Learning LiveCode

Nigel Soden nigels at amglighthouse.co.za
Thu Dec 27 03:24:33 EST 2012


Folks

I'm sitting in the confession box, hidden from the view to the confessors. (haha). 

 I've been in this game since the days of the first Sinclair computer, remember it. The ZX81.  At the time I was learning to fly and progressing to become a Commercial Pilot. Then mine eyes beheld this beauty, ZX81. I was to captivated by this 'thing'. I dissected everything about this wondrous machine, as for the flying that took a plunge as I was diagnosed with a heart murmur which put a full stop of ever reaching the commercial or as it it better known in aviation circle, my A.L.T.P. 

What was I left to do. I had spent  7 years and countless amount of paper money that I was left broken both physically and emotionally. But quietly sitting on my desk at home which by now the ZX81 hd grown to the ZX Spectrum.  I got a job as a Hi-Fi Salesman and in the evening I indulged myself in this wondrous piece of electronic device learning everything about it.

Lets move on. So, today I'm now a developer, learnt countless computer language, loved some, hated others. But my interest for programming has never waned. Ran a small software house for many years, collapsed 3 time from over stress but never ever lost the desire to create program's. Like learning music, it gets better the more you play.  

Three years from now I'm at the legal age of retirement. The current language I use to earn a living is C# and ALL its affiliated friends, .Net, Prism, etc, etc. And I HATE  every bit of it. Whatever the youngsters of today claim they can do in C# has been done under other camouflaged names and languages. OOPS. What a farce... It's overused, oversold and overrated. There I SAID IT. I HATE OOPS.  I'm not saying that it has no good points for it has some really clever ways of dealing with problems. But it's SO over exposed it's becoming sickening. 

There is no ways I'm going to wait until I'm 63 before retiring, so for the last year I have been researching various languages that'll fit my future requirements as this coming year is my last year I will ever work for a big corporation.  Basically what Im saying, I'm retiring, but with the current economy being as it is I would have to supplement my income. 

After many months of research I stumbled on LiveCode downloaded it and played around with it and liked what I saw and what it's user base and it's interaction amongst the users and developers. 

I'm in the process of developing an application for my son that'll run on iPad's and later on Android units. I do a lot of research on biblical history and also currently developing an application for that as well. So all in all I'm enjoying it and looking forward to making a little cash on the sideline. 

BUT, this is what is frustrating me. WHY AM I FINDING IT SO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THE FLIPPING LANGUAGE. I keep tripping up on the explanation in the multitudes of examples. for example.

			Create a calendar pane in a given stack using the function: 

I think I sort of understand, and i'm sure I will reach that goal. Now hear my confession. It takes me roughly 3 months to get into a language and another couple of months to becoming proficient in it but in LiveCode, geez.. it's like taking for ever. Why could they not stay with standard computer technology terms. You gonna have to learn them sometime. And for those of you that write articles and third party add-ons, please, please supply copious amount of examples. I know some do but in general I find them rather lacking. 

To date what I see in LiveCode satisfies my needs and is well within my budget.  I will continue with it as I do believe it'll be around for quit some time. Living in South Africa makes it expensive for us to travel around the world and would love to attend a conference but that is way beyond my means. It appears as If I'm the only developer in this country so I do rely a lot on various forums and site from which to get answers.  I cannot just pick up the phone and say, 'Hey!' what do I do here. For those of you that have helped me in the past, I am most grateful even thou I may not always reply as such or contribute currently. 

On a final note. I have a couple of articles that I am working on and when I have reached the level of satisfaction that a beginner to an expert can follow then I'll post them.

Thanks for listening  and hope you ALL have a good 2013. 


P.S. Can I leave the confession box now?







		






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