Are there any livecode practice exercises and tests anywhere?

[antn]

Hi,

I am not new to livecode, I've been aware of it for over a decade, however, I never really got deep into it because the language structure, even though English-like was a hurdle.

I think another reason I never got into livecode was there was never a physical manual or book available that you could hold in your hands while learning. Many things could be said for all the online tutorials, but for me I need a physical book sitting next to me while I learned, especially coding.

Finally, recently, livecode offered books with the indie package, and I decided to finally jump into livecode and purchased it. After a bit of delay (3 months), I am happy to say I finally received the livecode books, and I can now FINALLY start learning livecode in earnest.

I have made a lot of progress, and in only 5 days have covered almost 50 pages of the 500 pages of vol 1 of the lessons book (green covers). The books are wonderfully, however, the pseudo English-like language structure and unique logic of livecode is still a challenge which I am diligently trying to master. The problem is this: After learning about a livecode concept, it is very hard to remember because there is no opportunity to practice the concepts because there are no exercises or tests presented in the livecode lessons manuals. The manuals just go from topic to topic and the only chance you have to type any code is with the single example used to show the particular livecode concept.

It would be WONDERFUL if there were, maybe, 10-20 (or even more) exercises given after each concept, where you had to try your hand (and brain) at livecode coding using the concepts just explained, and then be able to check your work against the provided answers. Also, a test could have been added at the end of each section so you can cull together everything you learned in that section into several practical coding test challenges requiring you to mix up the concepts.

Really, the ONLY way to learn ANYTHING new is through PRACTICE, and while excellent, the new livecode manuals do not afford you this ability.

So the question is this: are there any online livecode practice/test sites? (I searched and couldn't find any.) If not, is it possible that somebody at livecode could create some online exercises/tests to go along with each section of the new 2 volume livecode lessons manuals (the green cover)?

To go even further, exercises and tests could also be provided to cover each of the livecode terms in the new 2 volume livecode dictionary set that came with the indie package.

Finally having physical books for the lessons manuals and dictionary for livecode is awesome, however, the oversight of leaving off exercises and tests required to practice the unique coding of livecode to cement the knowledge could be easily remedied by providing a companion online site for the books. I and all the recipients of the livecode manuals REALLY REALLY need this ASAP (more like yesterday)!

Thanks for the awesome manuals, and even more awesome coding language - livecode.

[Klaus]

Hi antn,

welcome to the forum!

You should take a look at these stack, great learning resources for the basics of Livecode:
http://www.hyperactivesw.com/revscriptc ... ences.html
They are a bit old, so Widgets are not handled there, but the rest is great, really!


Best

Klaus

[FourthWorld]

A comprehensive 500- page book is included in the install - see User Guide in the Help menu.

There are also 78 tutorial exercises also included, available in the IDE under Resources.

[antn]

Hi,

Thanks for your quick replies and the resources you recommended. However, what am I really looking for are more like exercises in the form of multiple livecode coding questions posed, then trying to answer the questions by writing code myself, then checking my code with answers provided.

I was already aware of the great tutorials that come with the software, as well as online sources for code snippets, etc. However, these are not substitutes for thinking it through in your own mind to come up with the code yourself through working on question/answer exercises. I can look at code snippets all day long, but unless I write it myself, I won't learn much. In fact, frustration can quickly build looking at code snippets if you don't fully understand everything you are looking at. This is part of the reason I have never fully delved into livecode all these many years, despite being aware of all the tutorials and code snippets around.

I understand that somebody who can already code with livecode can not fully understand what I am talking about. For this person, code snippets are perfectly fine since they can probably understand them. Not so for a newcomer. Newbies first need direction in writing code by practicing the basics with exercises provided by hopefully a livecode expert that knows it enough to be able to formulate multiple exercise questions as well as provide the answers. Tutorials and code snippets are not enough. Students must be able to regurgitate and be tested on what they have learned otherwise they probably haven't learned it. Question/answer exercises do this.

I have looked for these question/answer exercises for livecode online, but am surprised I can't find any. This is an unfortunate situation which can be easily remedied.

[FourthWorld]

If this for you or are you teaching a CS course?

[jacque]

Have you been here :http://livecode.byu.edu. It's not printed material but it has everything you've asked for. This is the complete lesson plan for a real university course.

There is also a link at a right side frame to LiveCode University but I'm not familiar with that. The BYU course is excellent, click the link to the Generic Course Index.