the term cad/cam is a shortening of computer-aided design (cad) and computer-aided manufacture (cam). the term cad/nc (numerical control) is equivalent in some industries. most cad/cam software was developed for product development and to design and manufacture of components and molds. they are also increasingly used by architects. cad/cam software uses cad drawing tools to describe geometries used by the cam portion of the program to define a toolpath that will direct the motion of a machine tool to machine the exact shape that was drawn.