Is a good idea?

[Oliver901]

Is a good idea to start learning LiveCode after C?(only C)

[Klaus]

Hi Oliver,

welcome to the forum!

It is ALWAYS a good idea to learn Livecode.
However that is the only programming language that I speak...

Best

Klaus

[Klaus]

And since this is definitvewly NOT off-topic, I will move this thread to the "Talking Livecode" forum.

[Oliver901]

Hi Oliver,

welcome to the forum!

It is ALWAYS a good idea to learn Livecode.
However that is the only programming language that I speak...

Best

Klaus

Hi Klaus,

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Wow, the only programming language! I remember when I started programming, I had just learned variable declaration and already wanted to learn other languages like Python, Java, Kotlin. I had no patience at all, and honestly, I still don't have much. I can start a project, then give up and want to start another one.

Best regards,
Oliver

[dunbarx]

Oliver.

It sounds like LC is perfect for you. Do try it. Ask your questions here; we all race to answer first and best.

I am fond of telling new users to build an address book, simple game or any sort of calculator. The final product will likely be of little value, maybe apart from the address book, but the effort will be both rewarding and taxing. Let me know if you want project ideas.

Craig

[stam]

Hi Oliver,

I think most here would agree that LiveCode lets you be extremely productive off the bat.
While other languages have their niceties and benefits, LC does let you be productive right away and has an elegance of it's own, which becomes more apparent the more you use the language.

I too would highly recommend LC if you want to create apps (with the exception of apps that involve a large number of moving objects or 3D scenery - a present, the former means frame rates will be low and the latter is only possible if you use webGL within a browser widget - so not really).
However for anything else, LiveCode is hands-down an extremely productive environment.

There are a number of learning resources online (some a bit outdated but still valid), but you will always find fairly immediate help in this forum.
So yeah, welcome

Stam

[Oliver901]

Hi Oliver,

I think most here would agree that LiveCode lets you be extremely productive off the bat.
While other languages have their niceties and benefits, LC does let you be productive right away and has an elegance of it's own, which becomes more apparent the more you use the language.

I too would highly recommend LC if you want to create apps (with the exception of apps that involve a large number of moving objects or 3D scenery - a present, the former means frame rates will be low and the latter is only possible if you use webGL within a browser widget - so not really).
However for anything else, LiveCode is hands-down an extremely productive environment.

There are a number of learning resources online (some a bit outdated but still valid), but you will always find fairly immediate help in this forum.
So yeah, welcome

Stam

Hi Stam,

Thank you for the welcome.

After researching and trying to create something in LiveCode, I can say that it's very different from C, but in some places, it seems easier to understand, perhaps because it's a high-level language.

[richmond62]

LiveCode is extremely easy to understand up to a certain level, and because you get almost instant feedback this also makes things easier than C.

[FourthWorld]

LC and C is more and AND than an OR.

You can build interfaces in LC far more quickly, and if you need the raw horsepower compiled C offers you can use it within LC's externals interface to have the best of both.

[dunbarx]

Oliver.

Make an address book stack using a separate card for each person. That will take time, and will likely not be pretty. Do not worry about pretty.

Yet.

Now embellish it with gadgetry, sorting, finding, adding attributes to each entry so that you can isolate, say, family members or people you do not like. Hopefully those are two mutually exclusive groups.

This stack may never be useful for you, but that is not its purpose. LC is so easy to learn that you can start right away, and then very soon get stuck. But at least you can start right away. In an environment like this one, that is the way to learn.

Ask here about anything at all. You will have answers and advice in minutes.

Craig

[stam]

After researching and trying to create something in LiveCode, I can say that it's very different from C, but in some places, it seems easier to understand, perhaps because it's a high-level language.

Yes, very different from any C-style language (which is most of them out there...)

Not only is the language very easy to understand, but there are coding conveniences that only become apparent once you've delved deeper and it's a joy to use. It may seem just a bit too different at the start, but once you 'grok' it, it's extremely straightforward, and with the exceptions I mentioned above, very performant.

Binaries LC produces aren't as fast as compiled apps (this is most obvious with animations involving a large number of objects), but usually plenty quick enough to the point that he end-user doesn't really see the difference. And LC have promised compiled scripts, meaning a significant speed bump is on the horizon.
The only real criticism I would level is the pricing structure (lots of discussions here about this...)

On the plus side, both learning curve and development time are vastly shorter than in any other language.
While there is room for improvement I think everyone here would strongly recommend this as a general purpose language.

Don't hesitate to seek help here, invariably you'll get answers extremely quickly...

[dunbarx]

It is true that LC does not run as quickly as other lower level languages. But as a benchmark, consider this code:

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   put the ticks into tStartTime --This puts a system time stamp (the "ticks") into a variable I just created, "tStartTime"
   put 0 into tCounter  -- put a zero into another variable "tCounter"
   repeat 20000000  -- a repeat loop of twenty million passes
      add 1 to tCounter -- does just what it looks like it does
   end repeat
   answer the ticks - tStartTime -- "Answer" displays a dialog, which contains the difference between the original "ticks" value and the finishing value.
end mouseUp

I get 55 ticks, or about 0.91 seconds. This is for twenty million separate additions of a number to a variable, or about twenty two million floating point operations per second.

So two things:

1- Stam implied that there are limits to LC if you want to create action packed graphic-intensive video games. He is correct. Otherwise LC is pretty fast.

2- You might notice that the gadget I just threw together in one minute, shown in the code above, is very readable and understandable. You just need to learn a few vocabulary words. I hope that is comforting. Know that it will take you more time in the VERY beginning to learn to assemble the components of an app, as opposed to writing the code for that app. After that rather short time it will take most of your time to code. The good news is that both are fast and fun.

Craig