[HN Gopher] LiveCode is a modern day HyperCard (2019)
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LiveCode is a modern day HyperCard (2019)
Author : EamonnMR
Score : 40 points
Date : 2020-10-23 20:59 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (andregarzia.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (andregarzia.com)
| betamaxthetape wrote:
| LiveCode can import HyperCard stacks. You'll need to use LiveCode
| version 6, since the HyperCard import functionality has been
| broken in LiveCode 7 onwards, but you can import a HyperCard
| stack using LiveCode 6, save the project in LiveCode's file
| format, and continue in a recent version of LiveCode.
|
| HyperTalk and LiveCode aren't 100% compatible (probably around
| 80%, less if you used a lot of XCMDs since they aren't
| supported), but if you have an old stack you want to modernise,
| LiveCode is a great and affordable (it's GPLv3, with a commercial
| offering if you need to publish closed source projects) way to do
| it.
|
| The best resource[1] on converting a HyperCard stack to LiveCode
| is by Jacqueline Landman Gay of HyperActive Software[2]. I
| believe HyperActive can also do consulting and conversion work
| for HyperCard stacks to LiveCode.
|
| [1] https://www.hyperactivesw.com/mctutorial/rrintro.html
|
| [2] https://www.hyperactivesw.com/index.html
| dang wrote:
| The post being replied to had a big discussion here:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549685
| JoblessWonder wrote:
| I'll take any opportunity to ask HN what sort of "Hypercard" like
| options are out there to get kids into programming. I still have
| many memories of creating my own "Choose Your Adventure" type
| game and having the other kids in my class be amazed at what I
| was able to create. It really stuck with me.
| paleogizmo wrote:
| I'd probably say pygame which repl.it now has support for. It's
| pretty slick and works on a crappy school ChromeBook. For
| "regular" gui stuff I'd say PySimpleGUI (see my earlier comment
| above/below).
| bjelkeman-again wrote:
| My neighbours kids use https://scratch.mit.edu/
| paleogizmo wrote:
| In the spirit of HN contrarian comments, I'd say the closest
| thing spiritually to a modern-day HyperCard is PySimpleGUI:
| https://github.com/PySimpleGUI
|
| Previously the closest thing to HyperCard was WinForms, which PSG
| borrows heavily from. PSG is probably the fastest way for anyone
| moderately familar with python to throw together an ugly-but-
| servicable GUI program and I reach for it when I'm in a hurry.
| The two tricks behind PSG are: 1. very concise and memorable GUI
| layout with only python code and 2. use of an event loop instead
| of handlers. All of this sounds pretty basic and obvious, but _no
| one else does it this way_.
| mordechai9000 wrote:
| It's been awhile since I've messed with a GUI in python, so I
| did quick image search to see just how ugly it is. And it
| actually looks very serviceable. A bit utilitarian, perhaps,
| but not too bad. I was expecting much worse, like the old Tk
| dialogs. And judging by the variety of examples I found, it can
| be themed to some degree. My only problem - and what has driven
| me to use web apps in the past - is the difficulties in
| bundling and distributing python apps.
| analog31 wrote:
| Something I've learned in my old age is that _merely_ ugly is
| still better than anything I 'm likely to come up with
| myself. If something threatens to be interesting enough to
| distribute, the marketeers will never let me decide how it's
| going to look anyway. For the work that I do, not having to
| think about layout or aesthetics at all is a time saver with
| virtually no downside.
| milansuk wrote:
| Every time when someone opens a dialog and write small script
| into it I wonder how does this work for large/complex project?
| Normally we have a file(s) with many functions so we can
| search/replace across all of them. This is a problem with many
| today's productivity tools as well. Looks splendid until it
| becomes large. Any solution?
| emmanueloga_ wrote:
| looks more of a modern day visual basic no? (no snark, VB was
| cool!)
| ben_w wrote:
| I was thinking the same, though also thinking about REALbasic
| (now known as Xojo; I've not used it since 2007).
| soapdog wrote:
| Hey I'm the author of that page, AMA.
| mwcampbell wrote:
| Since you work for LiveCode, do you know if there are any plans
| to implement platform accessibility APIs, so LiveCode (or at
| least applications built with it) can work with assistive
| technologies, such as screen readers for blind people? Besides
| being the right thing to do, that might unlock some sales to
| the educational market.
| 627467 wrote:
| That's a great question. Im interested in visual coding tools
| but, probably in my ignorance, I wonder how any of them work
| for keyboard and/or screen reader users.
| mwcampbell wrote:
| To be clear, the problem isn't just the drag-and-drop
| nature of the development environment. The whole GUI
| toolkit is completely inaccessible with a screen reader.
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(page generated 2020-10-23 23:00 UTC)