Open Language and stability

[Bob Sneidar]

On Oct 27, 2015, at 04:34 , Mark Waddingham <mark at livecode.com<mailto:mark at livecode.com>> wrote:

One of the goals of the 7.0 refactor was to move a very old, undocumented, difficult to maintain and spaghetti-like code forward to a new model which is cleaner, easier to maintain and more amenable to use in the ways we need it to be to move the platform forward (indeed, it has been a 'happy' side-effect that in doing this process the actual semantics of what things are meant to do has become a great deal clearer - the code itself in many cases is now almost documentation in and of itself - assuming you can 'read the runes' in that regard). Of course, this process alone has been quite long and difficult - but well worth the effort in terms of what it will enable moving forward.

A very great software company (imho) called Now Software produced a multiuser calendaring and contact system that was second to none. I had 2 fairly large organizations running off it and everyone that used it and knew it loved it. The problem was...

SPAGHETTI CODE!!!!!

It had become so onerous to make anything amounting to real feature additions that they decided to rewrite the database and code from the ground up, reworking the entire interface in the process. It killed the company. They got a couple early betas out, but the direction they headed went all wrong.

So I guess what I am saying is that I really appreciate the difficulty of what the LC developers have done. I think the real key was to not try and create an entirely new application in the process of refactoring the existing code. Most people have no idea what it takes to write a really robust and functional application, never mind a development environment that can produce one!

My impression of the LC devs is that they are top notch, and I for one and grateful for their efforts. Thanks to all the LC devs for their exceptional work. I don't think we can give them the credit they are due, except to keep up our subscriptions and continue to support the company.

Bob S