Much activity in the database co"nity is focused on providing database support to the application p r o g n u " in a user-friendly envinament that improves productivity and encourages software reuse.Object-oriented and Persistent programming are two emerging paradigms. that are considered essential to create such an environment. One approach is to converge progmnmhg languages and databases to a coherent and CoRPistent whole. Such systems are not yet ready to replace database systems with procedural interfaces, due to lack of standard or degraded speed We consider a front end based on the two paradigms for the Nelsis CAD system. We discuss what kind of persistent environment is required and how to create it, with emphasis on the stringent lime efficiency q u i r e m m of CAD database systems.