Us and them? [was Re: Livecode Dictionary]

[David Bovill]

Hi Richard - yes indeed Github and GIST integration is part of the mix. I
have libraries for those and have been publishing directly from Livecode
for a few years now so it works well. My thinking on it is to use Github as
an option for offloading (large) data, and keeping the json as metadata -
light and fast to load.

So at the moment the documentation exports small wiki pages (in json) that
link direclty to Github or GIST repositories. Livecode can then use the
json for fast local / native rendering of text - as Curry Kenworthy
comments. Minimal light weight structured json. The json is basically a
serialised array store and can be converted to markdown of HTML in
Javascript, Livecode or pandoc. So it is easy for a developer to do what
they want with it, and there are libraries to make manipulation easy.

What I'm personally finding useful is the ability to write freely while
coding. I've adopted a process of writing code in which I specify it
first + a little quick software sketch. Having a wiki page for every script
gives me the space to do that - then when you publish you have the
documentation and the code in Github or your own web site. This is a
different architecture from notes + comments - it's a wiki page you can
fork and write on.

On Wed, 23 Jan 2019 at 05:13, Richard Gaskin via use-livecode <
use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:

> Graham Samuel wrote:
>
>  > It’s OK, I think, to provide more facilities for the ‘big picture’
>  > professionals, such as making it easier to use version control and
>  > to work in teams, and to have an ever-expanding set of functions
>  > and even platforms; but it’s not OK if this is at the expense of
>  > the kind of user who doesn’t want to distort the way LC works,
>  > for example by deprecating stacks that contain both scripts and
>  > UI elements...
>
> Stack files have not been in any way deprecated.  Nothing has change in
> that regard.
>
> What has happened is exactly what you describe as ideal above: new
> capabilities have been added that support a much wider range of uses for
> LC, while preserving the methods in place for decades.  Definite win-win.
>
> I think some of this (a lot of this?) sort of discussion comes down to
> deciding who is "us" and who is "them"?
>
> I used to be squarely in what I presume is the "us" camp, and in many
> ways I still prefer the simplicity of with-the-grain xTalk workflows.
>
> But I also work in other languages on things outside of LC, and the
> tools and habits acquired there are also valuable.
>
> Being able to adapt old habits, and enhance the learning of new ones, by
> mixing the best of what I learn from each has become a rewarding adventure.
>
> In fact, I'm no longer sure which camp I'm in, since I'm not fully "us"
> and not full "them", but a mish-mash of both and a lot of moving around
> in between those polarities.
>
> As long as each of us can use the workflows we prefer, does the
> distinction matter?
>
>
>
>  > A typical casualty of this conflict is the cancelling of the ability
>  > of these ordinary users to add notes to the dictionary, without
>  > apparent thought for the negative consequences.
>
> I'm surprised no one in the community has made a LC Plugin that acts as
> a custom GitHub client for LC docs.
>
> That would seem the best of both worlds: a pleasant UI that's as easy to
> use as it is to build, and those who prefer working directly on the docs
> in Markdown can continue to do so.
>
> A custom GitHub client for the main repository solves many problems,
> chiefly (and so far uniquely) the issue of having learning materials
> spread out across an ever-broader range of disparate systems.  All the
> advantages of multiple intput streams, with the advantage of a single
> output stream that we all have installed and available with LC.
>
> --
>   Richard Gaskin
>   Fourth World Systems
>   Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
>   ____________________________________________________________________
>   Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com
>
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