LiveCode and Revolution

[alexransome]

Hi,

I think I understand that LiveCode has developed from Revolution, which came from MetaCard which came from HyperTalk, or something like that.

It seems to me though that Revolution is still an "alive" language, so what is the relationship between LiveCode and Revolution?

I'm on a TIGHT budget and I'm looking at learning materials, books and online resources so is Revolution similar enough to LiveCode, if so then I would gather some books etc to digest more information before launching the next "Angry Birds"(nsLOL).

Thanks for any thoughts.

[bn]

Hi Alex,

LiveCode and Revolution is the same thing. At some point (I think it was in 2010 Revlution 4.6 was named LiveCode 4.6)

The reason was to make the programming language more visible. Try a Google search for "Revolution" you would have gotten a lot of results with little chance any of those refering to the development tool "Revolution". So then they decided just to rename the development tool to "LiveCode". Everything is the same. The syntax the ownership the versioning picked right up from "Revolution". The file extension changed from .rev to .livecode. But .rev is a legitimate extension for LiveCode.

But with a search for LiveCode you now have better chances to find results referring to the actual programming environment LiveCode.

The file format changed with LiveCode 5.5, but that is an internal change, just as the file format changed in Revolution 2.7. But Livecode is backwards compatible.
Any learning material that refers to Revolution applies also to Livecode. Of course features that were added in lets say LiveCode 5.5 will not be included in material referring to Revolution. But if you look at the current release notes you will see the changes from 4.5 onwards.

Kind regards
Bernd

[andrewferguson]

I think I understand that LiveCode has developed from Revolution, which came from MetaCard which came from HyperTalk, or something like that.

Almost right, but MetaCard never came from HyperTalk. HyperTalk was the scripting language from Apple's HyperCard, which was discontinued in 2004. MetaCard was inspired by HyperCard.

Surprisingly, LiveCode is similar enough to HyperCard that nearly all my books on HyperCard apply to LiveCode.
Andrew

[FourthWorld]

Surprisingly, LiveCode is similar enough to HyperCard that nearly all my books on HyperCard apply to LiveCode.

Sometimes, but sometimes it's just different enough that learning LC from HC books may drive you crazy. Very different object models, and many new language elements in LC that HC never dreamed up, providing solutions that in many cases use completely different algorithms from how you might solve the same problem in HC.

IMO, read the User Guide cover to cover, and explore the tutorials included in the package. Along the way, make simple stacks to experiment with the concepts you encounter. And of course any time you have questions just drop a note in these forums and you'll probably get useful answers in just an hour or two.

[Mark]

Hi,

For a long time, the only way to get a guided introduction to the HyperTalk/LiveCode language was to read books about HyperCard. Recently, this changed. Currently, there are two books about LiveCode available: Colin's "LiveCode Mobile Development" and my "Programming LiveCode for the Real Beginner". There used to be another book, "Revolution: Software at the speed of thought" but I believe it is no longer available.

Best regards,

Mark

[jacque]

Sometimes, but sometimes it's just different enough that learning LC from HC books may drive you crazy. .

That's why we made these learning stacks:
http://www.hyperactivesw.com/revscriptc ... ences.html

If you start at the first one and work your way through the series, you'll be a pro at the end. It was developed to teach newcomers who have had no previous experience with LiveCode, or even programming. The images and logos are out of date but the info and lessons are still accurate.