Looking back at your build123d code, it looks like the biggest differentiator compare to OpenSCAD and CadQuery is the expressiveness to assign shapes to variables, right?
I was able to check that box with PythonSCAD thus far, so that's "solved" for me.
Otherwise, I see a lot of vector/coordinate manipulation that isn't too different from OpenSCAD/PythonSCAD.
However, I can see there's some additional abstraction primitives with arc and tangents that looks nice. That doesn't quite exist in any OpenSCAD based or similar engine since there's no built-in way to get info out of the shapes in a reflection-like way.
Maybe I will give Build123d another go and see if I can sustain some sort of momentum.
This was my impression with build123d and Cadquery.
On paper they have a better abstraction than OpenScad. Yet, the code to express the same output is more bloated.
I was never able to get over the yak shaving learning curve to be proficient. Openscad mental model is a lot simpler to sustain momentum to go build something.
How did you get around to prefer Cadquery/build123d?
Thankfully I have been able to do what I want to do without learning the complexity that comes with Build123d etc.
Perhaps someday, but I havent had the need to get there thus far.
Also: Encapsulation etc was achievable with Python, which is something I already know. PythonSCAD checked all the boxes for me without the learning curve.
The learning curve required a paradigm shifted in abstraction. That was too much.
I just want OpenSCAD simplicity, but with modern programming language syntax.
I ended up settling with PythonScad. I was able to hit the ground running and leverage what I already know about python within a day.
It's new, but the author is extremely active and collaborative on github (https://github.com/gsohler/openscad) and reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/pythonscad/). The author actually pushed for merging this into OpenSCAD mainline, but got gatekeeped out since OpenSCAD maintainers believed Python went against OpenSCAD's mantra of being 'secure'.
I recommend PythonSCAD to anyone that liked OpenSCAD simplicity in abstraction but feel handicapped by the lack of expressiveness.
I can see relation models can be represented as graphs (e.g., table foreign keys to another table are "edges"; fields in the table that are not primary keys are "properties")
However, I am not quite confident in the claim that arbitrary graphs being mappable as relational models. I suspect there are certain graphs that can be difficult to express as relational models.
So question for you: Would you say all Trustfall expressions can be translated to SQL? Or, there are cases where there's no such translation possible?
One of my favorite hacks: I made a google appscript that scans a list of RSS feeds to email weekly digests. Surprisingly simple, and much more useful then running a separate RSS reader in my opinion.
I have to confess: little automations like this with low barrier of entry is where I find most value in tech. Simple and practical.