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Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

acadlisp.de

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Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#2

Post by holg »

In the early 90s I wrote AutoLISP code for AutoCAD 9/10 that enabled a CSV → template → parametric drawing workflow. You could define components in spreadsheets, feed them through templates, and generate complete technical drawings automatically.

I've never seen anyone else use this approach. Now I've built an interpreter in Rust/WASM so it can run in the browser - partly nostalgia, partly preservation before this knowledge disappears entirely.

The lisp/ folder contains some LSP files from that era, others i recreated from memory.

Repo: https://github.com/holg/acadlisp/

What kind of drawings were you generating? Electrical schematics, mechanical parts, architecture? We also have some playground, to toy around with LISP and some function generator, to demonstrate Lisp usage for math...

Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#3

Post by lambda »

holg wrote: post #2

In the early 90s I wrote AutoLISP code for AutoCAD 9/10 that enabled a CSV → template → parametric drawing workflow. You could define components in spreadsheets, feed them through templates, and generate complete technical drawings automatically. I've never seen anyone else use this approach. Now I've built an interpreter in Rust/WASM so it can run in the browser - partly nostalgia, partly preservation before this kn…

I get a 404 for that repo; is it private?

Also, the page you link to in the original post is in German; it might be nice to have an English page for the mostly English speaking audience here on HN

Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#4

Post by holg »

lambda wrote: post #3
holg wrote: post #2

In the early 90s I wrote AutoLISP code for AutoCAD 9/10 that enabled a CSV → template → parametric drawing workflow. You could define components in spreadsheets, feed them through templates, and generate complete technical drawings automatically. I've never seen anyone else use this approach. Now I've built an interpreter in Rust/WASM so it can run in the browser - partly nostalgia, partly preservation before this kn…

I get a 404 for that repo; is it private? Also, the page you link to in the original post is in German; it might be nice to have an English page for the mostly English speaking audience here on HN

fixed it, thx for the notice

Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#6

Post by holg »

pjmlp wrote: post #5

AutoCad nowadays uses .NET as well, and thus any CLR enabled language, with a MSIL backend. https://help.autodesk.com/view/OARX/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-390A...

sure it does, but Lisp is special, and for those times it was very special. I did not want to show how it is done nowadays, but how we had done it 33 yrs ago... And now there is the emulator as the web-page, this is what i wanted to share (everything works as wasm in the browser)...

Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#7

Post by ofrzeta »

related: "In Version 2.5, AutoLISP allowed access to the DWG database. AutoLISP was based on XLISP, a public domain version of LISP written by David Betz. Betz later complained that Autodesk had failed to acknowledge the source, which the company later did." (https://www.shapr3d.com/history-of-cad/autodesk-and-autocad)

https://github.com/dbetz/xlisp

Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#8

Post by holg »

ofrzeta wrote: post #7

related: "In Version 2.5, AutoLISP allowed access to the DWG database. AutoLISP was based on XLISP, a public domain version of LISP written by David Betz. Betz later complained that Autodesk had failed to acknowledge the source, which the company later did." ( https://www.shapr3d.com/history-of-cad/autodesk-and-autocad ) https://github.com/dbetz/xlisp

Thanks for the link! I didn't know about the XLISP controversy.

My interpreter doesn't aim for full compatibility - just enough to run the schematic generation workflow from 1991. The core is: defun, setq, car/cdr, recursion, and the (command ...) interface to draw entities.

The interesting part was how templates could trigger other templates - inserting a contactor (Schütz) would automatically generate its coil in the control circuit. Code writing code, classic LISP.

Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#9

Post by stocksinsmocks »

holg wrote: post #2

In the early 90s I wrote AutoLISP code for AutoCAD 9/10 that enabled a CSV → template → parametric drawing workflow. You could define components in spreadsheets, feed them through templates, and generate complete technical drawings automatically. I've never seen anyone else use this approach. Now I've built an interpreter in Rust/WASM so it can run in the browser - partly nostalgia, partly preservation before this kn…

I have a lot of interest in this space for infrastructure design. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Show HN: AutoLISP interpreter in Rust/WASM – a CAD workflow invented 33 yrs ago

#10

Post by weare »

lambda wrote: post #3
holg wrote: post #2

In the early 90s I wrote AutoLISP code for AutoCAD 9/10 that enabled a CSV → template → parametric drawing workflow. You could define components in spreadsheets, feed them through templates, and generate complete technical drawings automatically. I've never seen anyone else use this approach. Now I've built an interpreter in Rust/WASM so it can run in the browser - partly nostalgia, partly preservation before this kn…

I get a 404 for that repo; is it private? Also, the page you link to in the original post is in German; it might be nice to have an English page for the mostly English speaking audience here on HN

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