Ok,ok, I hear y'all about the approachability of the htalk language. I do know 
that when we get familiar with an intellectual construct, we tend to give 
validity to information or attitudes that agree with that construct. 
Confirmation bias seemed to be a huge factor in news "facts" acceptance in the 
recent US election, as well.

As to the subject at hand, experienced programmers are going to favor 
constructs they are already familiar with. It will not be possible to settle 
the question of whether using x=3 or put 3 into x is more logical using this 
audience. In addition, the question is ill-posed. One question is whether 
programmers experienced in other high level languages would find livecode an 
attractive option for their work. Or conversely, would people new to coding 
find htalk easy and intuitive? These are two different questions and a rigorous 
answer will most likely not come from knowledgeable livecode programmers. No 
insult is intended, as I accept that I am guilty of the same bias.

In my humble opinion, the proof is in the pudding. What can I build with this 
application and how easy will it be to build what I want? I may prefer other 
syntaxes, but what the heck? As long as I can find what I need to make what I 
want, and have this fantastic array of users who help me out, I'm a very happy 
camper. So, for a bottom line, I really don't give a hoot about the "put 3 into 
x" syntax as long as I can build what I want. My initial posting was to comment 
that a LOT of the syntax for important operations is neither English-like, nor 
intuitive.

The reason I moved to Livecode was its capabilities, multiple platform 
deployment, but mostly the potential of the development team and the dynamic 
way they are improving the product and keeping up as technology continues to 
evolve. The refactoring of a very mature code base was a very positive 
development, in my view. The responsiveness and engagement of the development 
team is another huge positive for me.

One of the sayings among academic departments is that "the battles are so 
fierce because the stakes are so small". The discussion is fun and interesting, 
but ....... maybe less important.

Off to breakfast on a foggy Santa Barbara morning.

Best,
Bill P

William Prothero
http://es.earthednet.org

> On May 24, 2017, at 7:13 AM, Mike Kerner via use-livecode 
> <use-livecode@lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> That is certainly true.  The approachability of the language is the hook
> that got me hooked, even though HC was my...8th?  9th?  15th? language.
> For beginners, we should be asking what else we can do to make their life
> easier.  Community is free and it gets you in, but you can't build even the
> simplest ios app without paying apple and then fighting through all of the
> other things you have to do to get the app built and on your device just so
> you can play with it.  That would be a nifty service to provide for
> learning.  The n00b would have to upload their stack, and the ID of the one
> device they want to mess with it on.  Hmm......
> 
> On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 9:45 AM, dunbarx via use-livecode <
> use-livecode@lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
>> There is a far more important issue here. New learners are far more likely
>> to
>> be coaxed into continuing to spend the time and effort, and to put away
>> their fears, if they see and use "put x into y". It is why we have stacks
>> and cards, and in the olden days, rolodexes. The original HC team did all
>> that on purpose.
>> 
>> Remember "for the rest of us"?
>> 
>> Experienced users are being academic and pedantic to raise this issue as if
>> it were something important. We need new users, not old ones.
>> 
>> No offense, please.
>> 
>> Craig Newman
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> View this message in context: http://runtime-revolution.2783
>> 05.n4.nabble.com/English-Like-tp4714951p4715143.html
>> Sent from the Revolution - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> On the first day, God created the heavens and the Earth
> On the second day, God created the oceans.
> On the third day, God put the animals on hold for a few hours,
>   and did a little diving.
> And God said, "This is good."
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