…LISP. I have now closed the What are the best features ever added to AutoCAD? poll, and the winner is AutoLISP/Visual LISP, by a long, long way. I don’t always agree with the majority view expressed in the polls here, but in this case I wholeheartedly agree. Adding LISP was the biggest and best [...]
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A few days ago, John McCarthy died at the age of 84. He didn’t make a fortune selling gadgets, he just profoundly affected the world of computing. He will be remembered mainly as the father of LISP, without which it is quite possible that AutoCAD and Autodesk would not have survived beyond the 80s. [...]  27 October 2011, 9:37 am |  One comment | Tags: John McCarthy, Vale | Category: Announcement, AutoCAD, Autodesk, Cloud, Development, LISP, Nostalgia, Thoughts, Web Stuff, Win One of the less obvious features introduced by AutoCAD 2012 is the Autoloader mechanism that has been provided to make installation of plug-ins (current standard Autodeskspeak for add-ons, apps, utilities, routines, etc.) easier for both developers and users. It may not be immediately obvious, but it’s a useful and important addition. This mechanism has [...] 20 April 2011, 5:29 pm |  9 comments | Tags: Autoloader, Plug-in, Startup | Category: AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2012, ClassicArray, Customisation, Development, Interoperability, LISP, Other Autodesk Products, Win Autodesk wants your input in its annual API survey. What used to be a closed survey for Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) members has been open to all for the last couple of years, and if you do any Autodesk-based development at all I encourage you to take part. Yes, that includes those of us [...] 11 May 2010, 4:57 pm | 2 comments | Tags: API, Autodesk, AutoLISP, Feedback, LISP, Survey | Category: AutoCAD, Autodesk, Customisation, Development, LISP, Other Blogs This morning I spoke with CAD International‘s Nigel Varley. Here is a paraphrased summary of the interview. SJ: When did CAD International buy the drcauto intellectual property rights? NV: About two weeks ago. SJ: You are currently helping drcauto customers with authorisation codes, is that correct? NV: Yes, masses of them. It’s taking up [...] 1 February 2010, 11:33 pm | One comment | Tags: AutoCAD LT, CAD International, Deelip Menezes, drcauto, LISP, LT Toolkit, Other Blogs | Category: AutoCAD LT, Autodesk, Development, Interoperability, Interview, Legal, LISP, Other Blogs, Other Products, TrueView Things have moved on since my first post on this subject in which I passed on the information that Leonard Liang (a former drcauto employee) could help with codes for LT Toolkit orphans. In recent developments In a comment in a WorldCAD Access post, Nigel Varley from Australian company CAD International stated that they [...] 1 February 2010, 4:51 pm | Leave a comment | Tags: AutoCAD LT, CAD International, Deelip Menezes, drcauto, LISP, LT Toolkit, Other Blogs | Category: Autodesk, LISP, Other Blogs, Other Products, Other Sites LT Toolkit from the now-defunct drcauto was an add-on for AutoCAD LT that provided LISP and other capabilities that Autodesk disabled. Autodesk hated this, of course, but the late Gary D’Arcy made sure everything was done legally so it couldn’t be stopped even by Autodesk’s hyperactive legal team. If you are a user of [...] 15 January 2010, 12:20 pm | 2 comments | Tags: AutoCAD LT, drcauto, Evan Yares, LISP, LT Toolkit, Other Blogs | Category: AutoCAD, Customer Service, Development, LISP, Other Blogs, Tip As I mentioned in my last post, I had some reservations about the code provided by Autodesk to deal with suspect acad.vlx and logo.gif files. Based on a suggestion from Jimmy Bergmark, I have written my own, safer version which you can download here: clean_virus_safe.lsp. The comments at the top of the clean_virus_safe.lsp file [...] Shaan Hurley has posted some useful information about another AutoCAD-based virus that is doing the rounds, and I strongly suggest you read it. However, I have some reservations about the solution that is posted there and in the Autodesk knowledgebase. The LISP code suggested will delete any files called acad.vlx or logo.gif that are [...] 10 August 2009, 4:58 pm | 2 comments | Tags: AutoCAD, Malware, Other Blogs, Shaan Hurley, Tip, Virus, Warning | Category: AutoCAD, Autodesk, Bug, LISP, Other Blogs, Tip There has been a fair bit of open discussion from Autodesk lately on the subject of a possible future OS X AutoCAD version. The more I think about this, the more I am inclined to believe that this would be a bad idea. A very bad idea. It pains me to write this, because [...] 29 May 2009, 6:46 pm | 62 comments | Tags: Apple, AutoCAD, AutoCAD for Mac | Category: Apple, AutoCAD, Autodesk, Fail, LISP, Microsoft, Nostalgia, Performance, Thoughts Here in Australia it is well into the 21st and I raised my own glass last night, but for John McCarthy and most of my readers, it is the 20th of October right now. So this is the appropriate time to say Happy Birthday to LISP. Here’s to another 50 years of simple, compact, [...] 20 October 2008, 11:59 pm | Leave a comment | Tags: AutoCAD, AutoLISP, CAD History | Category: AutoCAD, Development, LISP It is difficult to find an exact date for LISP’s birthday. It wasn’t so much born in an instant as it was gradually dragged out of the primordial slime during the heady days of late 50s computer research. What is known is that John McCarthy, LISP’s “father”, published a report in October 1958 about [...] 13 October 2008, 12:51 pm | One comment | Tags: AutoCAD, Autodesk, AutoLISP, CAD History, John Walker | Category: AutoCAD, Autodesk, LISP, Other Blogs As I’m typing this, the Autodesk discussion groups are down for maintenance again. Let’s hope that when they come back up, some of the problems are fixed. In the meantime, if you’re an AutoCAD user and have something to ask or say, where can you go? Here are a few suggestions. I like the [...] 25 September 2008, 10:28 am | 3 comments | Tags: AUGI Forums, Autodesk, Cadalyst, Customer Service, Dear Autodesk, Newsgroups, Take 5, The Swamp, User Reaction, Web Stuff | Category: Autodesk, Bug, Customer Service, Development, LISP, Tip, Web Stuff Warning, CAD nerd stuff ahead. This is a long and technical post and if you’re using AutoCAD in a largely out-of-the-box state you probably won’t care about any of it. If your modification of AutoCAD extends beyond the trivial, you may find it useful to know what AutoCAD loads, and in what order things [...] This year, the Autodesk University people are allowing you to vote on the various sessions (classes). Here’s the link: AU 2008: Help Us Select the Sessions If I can sort out a few practical details, I am hoping to attend this year as a speaker. I have submitted four session proposals. These are: Customization [...] 29 April 2008, 12:47 pm | Leave a comment | Tags: AU2008, Autodesk University, Blogging, DCL, LISP | Category: AU2008, AutoCAD, Autodesk University, DCL, LISP Greg Robinson, who I had the pleasure of meeting at Autodesk some 11 years ago in the run-up to Release 14, has started a Wiki for AutoLISP and other AutoCAD-based source code. I’m a big fan of LISP in AutoCAD, so I’m happy to see this resource available for users. It’s in its infancy [...] 23 April 2008, 12:13 pm | Leave a comment | Tags: AutoCAD, AutoLISP, Greg Robinson, Tip, Wiki | Category: AutoCAD, LISP, Tip |
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