Author Topic: What is the difference between Auto Lisp and Visual Lisp?  (Read 12205 times)

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Mark

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What is the difference between Auto Lisp and Visual Lisp?
« on: October 03, 2003, 02:59:29 PM »
This is what Adesk says.
Quote

AutoLISP is a programming language designed for extending and customizing AutoCAD functionality. It is based on the LISP programming language, whose origins date back to the late 1950s. LISP was originally designed for use in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, and is still the basis for many AI applications.

AutoCAD introduced AutoLISP as an application programming interface (API) in Release 2.1, in the mid-1980s. LISP was chosen as the initial AutoCAD API because it was uniquely suited for the unstructured design process of AutoCAD projects, which involved repeatedly trying different solutions to design problems.

Visual LISP (VLISP) is a software tool designed to expedite AutoLISP program development. The VLISP integrated development environment (IDE) provides features to help ease the tasks of source-code creation and modification, program testing, and debugging. In addition, VLISP provides a vehicle for delivering standalone applications written in AutoLISP.

In the past, developing AutoLISP programs for AutoCAD meant supplying your own text editor for writing code, then loading the code into AutoCAD and running it. Debugging your program meant adding statements to print the contents of variables at strategic points in your program. You had to figure out where in your program to do this, and what variables you needed to look at. If you discovered you still didn't have enough information to determine the error, you had to go back and change the code again by adding more debugging points. And finally, when you got the program to work correctly, you needed to either comment out or remove the debugging code you added.
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nivuahc

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What is the difference between Auto Lisp and Visual Lisp?
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2003, 03:11:35 PM »
Quote
And finally, when you got the program to work correctly, you needed to either comment out or remove the debugging code you added.


Code: [Select]
(setq comments 1)

(if (= comments 1)
(princ "\nDebugging Statement 1")
)

(if (= comments 1)
(princ "\nDebugging Statement 2")
)

(if (= comments 1)
(princ "\nDebugging Statement 3")
)


At least that's the way I always did it.  :P

SMadsen

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What is the difference between Auto Lisp and Visual Lisp?
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2003, 04:38:59 PM »
I've always just seen Visual Lisp as an IDE for AutoLISP so that no matter what VL-, VLAX- or VLA- one uses, it is still AutoLISP. But it's probably not that simple because Visual Lisp is basically VitalLisp which, to my understanding, was a C++ or LPP or there-about based thingy that talked to AutoLISP's old XLISP interpreter. But then, it probably doesn't matter anyway.

nivuahc

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What is the difference between Auto Lisp and Visual Lisp?
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2003, 04:53:30 PM »
Visual Lisp, to me, has always been a GUI for writing LISP.

I had Visual Lisp before it was a part of AutoCAD because I liked the way it formatted the code. Makes it a lot easier to read.

I actually decided to check out the Visual Lisp tutorial the other day just for the heck of it. So far, I don't see any benefit to learning Visual Lisp when what I want to accomplish is just as easy for me in LISP.

In fact, since I've been using LISP for such a long time it's usually harder for me to do something in Visual Lisp because it clashes with what I already know. Maybe not clashes, per se, but it's like learning spanish when you already know english so you can go to the spanish market and buy groceries. Even though the people in the spanish market all speak english. It hardly seems worth the trouble.

That's just my opinion, of course, and it's subject to change without notice.