That's a very good explanation,
Thank you very much indeed.
I had a "small problem" with a teenager in my programming classes who asked:
"If Livecode is written using C++ why don't we just bypass Livecode
completely?"
Which prove that his English is up to a high standard :)
I found a book in a junk shop that was an introduction to C++ and sent
him home with it and asked
him to start teaching himself C++ and to duplicate the simplest exercise
stacks we were doing in the classes.
On the Monday he turned up with a big box of chocolates for me and an
apology.
I will be forever grateful to the Livecode team that they have saved me
from having to learn C++.
Richmond.
On 8/2/17 9:07 pm, Mark Waddingham via use-livecode wrote:
Increasingly less - and in contrast the amount that could be done in LC instead
of C++ continues to increase (far more slowly than I'd like - but hey, if
wishes were horses...)
Indeed, a lot of the 'heavy lifting' seen in the engine comes down to either
the core abstractions which the LiveCode script language requires (i.e. the
VM), direct access to C exposed APIs, or for speed.
For example a lot of 'compound' operations such as the set operation commands
can be implemented in LCS - indeed it is a very readable way to define their
behaviour - but become far more effective for large arrays if done in C++ (i.e.
for optimisation purposes). Although that is largely because we don't have a
native code compiler for LCS.
LCB has started to provide more of what is needed to 'get away from C++' -
admittedly its performance is not great as yet, but for its current purposes it
is more than sufficient. In particular, UI elements generally require little
'hardcore' performance - just rendering and property marshalling; similarly,
wrapping system and third-party APIs to the level where they are 'more natural'
in LCS mainly just requires appropriate type mapping and indexing of objects
(enter LCB).
LiveCode Script is a complete programming language in its own right; it lacks
direct access to third-party APIs certainly, however it is perhaps surprising
how much outside of user interaction related tasks require that. Even in 7+,
it's speed is perfectly reasonable for 'reasonably sized' computational tasks
(for certain types of thing it is actually much more memory efficient due to
copy on write being used for values - which increase the memory size of tasks,
if not speed).
As a mode of expression of algorithms, it perhaps start to approach Knuth's
idea of 'literate programming' *without* using a blended typesetting + code
approach (which is how TeX and MetaFont are written, for example).
So, if for that reason alone there's rarely harm in writing something in LCS
first, and *then* taking to rewrite critical parts in a lower level language if
required for speed reasons.
Warmest Regards,
Mark.
Sent from my iPhone
On 2 Aug 2017, at 13:50, Klaus major-k via use-livecode
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Richmond,
Am 02.08.2017 um 13:43 schrieb Richmond Mathewson via use-livecode
<[email protected]>:
" remember that LC is made with LC, so everything in the IDE is a stack resp.
scripted and can be modified!"
recently claimed by someone elsewhere [Hi, Klaus :) ]
hi mate! :-)
BUT: it that really true?
Why do I have a funny feeling that a lot of the "heavy lifting" is done with
C++ ?
Yes, that is true, except for the engine and its functionality which is made
with C++ or whatever.
Richmond.
Best
Klaus
--
Klaus Major
http://www.major-k.de
[email protected]
_______________________________________________
use-livecode mailing list
[email protected]
Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription
preferences:
http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
_______________________________________________
use-livecode mailing list
[email protected]
Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription
preferences:
http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
_______________________________________________
use-livecode mailing list
[email protected]
Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription
preferences:
http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
