Can you help me learn? I can't understand it!

[stam]

No, Craig: there is no 'wrongheaded'.

There are results.

Well, yes and no.

Fine if you want a quick small project out ASAP. And fine for a project you write for yourself, and not a project you take on for others.

In larger projects you can end up in a real pickle with spaghetti code all over the place - again it's fine if it works - right up to the point when you come back to it 6-12 months later and want to upgrade stuff. Then it's no so fine...

With larger projects it's often better to spend a bit of time planning it through first, in whatever way suits you but which leaves you with code you can go back to without having to re-invent the wheel... I learned that the hard way in projects i did in another dev environment and, well, never again

[dunbarx]

I make a real effort to to modularize code, to make sure handlers are just high enough in the hierarchy (sorry Jacque) to cover the controls they, er, control, and to offload functions and called handlers so that the main flow can, er, flow without being "interrupted" by lengthly gadgetry that simply pushes the next phase so far away that I lose the thread of the whole.

I think I make a good balance between millions of small function and command handlers and the monstrosity of a single long one. I am sure everyone knows what I am trying to get across.

So what I meant by mainly ignoring my one serious attempt at flowcharting was that, though I was able to plan the layout of the card itself, which did help, I could not plan the flow of the scripts. Until I was in the trenches, I could never have anticipated the methods and byways and hoops I had to go through to make the thing work.

Like I said, this is likely wrongheaded, lazy and shows a lack of formal training and rigor. Perhaps I could never work with a team in a large firm. Fortunately i do not have to.

Craig

[Lorena]

Thank you all for your loving support!
It's not boys, but finally some girls too!
I am sending you the "solution" I found not to throw away my messy stack. However practicing with buttons has made me learn so many things.
I try to answer everyone briefly....
Sorry for the scary delay but they cut an internet cable nearby and for days we didn't even have cell phone service!

I can recommend to go through one or all of these stacks to get the basics of LC:

Thank you Klaus, very very interesting indeed, I downloaded everything and set out again to study all the stacks!

If I read your posting correctly, what you want to do should be 100% possible:

Thanks Richard, actually this would be the right method! You made me discover the command "send"!

We have another member here who also speaks Italian and we share similar music tastes. Glad you like that one. Many hear the song as I do, a general metaphor for learning anything, but David Gilmour noted in an interview that it was quite literal, his reflections one learning to fly airplanes.

In one part of life or another, we're all learning to fly.

I didn't know that! I thought it was a metaphor too! Go figure! And I didn't even know there was an Italian-speaking user with such refined tastes I read about your battle for LiveCode at school and I wrote you a private message, so maybe we make friends and can communicate in a "faster" way since this is obviously not our mother tongue...
I also saw your nice site and "instructional" links for learning LiveCode (many are offline but I found almost all of them on archive dot org). Thank you very much!

My point is twofold. First, have fun with the process. Second, there are well over 2000 language elements, which cover a wide range of arenas, such as the web, Unicode, font nightmares, etc. You only need, to do real work, to know perhaps 50-75 of those and how to use them. You can then add as you need, depending on what you want to do. In other words, you can specialize.

Thanks Craig for the valuable suggestions. I am starting to use the guide although, of course, being a novice, I understand very little of everything...but I am stubborn!

An often unappreciated resource is also the LiveCode course on Udemy. It’s not free but it’s cheap and while focused mainly on mobile will get the basics in, if you prefer a video-style tutorial at beginner level.
The course is a little bit dated now so layout in the IDE may be a bit different but it’s quite useable.

Thanks stam, I will look it up now, although I am interested in the desktop for now.... Do you know if there are any video courses for beginners on Youtube? I've searched but can't find anything organic... at least from the Italian "bubble"...

If you are "really desperate", you can have a look here:

Oh Richmond! It would be really nice to see these Facebook resources but long ago Mark banned me because he disagreed with me about some art history paintings showing female nudes (!), crazy stuff! Anyway I try to enter with a friend of mine who doesn't have these problems instead com Mark.... Thanks for wanting to help us beginners!

Again, step by step.

Thank you for your advice...I feel that way, too..!

LC is versatile enough to do that.

Although I have no experience ... I would say I am living proof!

--------------------------------

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone...
In short, thank you all!
And thank you for making me feel comfortable!


Lorena

[jacque]

Livecode has a great resource too:
https://lessons.livecode.com
Just type a question or a topic and there is often an answer. But read the User Guide to learn the basics first, it is available in the Help menu.

[stam]

But read the User Guide to learn the basics first, it is available in the Help menu.

I've been meaning to read it since I started working seriously with LC - still haven't managed to after 2 years

[jacque]

I've been meaning to read it since I started working seriously with LC - still haven't managed to after 2 years

Heh. I haven't read it completely either but if I can't find an answer in the dictionary, I check the User Guide before I get mad and irascible. Then I get crabby.

[Klaus]

"irascible" and "crabby", two new words learned, thank you, Jacque!

[jameshale]

The Guide tab of the dictionary in the IDE contains all the content from the user guide.
In fact the User Guide is simply a collation of these individual guides.
For those using Dash to read the docs, these are available on the “home” page of the LiveCode docset.
N.B. The user guide used to be a separate document but that was quite a few versions ago.

[jacque]

Interesting. I think it must be both. When I choose the user guide from the Help menu, a PDF opens in Preview. It's nice to have choices.

[jameshale]

Yes I think it is compiled on the fly from the parts.