More Advanced Languages?

Will we someday be able to learn other programming languages, from the most basic languages to the most sophisticated ones, just like ‘TwoLivesLeft’ did with Lua? Also, what do you guys think?

For me, I thought it would be great if people could make more advanced, more detailed, 2D & 3D apps; produce their own game, app, etc engines; create operating systems such as Apple’s iOS; generate computer & or super computer software (like animation, simulation, virtual modeling, programs such as Microsoft Office or alternatives to it, game/etc engines, etc); be taught, if they don’t already know, how to upload apps to an app store; etc.

I don’t know if any of this is possible, especially if it’s on an ipad. Still, I wanted to ask just in case. Thanks if anyone can help me and thanks if you feel like sharing your opinion. I hope to hear from you guys soon.

Lua is a very powerful language so I’m not sure what you mean by advanced. I wouldn’t mind having something with static type checking like c# or typescript.

All the things you brought up are more a factor of provided libraries rather than the language itself. If Codea continues to grow I suspect the libraries will gradually become more expansive.

I’ve been too busy & overwhelmed lately to try using Codea; but I kept getting this impression that; either Codea, the iPad, or both; don’t do all or most of the things that a person wants or needs to do.

I know that big things come in small packages. It’s just that I think I recall reading somewhere that Lua is a basic computer programming language. I could be wrong, but I could have sworn that it was being called a simple programming language.

Whatever it was that I read; it made Codea sound like it was unpopular, it wasn’t widely used or used by most people, etc. Also, there don’t seem to be very many apps that were made by use Lua; and none of those Codea examples or apps look like they could ever hope to compete with some of the top, highly-grossed, highly-successful apps, when the examples & apps are based on graphics.

Nobody is satisfied with standard graphics, service, food, etc anymore. Almost everyone these days only crave the best stuff & everything has to be in HD. People will only accept the best and they’re unwilling to settle for less.

Anyways, I’m sorry about that. Some examples of apps with really-detailed, realistic graphics are Asphalt 5-7, Epoch, March Of The Dinosaurs, Theodolite, Dragon Slayer, and Verto Studio 3D.

Anyways, the reasons that gave me the idea that Codea may be strong, but not advanced, when compared to other programming languages, are the graphics; the fact that none of the apps that were produced by Lua (that I’ve heard of) are in 3D; Lua doesn’t appear to be a language that’s commonly or widely used; people can’t put new Codea apps onto Apple’s App Store with Codea; I don’t know if Codea’s examples are showing Lua’s full potential; and whatever it was that I read on the Internet.

Since I’ve probably received the wrong idea; can you please, if possible, give me some examples to help me better understand of just how far Lua can go?

Does it let people create apps similar to Microsoft Office, Outline± OneNotes for iPad, Quick Office, Sparkle 2: Evolution, Collapse Or Oblivion: Solar Collapse, MyBot Creator, Music Studio by Alexander Cross, Mogul by MakeHitMusic.com, whatever photo & video apps are out there, etc?

Can you generate games for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Windows 7 computer, etc? Is it conceivable to manufacture an alternative version of Apple’s iOS? Does Lua allow you to program your project to run Machine Learning code? Can you run a coded program to record most of your life & make it digital?

Thanks if you can help me & or understand what I’m trying to say. If you can’t help me & or don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, thanks anyways. Also, thanks for letting me know that what I wrote didn’t make sense. I understand that you don’t get an answer right away, but I was starting to worry that I had said something rude without knowing it or meaning to.

I am not conviced that you are not trolling but will answer just in case you do not.
I am guessing most people here are using Codea because they like their IPad and want to code on/for it. Is Lua the “powerfullest” language out there? This is not a productive question. Try It for a while and see what it’s limitations are. If do not like it move on. There are a few programming apps on the iPad ( pythonista, the various processing variations, Kodiak for php, CS at once etc). Each with its advantages and disadvantages. I think pythonista and Codea are by far the best ones and Codea is more appropriate for gamy like apps while Pythonista is better for more OSy kind of apps. But don’t take my word for it try them for size

@SpeedyMcRaptor - I think your getting a bit confused here regarding the differentiation between Lua, Codea and ultimately, what it’s actually good at doing in comparison to other development environments/programming languages. :slight_smile:

Indeed, I wouldn’t write a missile guidance system in Lua/Codea, control a nuclear power plant with Visual Basic nor write a computer game in ADA or COBOL (yup, I’m that old!).
As an example, these languages all have strengths, weaknesses and are generally targeted at specific types of applications that people want to develop.

Horses for courses really - ones not ‘better’ than the other - It’s like trying to compare apples and bananas. :slight_smile:

In respect to Lua : Not strong? Not advanced? Not widely used? All irrelevant really. I’d take a look at this link - I’m sure this will fill in the gaps :wink:

http://www.lua.org/about.html

Codea for me is a fantastic development environment for rapidly prototyping games, quickly developing 2d/3d graphics ideas and concepts together with interactivity. With a bit of extra effort and some technical nous you can turn your creations into self contained apps that can be published via the App Store. As the product matures further, I’m sure it will become increasingly more powerful for developing these sorts of applications and well see more and more ‘polished’ and professional looking apps developed with it.

.@SpeedyMcRaptor it sounds like you are talking about APIs, not programming languages. Codea’s API encourages quick, game-like programming so you can explore ideas. No one simply writes a full game without first writing many prototypes.

Cargo-Bot, available on the App Store, is an example of a very polished game made with Codea. (It started life as a prototype, posted to these forums, and then was rewritten in Codea several times before becoming the finished product.)

I’m really sorry about all of this. Please forgive me for keeping you waiting. I’ve been very busy & distracted these last couple of days.

Anyways, I didn’t intend to offend any of your feelings or Lua’s/Codea’s. I’m not 100% sure what I’m trying to say and I don’t completely understand everything that you’re talking about. I’m not a technical person and I’m not good at reading manuals. I can go through the Q&A/help section if there aren’t that many technical, scientific, etc terms.

Also, I don’t have a lot of free time to do much research. For some reason, though, my brain believes that I have little free time to do my homework on Lua/Codea; but I can create enough time to spellcheck most of my writing & keep my comments varied.

Corneliuhoffman, I had enough time to look up trolling, but none of the Dictionary descriptions sounded like what whatever it is that you’re talking about. I had no clue that there were other apps besides Codea, but I’ll try Codea first.

First, Simeon, I have no inkling of what you are trying to tell me. Last, I am partially afraid of using the forums if my discussions continue to go like this one, but I’ll give it my best.

Andymac3d, that sounds like what I’m attempting to say. Just to let all of you know, the reason that I wanted to know what Codea could do is because I am so disorganized, stressed, depressed, and overwhelmed right now.

My life is such a wreck that I desperately need to know if Codea can at least allow me to produce apps similar to Microsoft Office, Outline± OneNote OneBooks For iPad, Evernote, SpringPad, Catch Notes, ProjectBook, MyBot Creator, Things 2, etc; drag & drop items; convert handwritten words into text; write Machine Learning code, if it’s realistic & achievable; and create game apps 2D & 3D with average to good graphics.

I know that Lua/Codea is a powerful language. It’s just that I’m not certain how far it can go. I’ll look up the link that you provided, but I’m not sure if it will answer all of my questions. The reason that I asked the forum in the first place is because the About, Q&A, and Help sections usually don’t solve any of my inquiries. Most of the time, my question are too hard to answer.

Again, I’m sorry about everything. I appreciate your help so far & thanks for giving me your opinions; especially with letting me know when I wrote false statements, rude comments, etc. It helps me realize what I did wrong, what I’ve misinterpreted, and what I need to work on improving.

Andymac3d, I clicked on the link that you posted and I can’t make any sense of it. I’m not familiar with any of those terms. Can someone please explain in simple terms what each section means, or refer me to someone or something that can help me better understand?

I had some extra time tonight & I searched ‘About Lua’, but there were no results. So, I looked up 'About Codea, and I discovered a topic about a new Codea preview video. It was incredible; but it still didn’t teach me anything new about Codea or Lua other than what you told me so far.

http://www.twolivesleft.com/Codea/Talk/discussion/comment/17616#Comment_17616

Then, I saw a topic about the games & apps made by Codea. There are more apps than I originally thought. I was amazed by all of them; especially Space Puzzle, Magica Gems, and Gravity Drop. There’s something so beautiful & intriguing about the simplistic design of Gravity Drop.

http://www.twolivesleft.com/Codea/Talk/discussion/1983/app-store-games-and-apps-made-with-codea#Item_11

Anyways, later on, When I found the link, the one posted below, that’s when I started to get confused & overwhelmed. Am I required to get Lua Third Edition, or is it optional? Last, but not least, do I have to study these topics in any particular order or am I supposed to go through them at all, or is it possible to learn how to use the basics of Lua & Codea by experimenting on my own? Thanks if anybody can answer any of my questions.

http://www.twolivesleft.com/Codea/Talk/discussion/275/faq-please-read#Item_1

I’m still not absolutely positive where I read that Lua is “a simple programming language”, but what I meant to say is whatever those other programming languages, APIs(?), etc are called. I thought it would be interesting to learn other things that use code; is programmed to do what it was instructed to do; etc. Some examples of programming languages are C#, C+, & Java.

Please correct me if I’m wrong again because I didn’t know that making a simple ping pong or Pac-Man game would be this hard or that World History, the modern world, the universe, technology, etc would so hard to understand; especially when you have a lot of special needs such as Autism.

When I bought Codea, I thought that there would be some kind of interactive, step-by-step, intro tutorial guide that would explain what all or most of these features were with previous/next buttons for revisiting old & new steps, also let you continue & or finish by clicking the ok button, & get a practice hands-on experience so you could learn the basics(like many games & apps do nowadays.

I know life isn’t always simple, but my brain doesn’t seem to like it when it’s complicated. So, if anyone can give me simple descriptions of what that page is talking about or transfer me to somebody/something that can help me, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks if somebody can aide me or discuss what I just wrote about.

.@SpeedyMcRaptor have you had a look at this: http://bitbucket.org/TwoLivesLeft/core/wiki/ForKids

It’s not interactive, but it’s pretty much as step-by-step as you can get. I hope it helps.

Hello @SpeedyMcRaptor. It may help others to help you if you could explain a little about what you already know about programming computers and what is new to you.

Codea is a bit like a box of LEGO bricks. Codea supplies the bricks, but you have to supply the ideas and combine the bricks to build interesting things.

You can learn how to build interesting things by examining closely the things that other people have built. Codea comes with example Projects. People post code to this Forum.

Some interesting things are large and complex. They take time and stamina to build. The good news is you can build some interesting things using only a small number of bricks (lines of code). My advice would be to start small, and build on your own past experiments.

The bricks that make up Codea come from two places. One place is the language Lua and its standard libraries. Online you can find a book Programming in Lua, which is worth reading like a book, and a reference manual, which is worth reading parts of if there is a specific part of Lua you want to understand well. Lua is a simple language in the sense that there is only a small number of basic bricks. It is a powerful language in that those bricks have been designed well to combine easily to make many interesting things.

The other place is the Codea API. These are predefined functions and values that make it easy for your Lua code to interact with your iPad hardware. In-app you can find documentation and on the Codea Wiki you can find further information that goes beyond the in-app reference. People are willing to explain things in this Forum. It helps if the questions asked are specific.

@SpeedyMcRaptor, I suspect if this still doesn’t make much sense you should take a step back and look at something simpler that can teach the fundamentals of programming in a fun and simplified way.

Have a look at the excellent Scratch: http://scratch.mit.edu/
(Available for the Mac and PC I believe)

Whilst no where near as powerful as Codea, It’s a great introduction to programming that will get you up to speed with variables, conditions, loops etc using drag and drop elements without having to write reams of code. There are lots of nice tutorials and examples on the site, and you can produce some interesting things with it - including games.

Once you’ve nailed these concepts - your really only a few steps away from being able to tackle more traditional programming languages like Lua and ultimately being productive with Codea. :slight_smile: