Players in HTML5 - ETA for Full Functionality?

[Richard Gaskin]

Sannyasin Brahmanathaswami wrote:

 >  We *can* fulfill our media delivery "vision"  on LC/Mobile and we
 > can build a web UI using Rev igniter... so I'll be content to develop
 > in that space for now.

A web UI is just text - HTML and CSS.  LiveCode is uncommonly good for 
processing text.  Whether using RevIgniter or any other framework or 
just task-specific code, what gets delivered to the browser is text of a 
sort LiveCode is very good at helping to produce.


 >  This is more than you need to know, but part of the "back story"
 > and "urgency" here was a hope  to keep LiveCode at the forefront of
 > our in house toolbox. Another new young person -- who already went
 > thru the Livecode University has switched to learning Python and will
 > soon be developing HTML5 on that platform, because  it needs to run
 > in a browser/WordPress iFrame.

Python doesn't run in a browser any more than LiveCode does.  An iFrame 
isn't at all Python-specific, it's an HTML tag (though for compatibility 
with iOS browsers he may want to use scrolling DIVs with XMLHttpRequest 
instead; last time I had frame-dependent content iPads didn't render it 
well so per Apple's tech notes I revised it with DIVs loaded via XHR).

Web UIs are just text - HTML and CSS.  Both Python and LiveCode are good 
for processing text, but there's an argument that it's a little easier 
and perhaps even faster in LiveCode.  Whether using Python or LiveCode 
or anything else, what gets delivered to the browser is text.

Python's a fine language.  But so is LiveCode.  Both have similar use 
cases, though given the early state of Python deployment packages for 
mobile I think it's safe to suggest LC is more mature for native mobile 
apps.   And given the integration of GUI elements as native objects in 
LC compared to the traditional approach Python takes in which GUIs are 
an afterthought, I'd say LC has at least a modest edge there too.

But for delivering web UIs, both do well at text processing and that's 
really all that task is as far as the work done on the server.  And 
although I'd love to see more head-to-head benchmarks, what little I've 
seen suggests LC may be slightly more efficient in some areas than 
Python (chunk expressions are truly wonderful).

The one area where Python has an unquestionable advantage is the size 
and engagement of its audience.  Sooooooo many libraries available for it.

We'll get there too, but in the meantime all work in either language 
means a lot of unique code, and LC is every bit as solid a choice as Python.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com