LC Roadmap

[Alex Tweedly]

On 15/02/2021 12:55, Andre Garzia via use-livecode wrote:
> It is with this in mind, that I decided to create content for our 
> community. Books are an easy value proposition. Most of our community 
> is beyond their thirties and have a fondness (and experience) for the 
> written word and documentation. It is easy to sell books here, way 
> easier than in other communities which are younger and prefer videos. 
> That doesn’t mean that I can’t provide videos as well, damn I’ve 
> graduated with a BA in filmmaking, I’m geared to start filming too. 
> Books were the first step. I see myself more as a storyteller than a 
> developer, that is why I want to focus on content for my own career 
> moving forward. But that is only my own personal journey, other people 
> here have a different path. I just wish that more people here decide 
> to share their knowledge (and code) so that we can become a more 
> vibrant community. 

Then I have a concrete suggestion for what would, I think, be a very 
useful e-book + stack.

A sample 'skeleton' app - i.e. complete but not fleshed-out. Initially 
it would be for a desktop app (the first sequel will cover mobile). It 
would implement "good practices" for many of the common features, with 
enough code being there to do something - but the focus should be on the 
architecture rather than on doing anything useful.

It should include (most of):

  - splash stack, with checks for updated versions, background 
downloading & installing them, etc.

  - proper locations for libraries, prefs files, other config data, 
other data, etc. as well as loading the libraries.

  - simple preferences handling (i.e. library which will store, retrieve 
and allow basic user interaction to view/update preferences - given some 
description of the preferences)

  - a menu, ready to extend or remove, with abstraction of the functionality

  - maybe a status bar

  - some groups that handle resizing well

  - multiple cards should be involved

  - probably simple SQL (i.e. sqlite + your DBLib)

And of course the most difficult part will be writing the e-book that 
describes the app, what it does, and maybe why those particular methods 
were chosen over some of the alternatives.

Then the sequel would cover mobile, so adding features like a Header 
Bar, segmented control, using library to overlay controls with native 
controls as needed, ... as well as describing the hoops one needs to 
jump through to actually do mobile developments.

Further sequels could then cover additional features - again for 
architecture and example, not just to make it a more complicated app. 
For example: toolbar, pane splitter, data grid, ...

Alex.

P.S. I'd be happy to collaborate on doing the development part - but I 
suspect you'd be quicker without me :-)

P.P.S title suggestion "The Soul of a New App".