Too many programming books start off with the rigors of learning the background of the programming language and teaching you what seems like every piece of functionality even before you make your first "Hello World" program. Well, this book isn't one of them.
Inside this chapter, you will be diving right into making your very first app within minutes. Here's what we will be covering:
- Using a text editor
- Creating a new project
- An introduction to Storyboard
- Using widgets
- Using display objects
- Creating the views for your project
- Configuring your project
For our first app, Frank's Fitness, you have access to a starter kit that includes the graphics used throughout this app. You can get the starter kit along with the code files available with this book. Let's get started!
Welcoming you to Frank's Fitness:
The first app in our mobile adventure will be a business-style application for a local gym—Frank's Fitness. Inside this app, people will be able to learn more about Frank's Fitness, calculate their body mass index (BMI), and easily contact customer service.
We will also be discovering how to use Corona's Storyboard feature, widgets, and touch events, as well as how to send e-mail. For now, let's discuss how to use a text editor.
We'll be spending some time editing our code, and for that we'll need a text editor. A text editor is a program that allows you to edit files, but there are certain text editors that you can use for programming. These programming-specific text editors will provide auto-completion, syntax highlighting, and a whole lot more. Here's a list of great text editors that are free or have paid licenses:
This is a free text editor that supports Lua. Currently, Notepad++ is only available on Windows, but if you are on a Mac, Text Wrangler is a free editor that's just as capable. Learn more at http://notepad-plus-plus.org/.
This is a little more sophisticated than Notepad++, and is available with either a trial or paid-for licensing. Sublime Text has great shortcuts that can save you a lot of time with debugging and repetitive tasks. Sublime Text is also cross-platform, so you can use the editor on Windows or Mac. Learn more at http://www.sublimetext.com/.
There are a few text editors that are specific to Corona SDK, and they provide more advanced functions that are out of the scope of this book. However, if you would like an editor that's made specifically for Corona SDK, here are some:
- Corona Cider: http://www.mydevelopersgames.com/CIDER/
- Corona Complete: http://coronacomplete.com/
- Outlaw IDE: http://outlawgametools.com