Category Archives: Reactor Lab history

What happened to the desktop Lab?

July 3, 2022Reactor Lab history, Software Development, Web apps, Web Labs, Web SiteRichard Herz

As of July, 2022, I am no longer providing downloads of the desktop versions of our software.

After retiring from the university eight years ago, I stopped maintaining the desktop (standalone, executable) versions for several reasons.

The main reason is that web technology has developed to the point that interactive web apps can be written once, then distributed and run on all varieties of smart phones and computers. One important development has been the dramatically increased speed of Javascript in web browsers, which enables fast computation and graphics animation.

Another reason is that I have chosen not to spend the cost in time and money required to update and build desktop executables for multiple operating systems, as the versions of our development tool, LiveCode, and operating systems change.

The source code of our desktop software is posted at our GitHub site.

Please see our Web Labs, for which the source code is also posted at our GitHub site.

Please send us a message letting us know what you think at support@reactorlab.net

Links to external sites open in new browser tabs.

25th anniversary of Reactor Lab this month!

March 10, 2018Interactive Learning, Reactor Lab history, Software DevelopmentRichard Herz

Reactor Lab is a pioneer in developing interactive simulations for active learning. This is a screenshot of an experiment in the Lab in March 1993 – 25 years ago this month. The Lab was a single HyperCard stack. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Here is the same experiment in today’s desktop Reactor Lab.

A brief history of the development of Reactor Lab through 2006 is available at LiveCode Journal (hit browser back button to return here). The article refers to Revolution, which was LiveCode’s previous name. LiveCode is the development tool used to build the desktop version of ReactorLab.

Open-source Reactor Lab

April 15, 2017Interactive Learning, LiveCode, Reactor Lab history, Resources, Software DevelopmentRichard Herz

We recently released the desktop Reactor Lab software as an open-source project on GitHub. View our open-source projects at https://github.com/RichardHerz. Contact us if you are interested in using this version or learning more about the structure and the code. The Lab is constructed with LiveCode, which can be obtained at https://livecode.com.

23 years of Reactor Lab and interactive simulations for active learning

September 6, 2016Interactive Learning, Reactor Lab history, Software DevelopmentRichard Herz

Reactor Lab is a pioneer in developing interactive simulations for active learning. This is a screenshot of an experiment in the Lab in March 1993, when the Lab was a single HyperCard stack. The screenshot was taken after it was converted to a LiveCode stack to keep it alive and operable on today’s computers. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Here is the same experiment in today’s Reactor Lab.

A brief history of the development of Reactor Lab through 2006 is available at LiveCode Journal. The article refers to Revolution, which was LiveCode’s previous name.