Installation and Versions

LiveCode Downloads:

Go to downloads.livecode.com. Do not be put off by the cluttered screen. They have many "flavors" of LiveCode. A few years ago, they went "Open Source" with their "Community" version which means that it is free and the source code is available to everyone.  Anyone is welcome to fix bugs, add new enhancements and make contributions to the language. So you can see that many projects are underway. 

Version Differences:

      1. Community Versions (free) -

These free versions that are full-fledged versions, not crippled or downsized. This is all that you need to write Apps, Games and any programs. You can still put them on your cellphones and tablets share with friends, sell them to other people, give them away, etc. The only restriction is that you can not submit them to the Apple Store which does not allow Open Source software.  Open source software requires you to make your source code available to any one who asks for it. You can make apps and put them on your cellphones and tablets (iOS and Android) but you can not publish them to the Apple App Store.

     2. Indy and Business Versions ($$ and $$$) -

There are also other versions. The Indy version and the Business version are paid versions. Those versions are encrypted, to protect the code from being copied or plagerized. The "Indy" (independent) version is for individuals who want to submit their apps to the Apple store. (Apple does not allow open source code in the Apple store). The Business version is for businesses and corporate entities that use LiveCode or make more than $500,000 a year on their apps. These versions may have additional features of interest to such companies (networking code, special debugging routines, timing routines, etc) They also have direct support included. This is how RunRev (the LiveCode company) makes money to continue to support and enhance the products. This keeps them in business to support and enhance the free community versions

      3. School Version ($) -

They also have a Schools Pack ,a paid version - Get one full Indy Education license for the Class Teacher, plus 20 seats each of the App Builder Course and the full set of LiveCode video Academies. Let your students learn coding in an engaging and relevant way. This pack is for use in K12 education. You can either place your order using a .k12 email address, or proof of eligibility must be supplied by email to support@livecode.com within 7 days of placing your order. 

This is worth it for the course and videos. You can also submit apps to the Apple store with it. Otherwise, you can just use the free Community Version in your classes.

      4. Server Versions (free) -

The "Community Server" is free and can be used to host websites, databases, etc.

Download the Community Version:

We will be using the free versions, so only download the "Community" version - either 6.7.11 or the latest 9.0.0

Generally, I recommend that you only download "STABLE" versions. For our purposes, download Version 8.1.2 - STABLE version for your computer system (PC, Mac, Unix).  For my classes, I use version 6.7.11 STABLE.  It produces the smallest programs, works on all versions of Android and iPhone and is fine for our purposes. Gradually we switch to the latest version (9.0.0) because it has add widgets, fixed more bugs and has many other new features. The downside is that it produces larger programs (which may not be a disadvantage to you) and may have new bugs (which you may not run into)

Download and install the version of choice (You can have more than one version installed on your computer.)

On our school computers, I have the latest of each level installed - 6, 7, 8 and the latest stable version of 9.