<story><title>John Walker, founder of Autodesk, has died</title><url>https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/john-walker-1949-2024/4305</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>51Cards</author><text>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&amp;#x27;t want to learn the new system so he asked the class who knew &amp;quot;computers&amp;quot;.  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 &amp;quot;figure it out&amp;quot;.  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.&lt;p&gt;In my 20&amp;#x27;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&amp;#x27;s products changed the direction of my life and I wish I had had the chance to let him know that.&lt;p&gt;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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dekhn</author><text>Same here, late 80s I took a high school drafting class and asked about the PCs in the back, the teacher said &amp;quot;I don&amp;#x27;t know anything about them, they have some software called AutoCAD.  Do you want to take an elective and learn how it works?&amp;quot; It was entirely 2D and I went through all the exercises quickly.&lt;p&gt;That foundational knowledge stuck with me and although it&amp;#x27;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&amp;#x27;s a great tool.</text></comment>
<story><title>John Walker, founder of Autodesk, has died</title><url>https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/john-walker-1949-2024/4305</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>51Cards</author><text>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&amp;#x27;t want to learn the new system so he asked the class who knew &amp;quot;computers&amp;quot;.  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 &amp;quot;figure it out&amp;quot;.  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.&lt;p&gt;In my 20&amp;#x27;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&amp;#x27;s products changed the direction of my life and I wish I had had the chance to let him know that.&lt;p&gt;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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jimmydddd</author><text>Great story and I can relate.  In the late &amp;#x27;80&amp;#x27;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! :-)</text></comment>