Long term fate of venerable API.

The dire long term fate of AutoCAD VBA is commonly accepted. Any new inductees to AutoCAD customization should be weary of the VBA choice.

There are numerous rumors afoot that Lisp and COM (a foundation of Visual Lisp) are destined to suffer a similar fate.

Do any of the Lisp programmers here feel an urgency to adopt either .NET or ObjectARX as their primary API?

Or, do you think Autodesk will always consider Lisp/VisualLisp a viable API?

OrElse, even if Autodesk does drop focus on Lisp/VisualLisp API, third party developers will step in to extend that API’s capabilities.

Awwww... and I was just starting to like LISP

Awwww... and I was just starting to like LISP

I have to imagine, even as a worse case, that VBA is good for another three years and Lisp for another ten.

IMO... Autode$k will not drop support for lisp anytime in the not so near future; there would be too much backlash from their long time customers; too much legacy.

I prefer VBA and write a number of small routines for the office. If at anytime they ceased to work or it became impossible to write new "quick & dirty" code, that will be the time we revert to the previous installation and cancel our subscription.

IMO... Autode$k will not drop support for lisp anytime in the not so near future; there would be too much backlash from their long time customers; too much legacy.

The term “Maintenance Mode” is often bantered about. Presumably this is a period to facilitate a transition.

Legacy Lisp/VisualLisp continue to work but the APIs are not extended in pace with the AutoCAD application.

I prefer VBA and write a number of small routines for the office. If at anytime they ceased to work or it became impossible to write new "quick & dirty" code, that will be the time we revert to the previous installation and cancel our subscription.

The financial ramifications for both Autodesk and it’s customers will certainly play their part. Much of the initial impetus for change, at least with regard to VBA, was the Microsoft decision to not implement 64bit compatibility.

I guess we can’t necessarily blame Autodesk for that.

I don't see lisp support disappearing anytime soon, only because it's still arguably the most powerful programming language. Personally I'd like to see VB replaced with Python, it's open source so future support doesn't depend on Microsoft's whim, and it's easy to learn for beginner or amateur programmers.

I don't see lisp support disappearing anytime soon, only because it's still arguably the most powerful programming language. Personally I'd like to see VB replaced with Python, it's open source so future support doesn't depend on Microsoft's whim, and it's easy to learn for beginner or amateur programmers.

I agree that every modern application needs some accessible programming interface. Both VBA and Lisp severed that purpose, but it is not inconceivable that Autodesk believes .NET can serve that purpose as well.

Part of the issue with the increased focus towards .NET may be the ease at which C/C++ code written by the AutoCAD engineers can be exposed to this new “accessible” api.

The writing is definetly on the wall. I have seen on Autodesks website where 2010 does not come with VBA installed. There will be a download workaround however. 2011 will probably be fully stripped. My goal is to start converting all my VBA to C# later this year.

Change is always written on the wall, it seems.

Interestingly, there is a resurgence of interest in functional programming with the likes of F#.Net. Certainly Kean Walmsley at Autodesk, and of “Through the interface” fame, is a big fan. Given that Lisp was an early adopter of functional programming, I wonder if the L#.Net (LispSharp?) initiative will find a home at Autodesk.

I dont remember where I saw it, maybe Through the Interface, but I saw a LispSharp thing that was being tested and was working w/ 2008/2009. There was quite a few people testing Lisp in .Net and they were really liking it.

AutoLisp programmers would benefit as much as anyone with the availability of the .Net framework. If that direction was pursued, and Autodesk developed a good translator, numerous millions of lines of code could be preserved.

Interesting 10 years ago a lisp to C converter was available. Its still around. L2C

Has Autodesk agreed to provide this ability with say future releases and will it be free or "you want that it only cost"

Interesting 10 years ago a lisp to C converter was available. Its still around. L2C

 

Has Autodesk agreed to provide this ability with say future releases and will it be free or "you want that it only cost"

Autodesk does have a mixed history with regard to their API funtionality. Vanilla AutoCAD VBA could have been more powerful if not for an (IMO ill-advised) marketing strategy http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23203.

Who's to say what Autodesk will do if there is $ involved.