Tailspin

[richmond62]

I just suppose I expect too much . . . looking for help:

https://lessons.livecode.com/
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As a user of LiveCode 9.6.3 I was 'somewhat surprised' to find lessons had been 'updated' to version 8.

[richmond62]

I must say how grateful I am sure all of us who donated to the HTML5 appeal feel on
finding that the Open Source version was dropped BEFORE it had been brought to anything
approaching fruition.
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I'm glad someone is grinning.

[richmond62]

I was wondering as one does about doing something about my Sanskrit digitisation
program for ARM Macintosh . . . from which my annual, average income over the last 12
years has been $200:
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[richmond62]

Then I began to think about Lies, Claims, Hype and . . . strangely enough, Truth:

https://livecode.com/core-benefits-of-livecode/
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Erm, not at subscription prices like that.
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To what? Certainly NOT to fixing bugs that have lain around as long as 19 years, or
to criticism or questions.
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Faster than what? Without any comparisons, facts and figures that's simply a meaningless word.

[richmond62]

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No, you are not.

Kevin Miller's front-end for MetaCard was extremely creative, and, arguably, has contributed to xTalk's survival for a further
20 - odd years.

The only people being CREATIVE at the moment are your end-users, as can be seen in the LC Forums, and since dropping the
Community version those creative contributors have reduced to a pitiful few.
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In what way?

If by 'flexible' you mean that the language can be used to perform all sorts of tricks on computers, then you
are not as flexible as an awful lot of other programming languages.

It is hard to see what 'flexible' could mean otherwise.

[richmond62]

Now, do not get me wrong, xTalk is the only language that I ever do anything seriously with (the HyperNext
bloke seems unreachable), and I love it and what it can do.

What I do NOT like is the way our friends 'up north' behave:

1. The rude and thoroughly insensitve way the Community version was dumped, especially after all
sorts of flowery promises and donations sought and received from people who depended upon
a free, or at the very least, cheap version of xTalk.

2. The ludicrous advertising that, surely, insults the intelligence of a lot of people.

3. The 'Education' blurb that is backed up by next to nothing.

4. The pricing.

[richmond62]

And, to a spot of truth . . .

LiveCode has been used (and its community versions continue to be used) to great effect by
educators both for preparing software for educational content delivery, and for teaching
programming concepts.

and a bit more truth . . .

Quite a few of those educators have mentioned what they have been doing with LiveCode, and
'our friends up north' have neither listened nor responded.

They have lost any educational chances they may have once had . . .

Open X Talk must fill that gap.

[richmond62]

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In the sorts of circles I move in claims like that are just plain hilarious
if they are not backed up by references so the original research can be checked.

Ah: here it is:

Using Cognitive Load Theory to select an environment for teaching ...https://researchportal.scu.edu.au › pdfCoverPage

Of course the 'free' and 'open source' are now completely out of date:
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page 6
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"Less brain power", my Aunt Fanny!

The conclusions section at the end of that paper are far from simplistic (mainly because the study was conducted by
real academics and not folk trying to sell washing powder).

"The design and application of the cognitive load analysis method described here offers a prospective way for instructors to assess different IDEs in a wide range of contexts. The method is open to modification with respect both to the cognitive load factors that are considered and to the calibration of scoring used to assign values."

[richmond62]

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This, presumably, means we use a different half of our brain to program with LiveCode than if we program with
other computer programming languages.

Any half decent neuro-scientist will tell you that mental processes don't work like that.

ALSO, as, in the script editor, one is typing code just as one types code, for the sake of argument, in BBC BASIC circa 1982,
any claims about using different parts of the brain are worthless and about as valuable as a phrenologist telling you
that the bump over your left ear (which you got knocking your head while you were changing the oil in your car) indicates
that you get sexually excited by kangaroos.
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The most instructive thing about these 2 pictures is that the phrenological areas are completely different.

But this is about the level of the claims made by 'our friends in the north' in the 21st century (when phrenology
was exposed as total fraud at the end of the 19th century).

[richmond62]

The first, coloured, phrenology diagram suggests we speak through our nose.

Well, I suppose it is better than some other orifices.

[richmond62]

SuperCard again, or just eyes bigger than one's stomach?

Not very promising either way:

https://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.p ... 34#p221257

Last DP May 2022.