LiveCode on a Tablet

[Klaus]

That, Klaus, was a dangerous remark, as "someone" might see it as a challenge.

Go figure!

[bogs]

"I have 15...." <craaacckkk>"...10, 10 commandments...." ~ Moses drops a tablet in 'History of the World, part 1'

[Klaus]

Yeah, Mel Brooks, wonderful!

[FourthWorld]

Let us not forget that phrase such as "single-window IDE" can throw newbies into the left field.

Identical Doubtful Edibles?

Incidental Dangerous Energies?

By the way; what does 'IDE' really stand for?

Is this really the first time you've seen the acronym "IDE" in reference to programming tools?

I rarely encounter anyone interested in programming who hasn't come across that before. If it's new to them I figure they'll ask.

And since you asked, it stands for "Integrated Development Environment".

[richmond62]

"Is this really the first time you've seen the acronym "IDE" "

Is this really the first time you have fallen for someone being a pain-in-the-B because
he's sitting at home while his work has been stopped for an indefinite period?

I'll keep taking the LiveCode, and keep taking the tablets.

BUT, will be off-grid for some time as off to our mountain cottage away from the fear-and-loathing going on round these parts.

Mind you: new SDLC with Devawriter Pro: extend font for Bengali conjunct consonants, a new, LARGE switch statement for every vowel . . .

HOWEVER . . . it does strike me that throwing acronyms around [GUI, IDE, RAD, and so on] might put newbies off.

TAAWGA: Throwing Acronyms Around With Gay Abandon

[FourthWorld]

I usually limit acronyms to the most common ones used throughout the industry. If I guess wrong about how common one is I'm confident the curious reader will ask.

[richmond62]

I usually limit acronyms to the most common ones used throughout the industry. If I guess wrong about how common one is I'm confident the curious reader will ask.

"throughout the industry"

Well, apart from the fact that that sounds like computer programmers being mechanics in a car factory . . .

One of the things that a lot of people are endlessly banging on about is how LiveCode is the
son/daughter/nephew/ bye-blow of HyperCard and as such is the easiest programming 'thing'
for people who are non-programmers to become programmers.

That means, for the sake of continuing a bad simile, people wanting to get into the car factory from outside.

If mechanics who are already safely ensconced in the car factory insist on using car factory private language
that will make it more difficult for outsiders to get inside.

I fully believe in the idea that LiveCode is one of the easiest ways to get into the "industry" (especially as getting
effed-off with that horrible type thing in Python for converting numbers-as-text to number-as-numbers), and when
I teach LiveCode (to both kids and adults) eevry summer I make a point of avoiding 'factory language', so:

IDE becomes "the programming interface" and

GUI becomes " computer screen with pictures on rather than that BBC Micro over there."

Some would-be programmers (who may go onto great things) are going to get badly turned-off
when their instructor, interlocutor, whatever starts by baffling them with GUI, IDE, RAD, RAM, ROM;
in fact, as a woman said to me last Summer "WTF" and I said I'd heard of the
WWF (World Wrestling Federation) but not that one.

[bogs]

Wow, that sounds like a huge stretch, starting with "Well..." and ending with "WWF".

[FourthWorld]

Proper form for any uncommon acronym requires the complete form for the first use in an essay, with the acronym following it in parentheses. This convention helps assure association of the acronym with the full form for readers who may be unfamiliar with the acronym.

But this only applies with less commonly known acronyms. In American news, for example, it's common to use "FBI" without it's first instance spelling out "Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)".

Ultimately, the decision to balance brevity with explicitness falls on the writer, forced to make such bold decisions armed with little more than subjective experience and a hunch about the audience's familiarity with the topic at hand.

While all writing can be improved, in my 30 years of professional tech writing this is the first time my use of an acronym has been called into question, including all editors I've worked with in addition to all readers who've offered feedback.

And perhaps most tellingly, this instance is based solely on a hunch about a theoretical reader not actually present at the moment.

So while I appreciate the nudge toward ever greater clarity in writing, I hope you'll trust my experience and the actual reader's candor in navigating such risky straits going forward, if for no other reason than the dream of having a support thread here remain on topic.

Now, if you have feedback on my occasional habit of splitting infinitives, I'll admit I'm a personality type #4 on that subject, as outlined in H.W. Fowler's Guide to Modern English Usage, and the types 2 through 4 he identifies there sorely need all the help they can get.

[LCMark]

Now, if you have feedback on my occasional habit of splitting infinitives, I'll admit I'm a personality type #4 on that subject, as outlined in H.W. Fowler's Guide to Modern English Usage, and the types 2 through 4 he identifies there sorely need all the help they can get.

I await @richmond62's response with glee

[richmond62]

I am no given to wildly split infinitives.