Where does survive the inventive user ?

[dunbarx at aol.com]

In the old days, Hypercard was. like a viral pandemic, infected the world because it was bundled with every Macintosh. It was offered like a promotion, a possibly valuable coupon one gets in the mail, which you will at least read before throwing out, And it became a nerd fad, with many hundreds of thousands of people trying it out. Certainly only a small fraction became enamored; many of those are reading this post.


Without that once in a lifetime vehicle, it is an uphill battle to engage people who might fall in love with LC if they only were simply exposed to it. Worse, these days, the mindset is that everything comes in small ready-to-go packages, complete and compact. I have three kids who just don't think about building stuff, especially from raw materials. I used to, though.


Thank the iMac, iPhone, iPod, etc., for creating that expectation, a far cry from reading a bank of eight lights telling you what byte was currently passing by.


LC should be taught in the ninth grade in every school in the world. 


Craig Newman









-----Original Message-----
From: Francis Nugent Dixon <effendi at wanadoo.fr>
To: use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>
Sent: Wed, Jul 27, 2011 2:42 am
Subject: Where does survive the inventive user ?


Alejandro asks some potent questions .....

Question 1 - Is programming so easy ..... ?

I think we should ask the question "Is programming a niche occupation ?

During my early career, practically everybody I knew was a programmer
(birds of a feather flock together ?)

Now I am out of the industry (retired), outside of the LiveCode forum,
I don't know anybody who programs (although most of my acquaintances
have computers and Google all day, they don't WRITE programs.)
Programming is a mentality, and there aren't many of us who have
this mentality (even to make money from it). Although LiveCode is
a great incentive for non-programmers to "have a go" , programming
is limiited to a strange mind-form which even I cannot define !
The question should be - "What is the VISIBILTY of LiveCode to the man
in the street who has never even thought about programming ?"
And the answer is "NONE". The chances of anybody "moving in" to
programming are about the same as being struck by lightning.

Question 2  Did anyone know someone ..... ?

I would think that buying a mobile platform (iPhone, iPad), and
learning to program are two ideas so far apart, as to be unlikely.
I do not know anyone who has started programming because of this
"mobile technology" and the platforms thereon. In a recent thread
on the forum I voiced my "No Way Baby" intent to NOT go to mobile
computing, although I wrote my first program more than 50 years
ago, and I still program EVERY day. The cost is far too high, and
the returns are doubtful ! I am a rare bird who now programs for fun.

Question 3  Will mobile computing displace desktop computing .... ?

This reminds me of the 1980's question "Will Desktop computing ever
displace Mainframe Computing ?" A lot of people said no in them days.

Industry has been talking about "cloud computing" for years, and
IS slowly moving towards it. But, although I may accept having my
data in a cloud, I will always want my apps to be in my hand, so
I can have control over them. Renting application use out of a
cloud would be the same has handing over your wallet to a stranger.
You can see which  direction Apple is going. They want to charge
you for the use of YOUR OWN computer, and then for storing your
data in their cloud, and then for using their applications from
their cloud. That could cost you an arm and a leg. All my
communication in the hands of a stranger ? It's bad enough already!
God help us all in the future !

The problem is - it's not hype - it's tomorrows computing, and
I don't like the way the wind is blowing .....

The days when you rented an application, and you got the computer
for free may return. When computers become so dirt cheap that there
is no big profit to make, those guys "up there" have to think of a
new way to get your money.  We will soon be paying more for
communication facilities than we are spending on food
(si ce n'est deja fait !, as they say here)!

"Nothing should ever be done for the first time !"

-Francis

PS. How about the question "When will we be grafting micro-chips
into the brain to allow us instant and global communication, and
complex problem solving and decision making ?


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