Livecode Create - thoughts?

[richmond62]

A Python front-end with draggable objects would be super.

[richmond62]

All competition has AI

That does NOT attract me one bit . . .

If I want to use A.I. to do my programming it does not have to be built into an IDE: in fact I would far rather it weren't, so I can choose whether or not to use it rather than have it "shoved up my nose" willy-nilly.

[stam]

Some random thoughts: There was a time when LC *could* have become a Python killer, but that ship has long since sailed sadly.

You have to hand it to the PSF for setting up Python as a charitable project and networking with all the universities, which has been the main driver for its success in getting widely adopted.

But as a language, Python script is tedious and a little bit childish in some ways. LiveCode script is IMO much nicer and more concise (in spite it’s verbosity) - any language that needed to come up with F-strings is just daft.

But python's strength is in all the complex and free libraries created for it, something that LC never really managed to get off the ground in a wider way sadly.

So now we have a closed source, paid-for product in a world of free professional tools that have proven value. LC has not managed to successfully define a good target demographic for either free or paid-for products and as such will struggle to profit.

There are some visual GUIs for Python already, for example PyQt, wxPython) but none are as complete as LC is. Selling LC as a Python GUI doesn’t seem feasible tho… maybe a free version to hook devs into LC, but it’s hard to see how that would be financed.

I’d like to see LiveCode proper and succeed because it’s a uniquely great language and the IDE, while could be modernised, is functional. I hope they can find their way forward with LCC.

[Simon Knight]

So now we have a closed source, paid-for product in a world of free professional tools that have proven value. LC has not managed to successfully define a good target demographic for either free or paid-for products and as such will struggle to profit.

I don't think Livecode Ltd has ever made a profit rather it just about scrapes by. A peak on Companies House reveals large numbers in brackets against net liabilities and if I remember basic accounting large numbers in brackets are generally bad news.

The no code project has been in development for three years and is still only being issued as developer previews.

DP stands for Developer Preview. It’s an early release which is not yet feature complete.

A crude time line:
Year - 2022 - Livecode spends seven times its normal development budget on its no code solution.
April 2023 - Xavvi is nearly ready..........

We’re nearly ready with Xavvi but we need your help to make this project a success.

Crowd funding raised just under £350,000, half to be spent on development the other half on market research.

Aug 2025 RunRev Ltd releases Livecode Create DP 8 and announces the release on its Discourse forum which has 113 members.

The average wage for a software engineer in Edinburgh is £61,000 per year. If all 113 members buy a licence for LCC then the license fees are not enough to pay for a single software engineer for a year. I can't help wondering where all the users are and when the release of version one will occur.

Mind you I have no idea how business accounting works.

S