Learning Materials

[Richard Gaskin]

William Prothero wrote:

> I said we need a dictionary focussed on tasks, not on commands,
> but obviously we need both. I know Richard has been leading a
> group taking this on. Richard, is this happening?

The focus of an API reference like the LiveCode Dictionary will always 
have the language tokens as their primary index.  This can (and arguably 
should) be augmented with tags to support searching for strings 
conceptually related but not found in the token itself or its 
description.  I believe that's been put into place for the future, but 
regrettably not available in the current shipping product v7.

Task-driven documentation is traditionally the domain of things like 
"Cookbooks".   That format allows for the exploration of related 
concepts in a more detailed  way that would be clumsy or even 
distracting in a Dictionary. IIRC LiveCode 1.0 had Cookbook, but I'm not 
sure when it was dropped.

To answer your question about the Community Documentation Team, over the 
last year the core team at LiveCode Ltd. has been migrating all 
documentation content into Github markdown so that it can not only be 
more easily edited but also reviewed, merged, and compiled into the 
product build more easily as well.

Peter Brett at LiveCode Ltd. has taken on the role of stewarding 
community engagement projects like this one, and the process of 
migrating the content to markdown is now far enough along that my next 
meeting with Dr. Brett will focus on conveying the dynamics of the 
workflow so we can get to work.

The scope defined for the moment, however, is to update existing docs.

If there's a desire for a Cookbook I would encourage the community to 
consider establishing a wiki for that.  Indeed, there is one at 
wikia.com which may be a good starting point:
<http://livecode.wikia.com/wiki/Livecode_Wiki>

To help guide such an effort, let me ask you a question related to the 
CreateIt course you mentioned:

You've been using LiveCode for many years, and have made some 
substantial software with it.  At this point in your work, what topics 
would you find most valuable?

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