Just to let you know that you're not alone -- I'm a similar LC user, started with HC (actually bought and read through Danny Goodman's book even before I bought my first Mac), developed a set of stacks to manage my clinical notes, incorporated more and more features, moved it over to LC a number of years ago, at which point with all of LC's capability the feature set grew even larger, now a full-fledged practice management tool, with 45 substacks, over 32,000 lines of script, couldn't manage without it. I'm not a programmer, just picked it up on the side. I have no idea how you market to people like me, but I suspect there are lots of us scattered around.
-- Peter Peter M. Brigham pmb...@gmail.com http://home.comcast.net/~pmbrig On Jul 27, 2011, at 9:25 PM, Timothy Miller wrote: > I've never been a computer professional. Not even close. I taught myself to > write Basic programs for my Atari 64, mostly out of curiosity. Around 1984 I > taught myself HyperCard. I wrote a variety of applications for home and > business use. A pretty good phonics tutorial for my kids, among others. And I > gradually cobbled together a complex set of HyperCard stacks, which I use > every day to run my business. They're crude, kludgy and ugly, but they work. > Many thousands of lines of script, no idea how many thousands. When I need a > new feature, I write it. Often, it's working reliably in less than an hour. > It's been years since I saw an error message. Sometimes I "discover" clever > and useful features I wrote and forgot about. > > When HyperCard became obsolete, I moved over to Runtime Revolution, which was > rather an ordeal, because RR was far more complex. It's comfortable now. And > now it's LiveCode, but I've barely noticed the change. LiveCode does many > things I don't understand, but that's not a problem. > > I still write stacks for my own use. I recently written a stack to help me > study and identify photos and songs of birds. Also, I'm taking notes for a > book and I've written a stack to help me organize the notes. I will > eventually use the same stack to help me develop the book -- probably some > kind of a one-paragraph-per-card arrangement with many summarizing, indexing, > re-sequencing, search and notation features. I tweak old features and invent > new ones as I go along. > > None of this seems very difficult. It's a gradual transition from HyperCard. > I'm not really a nerd -- computers don't fascinate me all that much. I write > a stack when the time invested justifies the functionality of the final > product. > > It's gradually dawning on me that "programmers" like me have become rather > rare. Fewer and fewer non-professionals on this list, as far as I can tell. I > don't understand why, seems like a shame. > > Many people have use for the kind of functionality an amateur and dabbler can > get out of LiveCode, and it isn't that hard to do. > > Admittedly, HyperCard was easier, simply because it was less complex. I've > wondered if LiveCode might be more approachable if it had some kind of "dumb > mode," sort of like the old userLevel system in HyperCard. Probably won't > happen though. > > FWIW... > > Tim > > > > On Jul 27, 2011, at 5:35 AM, dunb...@aol.com wrote: > >> In the old days, Hypercard was. like a viral pandemic, infected the world >> because it was bundled with every Macintosh. It was offered like a >> promotion, a possibly valuable coupon one gets in the mail, which you will >> at least read before throwing out, And it became a nerd fad, with many >> hundreds of thousands of people trying it out. Certainly only a small >> fraction became enamored; many of those are reading this post. >> >> >> Without that once in a lifetime vehicle, it is an uphill battle to engage >> people who might fall in love with LC if they only were simply exposed to >> it. Worse, these days, the mindset is that everything comes in small >> ready-to-go packages, complete and compact. I have three kids who just don't >> think about building stuff, especially from raw materials. I used to, though. >> >> >> Thank the iMac, iPhone, iPod, etc., for creating that expectation, a far cry >> from reading a bank of eight lights telling you what byte was currently >> passing by. >> >> >> LC should be taught in the ninth grade in every school in the world. >> >> >> Craig Newman >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Francis Nugent Dixon <effe...@wanadoo.fr> >> To: use-livecode <use-livecode@lists.runrev.com> >> Sent: Wed, Jul 27, 2011 2:42 am >> Subject: Where does survive the inventive user ? >> >> >> Alejandro asks some potent questions ..... >> >> Question 1 - Is programming so easy ..... ? >> >> I think we should ask the question "Is programming a niche occupation ? >> >> During my early career, practically everybody I knew was a programmer >> (birds of a feather flock together ?) >> >> Now I am out of the industry (retired), outside of the LiveCode forum, >> I don't know anybody who programs (although most of my acquaintances >> have computers and Google all day, they don't WRITE programs.) >> Programming is a mentality, and there aren't many of us who have >> this mentality (even to make money from it). Although LiveCode is >> a great incentive for non-programmers to "have a go" , programming >> is limiited to a strange mind-form which even I cannot define ! >> The question should be - "What is the VISIBILTY of LiveCode to the man >> in the street who has never even thought about programming ?" >> And the answer is "NONE". The chances of anybody "moving in" to >> programming are about the same as being struck by lightning. >> >> Question 2 Did anyone know someone ..... ? >> >> I would think that buying a mobile platform (iPhone, iPad), and >> learning to program are two ideas so far apart, as to be unlikely. >> I do not know anyone who has started programming because of this >> "mobile technology" and the platforms thereon. In a recent thread >> on the forum I voiced my "No Way Baby" intent to NOT go to mobile >> computing, although I wrote my first program more than 50 years >> ago, and I still program EVERY day. The cost is far too high, and >> the returns are doubtful ! I am a rare bird who now programs for fun. >> >> Question 3 Will mobile computing displace desktop computing .... ? >> >> This reminds me of the 1980's question "Will Desktop computing ever >> displace Mainframe Computing ?" A lot of people said no in them days. >> >> Industry has been talking about "cloud computing" for years, and >> IS slowly moving towards it. But, although I may accept having my >> data in a cloud, I will always want my apps to be in my hand, so >> I can have control over them. Renting application use out of a >> cloud would be the same has handing over your wallet to a stranger. >> You can see which direction Apple is going. They want to charge >> you for the use of YOUR OWN computer, and then for storing your >> data in their cloud, and then for using their applications from >> their cloud. That could cost you an arm and a leg. All my >> communication in the hands of a stranger ? It's bad enough already! >> God help us all in the future ! >> >> The problem is - it's not hype - it's tomorrows computing, and >> I don't like the way the wind is blowing ..... >> >> The days when you rented an application, and you got the computer >> for free may return. When computers become so dirt cheap that there >> is no big profit to make, those guys "up there" have to think of a >> new way to get your money. We will soon be paying more for >> communication facilities than we are spending on food >> (si ce n'est deja fait !, as they say here)! >> >> "Nothing should ever be done for the first time !" >> >> -Francis >> >> PS. How about the question "When will we be grafting micro-chips >> into the brain to allow us instant and global communication, and >> complex problem solving and decision making ? >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> use-livecode mailing list >> use-livecode@lists.runrev.com >> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription >> preferences: >> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> use-livecode mailing list >> use-livecode@lists.runrev.com >> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription >> preferences: >> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode > > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
