English Like?

[Roger Eller]

On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 11:03 AM, Mark Waddingham via use-livecode <
use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:

> On 2017-05-24 15:45, dunbarx via use-livecode wrote:
>
>> There is a far more important issue here. New learners are far more
>> likely to
>> be coaxed into continuing to spend the time and effort, and to put away
>> their fears, if they see and use "put x into y". It is why we have stacks
>> and cards, and in the olden days, rolodexes. The original HC team did all
>> that on purpose.
>>
>
>
> I think a lot of us get hung up on the syntax (even me - who will always
> be quick to point out that 'syntax is just sugar' in many situations - I'm
> a polyglot when it comes to programming languages but many people are not
> and never will be). I can certainly say that whilst I am in the position I
> am in, I will not see LiveCode Script become some sort of syntactic mongrel
> (indeed the places where it is slightly 'mongrelic', I would quite like to
> have alternative non-mongrel forms much more in keeping with the language
> as a whole). However, again, there is more to LiveCode than just the syntax
> of the language.
>
> Anyway, I shall now get off my (small?) soap-box. Again this is a
> discussion, there are lots of reasons why people don't choose LiveCode and
> we try our very best to determine them, and deal with them. There are
> certainly easier ones to tackle than adding a new 'syntax style' and of
> course we intend to address those first...
>
> However, let us imagine that we were able to demonstrate that a
> significant proportion of people who might use LiveCode end up not doing so
> because of the language itself, and *if* the language had a different
> syntactic style then we would have significantly more users... Then surely
> it is worthy of some discussion and consideration?
>
> Warmest Regards,
>
> Mark.
>
> --
> Mark Waddingham ~ mark at livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/
> LiveCode: Everyone can create apps
>

Firstly, THANK YOU for standing on that small soap-box, Mark.  LC and it's
English-likeness is well worth defending, IMHO.  I wouldn't be here if it
were too much more like 'standard' programming languages.  The great thing
about LC for those who prefer the more arcane syntax is they can fork it
and make it their own.  Yay OSS!

~Roger