LiveCode Forums.

Hi everyone,
I'm new to LiveCode and am very interested in its visual programming capabilities. However, I still have many questions about how to use this tool effectively, especially in developing cross-platform applications.

I would like to ask:

What are the best resources (books, videos, courses) to learn LiveCode from basic to advanced?
What are some tips to optimize application performance when using LiveCode?
Can anyone share their experiences about common errors and solutions when programming with LiveCode?
Thanks!

Hmmm.

Real?

Craig

Dunno why anyone real would be buying an LC license now: possibly a Create on IF they are available.

Richmond.

The OP, human or not, did not mention licenses, only learning tools.

Craig

You are quite correct.

Richmond.

So what do you think? Real?

Craig

I am not sure: it does look generic.

OK.

So, badlyTidings, are you a real person?

Craig

Beginning LiveCode" by Mark Schonewille: A fantastic starting point, covering fundamental concepts in a clear and accessible way. It guides you through the basics of the LiveCode IDE, scripting language, and UI design.

Fanny Moen wrote: ↑

Tue May 06, 2025 8:57 am

Beginning LiveCode" by Mark Schonewille: A fantastic starting point, covering fundamental concepts in a clear and accessible way. It guides you through the basics of the LiveCode IDE, scripting language, and UI design.

Hmmm... I was curious so I looked this up. It's out of print but you can still buy this second hand at the measly price of £116.24 ($154.89)
I like me you live in the UK, you'd need to pay shipping of £49.66 ($66.17).
I'd need to pay £165.9 ($221.06) for this second-hand book. Hardly a beginner-friendly price. Oh, and only 1 book is available...

On the other hand there are a couple decent introductory courses on Udemy (both by the same author) - one is free and the other is £14.99 ($19.97). While a bit dated it's more modern that the book above published 12 years ago and a good introduction to LiveCode...

Hi All,
This one is precious
It covers the most commonly used conventions in our community, with some of the background behind them:
http://fourthworld.com/embassy/articles ... style.html

Kind regards
Jean-Marc

Still not knowing if badlyTidings is a real person, any book at all will do. I still have my Revolution 2.0 books, and however dated, they would provide all anyone needs to begin to learn LiveCode. The basics have not changed, and not knowing about Create will not matter for quite a while. It is true that some key features, like the current itemDelimeter, are way out of date.

So, badlyTidings, or anyone interested, you may have them for the price of shipping.

Craig

The User Guide included in the product if a great place to start. Bring any questions you have along the way here.

FourthWorld wrote: ↑

Tue May 06, 2025 3:52 pm

The User Guide included in the product if a great place to start. Bring any questions you have along the way here.

I agree the User Guide is a great resource - but it is a poor substitute for an educational tool that a new starter may want to gradually build their experience with. It's a reference; it's not a tutorial.
And who still releases these as PDFs rather than web-based (i.e. google-searchable) content?

The various tutorials that do exist are invariably standalone bits with no real continuity, so again good references or answers to questions, but a poor language tutorials.

The best tutorials are those that gradually build a full and complex, professional-level application(s) from start to end, progressively building in concepts and programming patterns. There are plenty of those for other languages - but sadly not LiveCode. Because it's not easy to do.

The few books that existed are all out of print.
I've only been able to find the 1-2 proper video language tutorials (that gradually introduce most of the language in logical steps and with continuity.
What's left are the lessons and courses behind an LC paywall - which all focus on smaller aspects aspect as a rule and don't go into detail needed to actually create a full app from start to end. For example, it may show you how to create a chat box interface, but not how to build full chat app.

This forum, which while extremely helpful, is not a replacement for a tutorial.
The closest thing to a full tutorial was Cyril's website, which has gone the way of the Dodo, like many other resources out there, and it was primarily directed at a younger, less mature audience for many of its segments which I personally found difficult to maintain engagement with. Most existing resources are by and large at least a decade old.

LC has always marketed themselves as "so simple anyone can do it with no training", but this is also a pitfall: A complete app is a lot of work no matter how simple it is, and marketing themselves this way is selling themselves short.

People who know LiveCode don't need full tutorials or perhaps don't even see the need for them - but for non-LC users this is critical.
One wonders if the massive spend on inventing LC Create might have been better spent on just sprucing up the interface to modern standards/ progressing LC 10, and paying *a lot* of money to professional educators to create in-depth courses - tons of people make a living this way. I recall that one well-respected educator was funded by Google to create Flutter course when Flutter was just released and it was actually provided for free to start with, perhaps an example to emulate...

Stam.

That this question comes up a lot, and I bet does not come up at all for many new or prospective users, says a lot.

YouTube is the place to do` this. I bet many potential LC candidates looked there first, and found only a hodgepodge of short offerings. Better than nothing, but LC should collect some of these, integrate them with others, to present an attractive and easy to locate introduction along with a handful of lessons all the while making simple stacks. Quick and easy gratification.

The ones I just saw there are old, but nevertheless have thousands of views. They just need to be updated, integrated, packaged and advertised.

Craig