Where do we want LiveCode to go? (was "Re: Where LiveCode is Now")

[Bob Sneidar]

I have a theory that the solution to a problem cannot be simpler than the problem itself. If it is, then the problem wasn't as complex as first imagined. 

The issue with developing with multiple dissimilar platforms is that the interface is SOOO different between desktop and mobile, that a method which would make sense on one platform has no corrolary on another. 

The reason Windows/MacOS/Linux cross platform objects work so well is that they are so nearly identical in function (if not form). Mobile platforms are considerable different. Whereas a desktop window can be any size, a mobile app doesn't have windows per se. The android has a file system, the iOS does not (at east not one you can access). Desktop systems allow for relatively easy cross application communication. iOS is specifically designed to prevent this without at least being challenged. Desktop systems have popup menus (effectively a window on top of a window). Mobile devices, at least iOS has scroll wheels. 

I have not developed for mobile simply because when I had the business license, I was too lazy to get started before the license expired, and I didn't want to get into a situation where to add a new feature once in a while I needed to reup the license. I pay out of my own pocket for LC, but use it for work only. But it seems reading the list that mobile dev, while difficult to deploy, is manageable. And since deployment is a moving target anyway, the way Apple keeps changing xCode, I'm not sure LC could do any more to ease that process. 

Bob S


> On Oct 4, 2019, at 18:26 , Alex Tweedly via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
>> LC is *an easy* environment/language to develop cross-platform apps for all major platforms
>> 
> That's right - it's already "easiest", but it's not "easy".
> 
> Currently you can't write even very simple apps using the 'built-in', cross-platform features and get something acceptable for the mobile platforms. You need to use some combination of "mobileXXX' and  "iosXXX'" or "androidXXX" functions to get something that is even remotely acceptable as a 'finished' app.