I’m very pleased today to introduce to you our brand new Feature Exchange platform. The primary goal of this exchange is to bring you the features you want in LiveCode when you want them. I’ll describe how the exchange works in a moment. First, a little context.

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Editors note: Kevin sent a personal letter to the community today, and after reading it I asked permission to reprint it here. He agreed 🙂

As the CEO and custodian of LiveCode I believe passionately in a world where everyone can create apps. We’ve worked hard on finding ways to empower more of you to be able to build the app of your dreams. We’ve enjoyed a great deal of success over the years, doubling the interest and uptake of computer science courses wherever we’ve been adopted, and helping to transform many budding new coders into entrepreneurs running businesses small and large. I’d like to express a heartfelt thank you for your support over the years, not least with our hugely successful crowd funding campaigns and open source initiative. We couldn’t have done it without you.

We know LiveCode is the easiest, most productive way to build an app. But if I’m honest, we’ve always found it challenging to get a new user over the initial learning curve. After all, even the English-based LiveCode language still has vocabulary and concepts that need to be understood. And as easy as it is, like learning anything worthwhile – whether a language, an instrument or a sport, it requires some effort.

As CEO I’ve come to be very familiar with a pattern. A new user starts using our platform. For the first few days they orientate themselves. Ask a lot of questions. Scratch their heads. A few more days in and something clicks. The lightbulb moment occurs. We know, from all sorts of feedback from tens of thousands of users, that once you “get it”, once you get over that initial hump and have your “aha” moment, you never look back. You love LiveCode. You discover new horizons and are able to create things you never thought you could. The problem we’ve encountered has been that far too many people don’t make it through those first few days. Until now.

We’ve been searching for the right path for you, our audience, to get quickly and easily into coding with LiveCode and creating apps. We’ve tried a number of different approaches, with varying success. We’ve created academies, we’ve run summer schools, we’ve got involved with the Hour of Code initiative. Each has been successful to an extent, but we’ve been searching for ways to make it even easier.

That’s why I’m so very excited about our new Create it with LiveCode Course. 

Why is this course so different? Well firstly, it’s results based. You don’t learn theory, you learn to do a specific thing, and then start to gain understanding on how and why it worked like that. Secondly, it’s focused on modern mobile apps. You’ll learn transferable skills (that you can apply to the desktop and server too) but the focus is squarely on mobile. Thirdly, you’re learning to build apps that you already know. We’ll show you how to create perfect replicas of the apps that already ship on your phone. That way you’ll know when you’ve got it right. You’ll know how to do everything you need to do to create a successful app, such as access all the sensors on a device. If you can build these apps – the same ones the pro’s build – you’ll be able to build anything. Fourthly, we reveal one of the best kept secrets of the LiveCode environment – how to use it to seamlessly integrate cloud with your apps in a way no other language can approach. Next, we focus on not just the process of building an app but also everything else you need to know about the apps business, doing market research, promotion and marketing.

But most importantly of all, the thing that really convinced me, that made me go wow, yes, I have to get this course into the hands of potential coders everywhere, is the proven results. I saw the figures. 93% of students who took this course, were able to build their app at the end of it. And these were students with absolutely no past experience whatsoever. Impressive validation. If you go through this course, and put in the work and the hours, you will be able to build your app. We’re so confident of that we guarantee it. If you follow the course and can’t build the app you want at the end we’ll give you your money back. It’s as simple as that.

If you want to read more about the story of how this course came about, check out my blog post here.

Ways to Get Involved

This is far more than just a new course, its a massive opportunity to take the next step in delivering on our vision that everyone can create apps. If you believe in that vision then I’d like to ask for your support. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an existing power user, there are so many ways to get involved. Here are some of the top ones.

Hour of Code

As you may be aware, the 8th to the 14th of December is CS Education Week. There’s been a lot of talk over the last year or so about the “Hour of Code” initiative. The world has woken up to what we’ve known all along – that coding is the new literacy, that everyone should be able to do it. We’ll be participating in the hour of code by making available the very first week of our Create it Course for free.

You can take part in the live webinar on the 11th of December at 10AM PST. 

Bring your relatives, bring your friends, bring your neighbors, bring your taxi driver, bring anyone else you can!

We’re excited about the Hour of Code but we know that while an hour is a great starting point, it isn’t enough by itself. The Create it Course is a great next step. We bridge the gap between that initial hour and becoming a professional coder. Learn more about the course here. 

Affiliate Program – Spread the Word!

If you’re an existing LiveCoder who would like to help spread the word, we’ve set up an affiliate program so you can support our vision and get rewarded. We invite you to evangelize LiveCode and the Create it Course. You can earn 25% of every sale you make to a  new LiveCoder. Feature the platform you know and love on your website, get posters you can put in shop windows, get a QR code to pass out, and earn credit every time someone signs up as a result. Email us at support@livecode.com to get started!

The Perfect Gift

For the first time ever, we invite you to give the gift of a new skill that will last a lifetime this Christmas. The Create it Course is battle tested on people with only basic computer skills, and no coding at all. This course is suitable for anyone aged 13+. This is a real opportunity to spread the deep digital literacy you’ve grown to know and love with LiveCode to someone else, a son or daughter, a grandparent or friend, anyone you think would appreciate it.

Not only do we cover everything you need to build apps but we’re bringing in business experts to walk you through the process of building a successful business around an app. Plus we have a great contest with prizes that include exposure for your app and a trip to the LiveCode World Conference in 2015. 

As a reward back to you we invite you to take the course yourself for free. This means you have a fantastic opportunity to mentor your nominee, and help them through their LiveCode journey. To give Create it with LiveCode as a gift, check the “this is a gift” box next to the purchase button, here. We’ll send you a gift certificate you can print and instructions for full access to the course.

We hope you’ll get involved. Sign up now to get the first lesson in this course free and participate in Hour of Code next week. Give the course as a gift. Sign up as an affiliate. Or get the course if you haven’t already. Remember places are limited.

Thanks so much for all your support. 

Kind Regards,

Kevin Miller

LiveCode CEO  

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What do you think about getting into the app business? Here are things we’ve heard again and again. Are any of these you?

• “Why is it so difficult to build apps?”
• “I’ve tried to learn in the past but never been able to build the app I wanted?”
• “Can I really do it?”
• “Its such a crowded space. How can I stand out?”

LiveCode has earned us a place in the top 100 Kickstarter campaigns of all time (top 0.1%) last year.

We’ve been featured in hundreds of articles and have customers in over 120 countries.

Yet we haven’t been satisfied. We’ve been searching for the perfect way to unlock the dream of anyone who has an app idea, and to empower everyone who wants to get into the app business to become a runaway success.

We’ve tried many different methods. And we’ve found something so successful we just had to share it with you.

How NOT To Learn

I’ve seen courses that attempt to teach coding in an hour. No matter how easy they make it, creating apps is too involved to build a meaningful app in that time.

We’ve seen courses that teach by going through the principles of computer science. You can learn this way, but its hard fighting to understand abstract concepts and then apply them. The material is dry and we’ve watched again and again as people struggle to go from concepts to building their dream app.

Most courses ignore the business side. Yet the fact is that technology matters and business matters equally. You need to become a master of both to make your app a success in the crowded app store. The millions of apps in the stores represent a tremendous opportunity. But only the top apps are successful.

Some courses teach languages and methods that are far more complex than they need to be. There are a multitude of languages available for app developers and most of them are so complex and inaccessible that you’ll quickly give up if you don’t have a degree in computer science.

There are courses that teach little portions of building an app. It takes a lot of hard effort to put those concepts together when it comes to apply that knowledge and build your own. Lots of people drop out when they can’t connect together the ideas to build their own app when the time comes.

Then there are the approaches that focus on pure point and click tools. “No coding needed.” Only as soon as your app has any degree of functionality, any of the features that will actually make it stand out and be competitive, you’ll hit the wall with nowhere to go. How many of these apps do you see doing well in the app store?

Finally, we’ve seen course after course where the learning curve is just too steep. The material starts easy but quickly gets to a depth where you can’t follow it.

None of these methods work. At best they lead to an underwhelming app that gets lost in the store, at worst to frustration and giving up.

The Easy Way To Break Into the App Business

Instead of learning complicated dry abstract concepts and a fiendishly difficult language, the secret is to learn step-by-step, starting from what you already know.

Here is how it works.

We show you how to build the apps you already know and use. Imitation is a great way to learn. You can see if you’ve got it right every step of the way. To become a pro, start by imitating the pros. Once you can make these apps you can make anything!

We partner with you to show you how to build a fabulous business around your app. Experts who run multi-million dollar app business will share with you their secrets on how to do insightful market research, create a website that sells, landing page design, content marketing and using social media for business.

We provide you with a tool that lets you drag-drop objects, code in English and build your app just once then deploy it to all the app stores including iOS, Android and optionally, Windows, Mac and Linux desktops.

Plus you get this FREE Bonus: enter your app into our App Contest. Top prize includes an all expenses trip to LiveCode World late in 2015.

Where did this new course idea come from?

Sometimes the best ideas have the most surprising beginnings.

Our friends at Digital Pomegranate originally developed this course to boost economic development in a small developing country – Armenia. Now you may be wondering why that’s relevant to you?!

Well, if you think about it, this is one of the most challenging environments to show people how to break into the app business. And if they can do it, so can you. Let me tell you the story…

Many of the people who signed up had barely used a computer. Even more had no past experience with programming of any sort. Nor did they have experience creating a business.

The Digital Pomegranate team did their homework, looking high and low for a platform and language that would be accessible enough for them to teach. They tried many different alternatives none of which were good enough. Then they discovered LiveCode, our platform that makes it easy to create apps for multiple different devices.

But the discovery of LiveCode alone wasn’t enough. The teaching had to be accessible enough to people who hadn’t barely even used a computer. And it had to fit into a part time course over 16 weeks.

The team tested multiple approaches:

One class got the traditional computer science route, of teaching program structure, concepts and principles. Even though the class was highly practical, 40% of the class dropped out and only 2 people were able to build their own app at the end!

The other class tried a different approach. They taught the class how to build the apps that they already had on their phone. All the same concepts were taught but only as they came up in each app. The students could immediately see if they had got it right. The results were incredible. 93% of the students were able to build their own app at the end of the class.

Astonishing, isn’t it? Some of the graduates from this course even went on to win a coding Hackathon against stiff competition.

Sharing the Love

I was blown away when I saw the success this new training program was having. I could not wait to bring it to a wider audience. We’ve partnered up with Digital Pomegranate, worked over the materials, added our experienced tech and training staff and we’re bringing you this course. I can’t wait to see the results. I truly believe this is a door opener and will take us closer to our aspiration that

Everyone Can Create Apps.

Make the UI for the Calculator App Today

As a special treat, here is a sneak peak of one of the early lessons. See what you think. Let me know.

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