Script Editor future (was Re: Open Source Kickstarter Report Card)

[Richard Gaskin]

Malte Brill wrote:

 > Ali Lloyd wrote:
 >
 >> I don't think that the current script editor should be neglected
 >
 > I think that depends on when 7 will be EOLed. If you plan to have 8
 > stable by the end of the year and you plan to have a new Script
 > editor there, wasting resources might be indeed a waste.

Having a version of the code base in which the number has been changed 
to "8" is only the first step.  To realize the benefits of LC Builder 
for the script editor will require, as Ali noted, the completion of a 
field widget.  I think it's safe to say that's a ways down the road.

But one of the best things about v8 is that it still runs LiveCode 
Script.  We won't need to throw all our code away to move to v8; on the 
contrary, all LiveCode Script is expected to run in v8 just as it does 
in v7, since that part of the engine is more or less the same.

So any investment in increasing immediate revenues by improving the 
version being sold today will continue to work just as well in any later 
version.


 > Well, for me it is not so much about the text editor. It wouldn’t
 > be the first textEditor I would be scripting. My problem would be
 > the friggin debugger…

The debugger is indeed a critical area, but my understanding is that the 
ways in which it's weak aren't as much related to the IDE scripts as 
much as the engine itself.

Using the same engine instance to both execute and debug that execution 
is like trying to stick your fingers between moving fan blades to work 
on the motor. :)

The proposed solution is to have a separate instance of the engine for 
debugging, so the debugger itself can't interfere with the process it's 
debugging.

As desirable as that is, it seems deep enough that it may take some time 
to sort out, and there may be parts of v8's architecture in which that 
becomes more practical.

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