5 ms·

I was in high school right at the time the first CAD systems came in and our school was the test school for the region. Our older drafting teacher didn't want

I was in high school right at the time the first CAD systems came in and our school was the test school for the region. Our older drafting teacher didn't want to learn the new system so he asked the class who knew "computers". I had had Commodore PETs at home for a few years and was teaching myself to code. My hand shot up and I was given full access to the new machine to "figure it out". It was my first introduction to PCs (IBM XT) and of course AutoCAD. I still remember, version 1.17b. I was introduced to LISP in AutoCAD, I ended up partaking in regional training for the other schools when they got their CAD systems, and then into a job working with AutoCAD. In my 20's I started a company developing engineering and architectural add-ons in LISP for AutoCAD, and while we later transitioned into a general software house, those will always be my roots. John's products changed the direction of my life and I wish I had had the chance to let him know that. When the school region later deprecated that IBM XT 10 years later the school asked me if I wanted it. Still have it along with the original Kurta tablet and Roland plotter.

93po 3y ago
That's a really cool story, thank you for sharing
jimmydddd 3y ago
Great story and I can relate. In the late '80's I worked as a summer engineering intern at a civil engineering company. They assigned me to train the crochety draftsmen on AudCAD, but they wanted nothing to do with it. To paint a picture, these guys were hunching over drafting tables using pencils and erasers to draw their drawings, while chain smoking the whole time. An ash tray would be placed on the center of the drawing. Needless to say, my summer project was not a success! :-)
- disqard 3y ago
  (You inspired me to riff on this and extrapolate, so here goes...) Great story and I can relate. In the late '20s I worked as an ML intern at a tech company. They assigned me to train the crotchety programmers on prompt engineering, but they wanted nothing to do with it. To paint a picture, these folks were hunching over IDEs using keyboards and mice to type in their code, while cursing at the compiler the whole time. An internal chat/discussion/meme forum would be open on a browser tab on their second monitor. Needless to say, my summer project was not a success! :-) (Let's revisit this comment of mine in a decade or two, if HN still exists)
- acomjean 3y ago
  I worked at a government agency in the early 90s. We had drafts people. One of the big issues was computer cad took longer and the drawings looked worse. Printing blueprint size was difficult. They drawing were on some wierd “vellum” like semi transparent material so they could make copies in the blueprint room which always smelled like ammonia. Of course once you had edits the manual drawing speed advantage went away and plotting/printing tech soon caught up. One of the drafts people had a power eraser that would sound a round white eraser tip like a drill.
  - jimmydddd 3y ago
    Re: Amonia Agreed. When I wasn't "teaching" AutoCAD, I was making blueprints on the blueprint machine, which was in a small closet-sized room filled with air that seemed to be 80% ammonia.
dekhn 3y ago
Same here, late 80s I took a high school drafting class and asked about the PCs in the back, the teacher said "I don't know anything about them, they have some software called AutoCAD. Do you want to take an elective and learn how it works?" It was entirely 2D and I went through all the exercises quickly. That foundational knowledge stuck with me and although it's not my job at all, I use Fusion 360 all the time at home to design parts for my self-built microscope and many other things. It's a great tool.
NotSammyHagar 3y ago
This is a great recollection. I was in high school in the early 80s, and I took engineering drafting because I wanted to be an engineer. It was all manual drawing lines, lettering, figuring out where to center your thing on the paper, no computers. I wonder when my school switched to CAD - I could have just missed your life story! When I got to college I was a CS major and we didn't have to do CAD or blueprints.
lemper 3y ago
bro, i have a question. lisp addon for autocad is the second piece of lisp on automotive software. the first one was mathcad's addon. what's with lisp and automotive software? where and when did lisp slip into it? thanks xoxo
- jdougan 3y ago
  The original AutoCAD was built around AutoLISP [1] (sort of like Emacs), keeping with John Walker's philosophy regarding programmability in software. [2]. MathCAD APIs were much later. [1] https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/e5/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/e5/ [2] https://www.fourmilab.ch/atlast/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/atlast/
kotor 3y ago
Generally similar story. I was in college and working part-time for a structural engineering company in the mid 80s as a manual drafter. We got a contract that required drawings be submitted in electronic (DWG) format. Because I was the "young" guy and had taken a couple programming classes, the partners asked if I was willing to learn AutoCAD and become the company's CAD drafter. At the time it was not an obvious yes answer. CAD drafting was not universally accepted as viable and people at my company, and within the industry, considered CAD as the last bastion for incompetent drafters. After I said yes the "old" veteran drafter at the company told me I was wasting my time and making a career mistake. I taught myself Lisp in order to make the most of the opportunity, and now 40 years later, the vast majority of my career has been spent inside AutoCAD, drawing and programming many, many lines of Lisp code.
cr4ig_ 3y ago
Another former draftsman here...started a new job at a civil engineering firm and was tasked with learning AutoCAD. Quickly became once of the lead CAD draftsmen in the department, as part of that I picked up AutoLISP scripting to automate a lot of work. I found I liked writing scripts so I took an introductory C programming course; I aced that. At the same time I was going to college part-time nights as an engineering major, but from my perch as a draftsman I was not really seeing a lot to love about civil engineering. I ran across an ad for a tech support job at a startup CAD software vendor, applied, and got the gig. I quit that drafting job, put away my ink pens and electric eraser, and switched to a computer science major. The rest is history, now a senior systems software engineer working on projects for NASA. So godspeed John Walker, thanks for pointing me in the direction of a 30+ year career that has been both lucrative and interesting.

93po 3y ago

That's a really cool story, thank you for sharing

jimmydddd 3y ago

Great story and I can relate. In the late '80's I worked as a summer engineering intern at a civil engineering company. They assigned me to train the crochety draftsmen on AudCAD, but they wanted nothing to do with it. To paint a picture, these guys were hunching over drafting tables using pencils and erasers to draw their drawings, while chain smoking the whole time. An ash tray would be placed on the center of the drawing. Needless to say, my summer project was not a success! :-)

disqard 3y ago
(You inspired me to riff on this and extrapolate, so here goes...) Great story and I can relate. In the late '20s I worked as an ML intern at a tech company. They assigned me to train the crotchety programmers on prompt engineering, but they wanted nothing to do with it. To paint a picture, these folks were hunching over IDEs using keyboards and mice to type in their code, while cursing at the compiler the whole time. An internal chat/discussion/meme forum would be open on a browser tab on their second monitor. Needless to say, my summer project was not a success! :-) (Let's revisit this comment of mine in a decade or two, if HN still exists)
acomjean 3y ago
I worked at a government agency in the early 90s. We had drafts people. One of the big issues was computer cad took longer and the drawings looked worse. Printing blueprint size was difficult. They drawing were on some wierd “vellum” like semi transparent material so they could make copies in the blueprint room which always smelled like ammonia. Of course once you had edits the manual drawing speed advantage went away and plotting/printing tech soon caught up. One of the drafts people had a power eraser that would sound a round white eraser tip like a drill.
- jimmydddd 3y ago
  Re: Amonia Agreed. When I wasn't "teaching" AutoCAD, I was making blueprints on the blueprint machine, which was in a small closet-sized room filled with air that seemed to be 80% ammonia.

dekhn 3y ago

Same here, late 80s I took a high school drafting class and asked about the PCs in the back, the teacher said "I don't know anything about them, they have some software called AutoCAD. Do you want to take an elective and learn how it works?" It was entirely 2D and I went through all the exercises quickly. That foundational knowledge stuck with me and although it's not my job at all, I use Fusion 360 all the time at home to design parts for my self-built microscope and many other things. It's a great tool.

NotSammyHagar 3y ago

This is a great recollection. I was in high school in the early 80s, and I took engineering drafting because I wanted to be an engineer. It was all manual drawing lines, lettering, figuring out where to center your thing on the paper, no computers. I wonder when my school switched to CAD - I could have just missed your life story! When I got to college I was a CS major and we didn't have to do CAD or blueprints.

lemper 3y ago

bro, i have a question. lisp addon for autocad is the second piece of lisp on automotive software. the first one was mathcad's addon. what's with lisp and automotive software? where and when did lisp slip into it? thanks xoxo

jdougan 3y ago
The original AutoCAD was built around AutoLISP [1] (sort of like Emacs), keeping with John Walker's philosophy regarding programmability in software. [2]. MathCAD APIs were much later. [1] https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/e5/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/e5/ [2] https://www.fourmilab.ch/atlast/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/atlast/

kotor 3y ago

Generally similar story. I was in college and working part-time for a structural engineering company in the mid 80s as a manual drafter. We got a contract that required drawings be submitted in electronic (DWG) format. Because I was the "young" guy and had taken a couple programming classes, the partners asked if I was willing to learn AutoCAD and become the company's CAD drafter. At the time it was not an obvious yes answer. CAD drafting was not universally accepted as viable and people at my company, and within the industry, considered CAD as the last bastion for incompetent drafters. After I said yes the "old" veteran drafter at the company told me I was wasting my time and making a career mistake. I taught myself Lisp in order to make the most of the opportunity, and now 40 years later, the vast majority of my career has been spent inside AutoCAD, drawing and programming many, many lines of Lisp code.

cr4ig_ 3y ago

Another former draftsman here...started a new job at a civil engineering firm and was tasked with learning AutoCAD. Quickly became once of the lead CAD draftsmen in the department, as part of that I picked up AutoLISP scripting to automate a lot of work. I found I liked writing scripts so I took an introductory C programming course; I aced that. At the same time I was going to college part-time nights as an engineering major, but from my perch as a draftsman I was not really seeing a lot to love about civil engineering. I ran across an ad for a tech support job at a startup CAD software vendor, applied, and got the gig. I quit that drafting job, put away my ink pens and electric eraser, and switched to a computer science major. The rest is history, now a senior systems software engineer working on projects for NASA. So godspeed John Walker, thanks for pointing me in the direction of a 30+ year career that has been both lucrative and interesting.