I recently encountered a week in my day job where I was forced to learn to use several different programs across multiple operating systems. One of the most painful encounters was trying to get a file off an iPad and onto my Windows PC. Ya I know, easy enough for the young kids... We're mostly old guys here I think (let me know if that's not the case as I'd be thrilled to hear that younger people are still learning AutoLISP).
To be honest I'm not much of a programmer. I tell my clients that I'm more of an "idea guy". My meek programming skills are usually enough to get the result I want thanks largely in part due to the fact that I'm basing everything I code off AutoCAD opposed to create a stand-alone app.
One huge reason I personally see value in extending AutoCAD (the main point of my post which I'll touch on below) is that we have to learn so many different apps and programs. Often times, these apps are poorly configured, lack any real beneficial functionality (compared to their price tag) and often feel unintuitive (maybe because I'm an old guy but whatever... if I could navigate through MS DOS faster than it's safe to say it's a pretty bad app). A while back I realized that they are often marketing-focused grifting schemes. Some apps actually do a lot but come with a HUGE price tag. One good example of this that I've encountered recently was one of the many "construction management" apps floating around.
I'm finding that the number of programs I'm having to learn and cope with has been growing steadily over the years. And learning each program provides little to no benefit outside of the program itself. Compare that to AutoCAD or Excel where if you're performing a task in the program, you're also likely learning skills that you can apply towards other tasks. I use AutoCAD for A LOT of different things. If you come up with a system it actually works better than most construction estimating Apps. Same goes for PDF Markups. It takes a bit more time to learn at first, but after that you already know the program. No need to learn 50 different UI's (with 50 different yearly subscription fees). I find AutoCAD to be WAY faster than other systems as well for a variety of reasons.
Some may argue that I go a bit overboard. I use AutoCAD as a word processor even though I have MS Word on my PC. I figured out a way to use AutoCAD for data visualization (lol!!). I've considered making a GANTT chart as well.
I don't know but I see a lot of value. So much so that I often have trouble just focusing on one thing. What are your guys' thoughts?
