Meet Dr. Jason Taylor, a psychiatrist whose interest in app development led him to great success using LiveCode to create a groundbreaking mental health application, Historian.
Historian is an app that tracks and creates a summary and risk profile of the user’s mental health based on anonymized data the user inputs over time. This information can then be shared with healthcare professionals, enabling them to gain a more accurate understanding of the individual’s needs and provide targeted treatments more efficiently. Let’s delve into the details of Dr. Taylor’s journey with LiveCode and the positive impact his app has had on improving access to mental health resources.
What drew you to LiveCode over other languages?
Originally, Historian existed solely as a website, earning recognition with an esteemed Intellect and Medical Future award. Driven by the success of the website, Dr. Taylor had a desire to make the tool more accessible by transforming it into a native app that could be uploaded to the iOS and Android app stores. That’s when he discovered LiveCode’s “Build once, run anywhere” platform that could create apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and the Web. The flexibility offered by LiveCode proved to be the perfect solution to Dr. Taylor’s needs.
Despite being self taught and having limited coding experience, Dr. Taylor had tried to build apps in languages such as Objective C in the past without much success. What captivated him about LiveCode was the English syntax and easy to use and design features of the LiveCode IDE. He could simply drag and drop widgets into his app and work the code in behind it afterwards. Within just one year, Dr Taylor had a finished product and and the entire development process was remarkably smooth.
“I found it an easy environment to learn, I had started to learn objective C but I struggled with that and LiveCode was so much easier.”
What resources were helpful during the development process?
Throughout the development process, Dr. Taylor used various resources that facilitated his journey. The resources on the LiveCode website served as an excellent starting point, allowing him to explore and adapt sample games, eventually empowering him to develop his own word game. With his confidence growing, he proceeded to develop the Historian app itself.
“There’s a lot of help on the LiveCode website, I looked at some of the games that were available and adapted them, I then developed a word game myself.”
The LiveCode forums and community played a pivotal role during the development stages too. The advice was especially valuable when trying to navigate the stringent requirements of uploading to the iOS and Android app stores. Whenever Dr. Taylor faced challenges or had questions, he received prompt and insightful responses within 1-2 days.
I hope Dr. Taylor’s story highlights the boundless possibilities that can be achieved using LiveCode. It’s evident that his decision to embrace this coding language has been truly transformative for his app. The seamless integration and intuitive design of the LiveCode IDE is what allowed him to bring Historian to life and revolutionize how mental health can be tracked and understood.
Today you can find the latest version of Historian on the iOS and Android app stores along with Mac and Windows versions on their website. Go and see the amazing work Dr. Taylor has done with LiveCode for yourself and harness the tools to aid in your own mental health journey.
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