Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

CAD, which means Computer-Assisted Design, Computer-Aided Drafting, or Computer-Aided Design, depending on who you talk to (it doesn't make that much of a difference), is a catch-all term that means pretty much what it sounds like: designing something with a computer rather than with a pen and paper. CAD applications require more powerful computers than applications such as web browsing or word processing.