Learning about server

[Richard Gaskin]

Dar wrote:
 > My immediate need would not be a way to deliver web content, but just
 > as a way to make a console application on Windows.  But, I can see
 > the former in my future.

There are so many useful and interesting things to do with LiveCode 
Server, and even standalones on servers, it's almost overwhelming.

These days a majority of the work I do is making client-server apps 
where LiveCode runs both sides.  I currently have only one site where LC 
is used to generate output for the Web - everything else is either APIs 
for other services, or the backend for LC-based clients used in 
workgroup settings.

Given the wide range of ways LC is useful on servers, with all due 
respect to the ambitions of those interested in writing a book on it, it 
would be a big one.

Last month I outlined my plans for the LiveCode Server Center, in the 
works for LiveCode Journal now that I finally put a CMS in place there 
(and of course the CMS is made with LiveCode, all the way down to the 
data store):
<http://lists.runrev.com/pipermail/use-livecode/2014-May/201516.html>

As I wrote then, I don't mean to discourage anyone from writing a book, 
and indeed there is likely a good audience for it.

But given the scope of what LC Server can do, and the many other aspects 
that come into play with using it well (the critical role of performance 
in the inherently-short CGI runtime lifecycle, how mod_rewrite works, 
SSH keys, bash, rsync, custom servers like looping CLI daemons and 
simpler GUI apps, REST API design, and more), it would be nice if there 
were also a community-driven effort to provide as much material as we 
can in a format that's as free and open as LiveCode itself.

That said, books also play a useful role in evangelizing LiveCode as a 
platform, esp. when they come from established publishers.   A good 
publisher can do wonders for reinforcing a strong image of LiveCode and 
its ever-expanding third-party ecosystem.  I have some contacts at 
publishers and would be happy to provide introductions if useful.

And the upside for book publishing is that with RunRev's newsletters 
having displaced much of the energy that used to go into LiveCode 
Journal, at this point LCJ is mostly a one-man show.  Being heavily 
booked with client commitments, devoting time to fleshing out what can 
go there has been challenging, and somewhat slow.

Still, I felt obliged to note what's coming with the LiveCode Server 
Center at LCJ (hopefully sooner than later), and to extend an invitation 
for anyone interested in sharing free learning materials to consider 
LiveCodeJournal.com as an available venue for community resources, not 
only for LiveCode Server but anything else you feel would be of interest 
to the community.

We have all the infrastructure Dreamhost provides, and plenty of disk 
space and bandwidth, all there for use by the LiveCode community.

--
   Richard Gaskin
   LiveCode Community Manager
   richard at livecode.org