computer science

Reflex (building design software)

Reflex (building design software) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Reflex (building design software) rather than just read about it. In short: Reflex was a 3D building design software application developed in the mid 1980s and - along with its predecessor Sonata - is now regarded as a forerunner to today's building information modelling applications. History The application was developed by two former GMW Computers employees who had been involved with Sonata.

Key takeaways

Reflex (building design software) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Reflex (building design software) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Reflex (building design software) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

History The application was developed by two former GMW Computers employees who had been involved with Sonata. After Sonata had "disappeared in a mysterious, corporate black hole, somewhere in eastern Canada in 1992," Jonathan Ingram and colleague Gerard Gartside then went on to develop Reflex, bought for $30 million by Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) in July 1996. PTC had identified the architecture, engineering and construction market as a target for its parametric modelling solutions, and bought Reflex to expand into the sector. However, the fit between Reflex and PTC's existing solutions was poor, and PTC's Pro/Reflex gained little market traction; PTC then sold the product to another US company, The Beck Group, in 1997, where it formed the kernel of a parametric estimating package called DESTINI. Around the same time, several people from PTC set up a new company, Charles River Software (renamed Revit Technology Corporation in 2000, later (2002) bought by Autodesk). Leonid Raiz and Irwin Jungreis obtained from PTC a non-exclusive, source code development license for Reflex as part of their severance package. In the words of Jerry Laiserin: "While Autodesk Revit may not contain genomic snippets of Reflex code, Revit clearly is spiritual heir to a lineage of BIM 'begats' — RUCAPS begat Sonata, Sonata begat Reflex, and Reflex begat Revit." In a 2017 letter to AEC Magazine, Jungreis said:

"After receiving several hours of instruction in the software architecture of Reflex from Reflex developers, we decided not to use it as our starting point because of several important differences at the very foundations of the software. At that point, we put it aside and never looked at it again. ... Revit was not based on Reflex. No code from Reflex was used...." However, Ingram, in his 2020 book Understanding BIM: The Past, Present and Future, shows much of the functionality of Reflex is duplicated in Revit. A 2022 account of the history of BIM by Kasper Miller asserts: "Reflex and Revit shared a myriad of features — so much so that it is fairly clear where the Revit team found much of its inspiration".

References

Sources Crotty, Ray (2012). The Impact of Building Information Modelling: Transforming Construction. London: SPON/Routledge. ISBN 9781136860560. Ingram, Jonathan (2020). Understanding BIM: The Past, Present and Future. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367244187.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Reflex (building design software)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Reflex (building design software) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Reflex (building design software) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Reflex (building design software) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Reflex (building design software)

In research: Reflex (building design software) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Reflex (building design software) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Reflex (building design software) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Building information modeling, Computer-aided design, Computer-aided design software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Reflex (building design software) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Reflex (building design software) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Reflex (building design software) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Reflex (building design software) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Reflex (building design software) in simple terms?

Reflex was a 3D building design software application developed in the mid 1980s and - along with its predecessor Sonata - is now regarded as a forerunner to today's building information modelling applications. History The application was developed by two former GMW Computers employees who had been…

Why does Reflex (building design software) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Reflex (building design software)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Reflex (building design software).