| volume = | issue = June| pages = 132–135| date = 1999 }}</ref> and used to simplify calculations needed in the design of mirror support cells.<ref>{{cite web| last = Holm| first = Mark| title = Mirror Cells for Amateur Telescope Makers| work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/Holm/Plop_optimized_cells/index.html| doi = | accessdate = May 3, 2009 }}

</ref> It was based on Toshimi Taki's 1993 program PLATE,<ref>http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/cell/cell.htm Taki's brief intro to cell design</ref> with a simplified user interface, thus giving it wide acceptance among makers of large [[Dobsonian]] style amateur telescopes, with good support of mirrors as thin as two inches for a diameter of thirty inches.<ref>{{cite web| last = Anderson-Lee

| first = Jeff| title = Best of 18 and Over - A collection of plop cell designs