XTalk languages follow a natural-language approach. In general, statements are of the imperative form in which there is an implied second-person subject of the statement (you) and the verb is the first word of the line: "put value into container", "add 1 to someVariable", etc.

Thus the VB syntax in which some statements have an implied verb ("X=4" instead of "LET X=4") must be translated to LiveCode syntax "put 4 into x".

BASIC                                              LiveCode

lblTemperature.Text = 98.6         put 98.6 into field "lblTemperature"

xyz = xyz + 1                  add 1 to xyz

let x = 3.14                  put 3.14 into x

Arrays: Arrays in LiveCode are associative - the index may be, but does not need to be, numeric in order to access array elements. The VB array syntax arrayName(index) is replaced by arrayName[index]. There is no VB equivalent for a non-numeric array index.

BASIC                                              LiveCode

arrayName(4) = "hello"  put "hello" into arrayName[4]

                          put "hello" into arrayName["greeting"]

                          put "bonjour" into arrayName["greeting",tCurrentLanguage]

                          put "bonjour" into arrayName["greeting"][tCurrentLanguage]

                          put translationArray["hello"]["French"] into field "localizedGreeting"

While there are no user-defined types in LiveCode, their use can be simulated using arrays:

Private Type Node

  Row As Integer --row of the actual node

  Col As Integer --column of the actual node

  ParentId As Integer --parent node

  ScoreF As Integer --Score F (total cost)

  ScoreG As Integer --Score G (Cost of the path done)

  ScoreH As Integer --Score H (Estimated cost of the path to do)

  Closed As Boolean --indicates if the node is in the close list

End Type

Node.Row = 34
Node.Col = 25
Node.Closed = False

becomes

local tNode

put 34 into tNode["Row"]

put 25 into tNode["Col"]

put false into tNode["Closed"]

You can't say

Dim CurrNode as Node 
Dim TargetNode as Node
TargetNode["Row"] = 34
CurrentNode["Col"] = 25

but you can say

local tNodes

put 34 into tNodes["TargetNode"]["Row"]

put 25 into tNodes["CurrentNode"]["Col"]

-- pick from the array of arrays

put tNodes["TargetNode"]["Row"] into tRowValue

or

local tNode

put 34 into Node["Row"]

put Node into tNodes["TargetNode"]

-- get just the individual node array

put tNodes["TargetNode"] into tNode

put tNode["Row"] into tRowValue

The odd VB syntax of returning a value from a function (procedure) by assigning the value to the name of the procedure is replaced in LiveCode by the more standard return keyword.

SUB PROCNAME

 PROCNAME = someValue 'return someValue

END SUB

Similarities: LiveCode, like VB, is not case-specific: somevariable is the same as someVariable, as are SOMEVARIABLE and sOmEvArIAblE. Unless explicitVars is set to true (enable variable checking in the menu) variables do not need to be declared before use. This is similar to VB's OPTION EXPLICIT. In LiveCode, single-word string literals should be, but in general do not have to be (unless explicitVars is true), quoted:

put red into tCurrentColor

put "black" into tCurrentColor

answer hello

answer "hello, sailor"

The following are not necessary in LiveCode:

 REDIM

 LET

 PI is already defined as a constant

The following VB constants map directly to the following LiveCode keywords:

BASIC                            LiveCode

vbCRLF     cr or return

vbKeyReturn cr or return

vbNewLine     cr

vbKeyBack 8

vbOKOnly "OK"

vbNullString empty

vbBlack     "black"

vbWhite     "white"

vbRed     "red"

vbBlue     "blue"

vbGreen "green"

vbYellow "yellow"

vbMagenta "magenta"

vbCyan     "cyan"

more direct mapping:

BASIC                                       LiveCode

' (comment indicator) "--" or "#" or "//"

DIM X AS INTEGER local x or global x

PROCEDURE SomeProc function SomeProc

DO               repeat

WHILE               repeat while

WEND          end while

LOOP          end while

SELECT CASE     switch (use break statement between cases)

END SELECT     end switch

CASE ELSE     default

OPEN fileName as "x" open file fileName

CLOSE "x"          close file fileName

OPTION EXPLICIT explicitVars

TRIM(SomeString)      word 1 to -1 of SomeString

The following VB keywords have no mapping:

ON ERROR (use try/catch construct)

The following constructs have no direct equivalent:

WITH

END WITH

label:

GOTO label

dot notation:

instead of "lblMyLabel.Height" use "the height of field "MyLabel"

Timer controls

possibly use invisible buttons with "send 'Timer' to me in (the interval of me) milliseconds"

System and ActiveX controls in external libraries

VB screen coordinates are in Twips rather than in pixels. There are usually 15 twips per pixel, although this can vary depending on display characteristics.

SELECT CASE/CASE/CASE ELSE/END SELECT constructs are represented by the switch construct in LiveCode. The biggest difference is that individual case statements need "break" statements to separate them (as in C or java) and to keep the code from falling through into the next case. In VB different case items that should execute the same code are placed on the same line; in LiveCode they are placed on separate lines.

BASIC                                    LiveCode

SELECT CASE tValue  switch tValue

 CASE 1      case 1

   routine1          routine1

                   break

 CASE 2, CASE 3      case 2

               case 3

   routine2          routine2

                   break

 CASE ELSE      default

   routine3          routine3

END SELECT  end switch