Autolisp..where to start?

[maxwellbests]

Wanting to learn Autolisp, but needing a starting point. Have looked at a few tutorials on the web. Can anyone suggest some resources to get started?

Thanks

[SteveK]

Hello,
See this thread just started yesterday: lisp creation - where do I start?

Look at:
http://www.afralisp.net/
http://www.jefferypsanders.com/autolisp.html
http://www.dailyautocad.com/autolisp/

[maxwellbests]

Thanks. I did not notice that.

Cheers

[BIGAL]

The first thing I would recommend is dont worry about the hundreds of examples but rather pick a goal that you want to achieve, then look for an example that matches what your trying to do.

Having trained many people always they said I want to learn Lisp but the question what do you want to achieve always drew a blank look. eg I want to draw squares but how big and what colour answer I don't know.

So get a pencil and paper work out the steps involved in your task write one step at a time, if it involves maths or geometry calculations have those solved before you start. I would also suggest write code that can be used in multiple programs cutiing and pasting little routines saves a lot of time, this will make more sense as you try more.

Give a hint here of what you are trying to do and others will guide you without necessarily writing the program for you.
Hope this helps

[flowerrobot]

So get a pencil and paper

Do you really do this?

[dbroada]

Do you really do this?

I do. If I don't I go off at tangents, forgetting what I actually want to acheive. I end up with a pretty routine that looks good but doesn't do what I need it to.

[flowerrobot]

How far to you go tho?
How many defun's and what each will do,
What a majority of values are.
What will be stored always, what will be stored in dwg's, What every menu will do?

[dbroada]

not very far but you implied (to me at least) that a new coder should try without a pencil. I certainly create a lot of psudo code before pressing the keyboard. I don't do a lot of LISP as I find VBA easier but I will outline what I expect my end point to be along with an idea of how I expect to get there.

[flowerrobot]

not very far but you implied (to me at least) that a new coder should try without a pencil.

That was unitentional
More of a question or how other do. there has being a few time where ive thought i should go the effort of doing a detailed report of what need to be done, but generaly ill do the dialouge then work from there. Mind you i have 3hours a day (travel time) to thing about what i need & want, Tho most never gets done

[dbroada]

glad we sorted that

I code so rarely that I have to get at least a flow chart before I start. My routines are usually something I have thought would be "nice to have one day" when a big urgent job hits us that NEEDS my routine. So they are often thrown together with no testing and just about do the job required of them. Very rarely do they get finished off to be more usefull. They are all in my "one day" pile.