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Some(Apple) may say that the web/browser ecosystem is mess and it's not worth the investment though. However the restrictions on 3rd party browsers is weird. Th

Some(Apple) may say that the web/browser ecosystem is mess and it's not worth the investment though. However the restrictions on 3rd party browsers is weird. The application is sandboxed (thus no additional security threats compared to other apps) so I think the argument is political not technical.

madeofpalk 10y ago
Third party code execution environments seems like a bit of a slippery slope that I can understand Apple wanting to avoid.
- iancarroll 10y ago
  Pythonista presumably runs Python on the device and is allowed on the App Store.
  - madeofpalk 10y ago
    Which is surprising tbh given Apple's rules and actions.
  - knocte 10y ago
    I guess the restriction is about downloading and executing software, not executing alone?
- pier25 10y ago
  You can run C++ code in iOS, except if that code is functioning as a browser rendering DOM and running JS
yoz-y 10y ago
The application is sandboxed but Apple does not really want to let third parties to put native compilers on their platform. I wonder if they could allow third party rendering engines but still force people to use Nitro (or how is their javascript engine called nowadays).
- DerekL 10y ago
  I think this is possible right now. The restriction in the license agreement only applies to executing code, not HTML rendering or network transfers. Since iOS 8 (I think), you can use JavaScriptCore separately from WebKit. So it should be possible to ship a browser app that uses its own renderer, as long as you replace the JavaScript engine with Apple's, but I don't know if that's worth the bother. Also, it will also run slower, because only the Safari app is permitted to do JIT compilation.
  - yoz-y 10y ago
    Since iOS8 all apps using can get JIT compilation if they use the WkWebView. From what I gather the JavaScriptCore does do JIT as well. So, maybe it would be possible to build a browser that has its own renderer but uses JSC for javascript. But then, I suppose that most if not all of the demanded features are not HTML5 but actually javascript.

madeofpalk 10y ago

Third party code execution environments seems like a bit of a slippery slope that I can understand Apple wanting to avoid.

iancarroll 10y ago
Pythonista presumably runs Python on the device and is allowed on the App Store.
- madeofpalk 10y ago
  Which is surprising tbh given Apple's rules and actions.
- knocte 10y ago
  I guess the restriction is about downloading and executing software, not executing alone?
pier25 10y ago
You can run C++ code in iOS, except if that code is functioning as a browser rendering DOM and running JS

yoz-y 10y ago

The application is sandboxed but Apple does not really want to let third parties to put native compilers on their platform. I wonder if they could allow third party rendering engines but still force people to use Nitro (or how is their javascript engine called nowadays).

DerekL 10y ago
I think this is possible right now. The restriction in the license agreement only applies to executing code, not HTML rendering or network transfers. Since iOS 8 (I think), you can use JavaScriptCore separately from WebKit. So it should be possible to ship a browser app that uses its own renderer, as long as you replace the JavaScript engine with Apple's, but I don't know if that's worth the bother. Also, it will also run slower, because only the Safari app is permitted to do JIT compilation.
- yoz-y 10y ago
  Since iOS8 all apps using can get JIT compilation if they use the WkWebView. From what I gather the JavaScriptCore does do JIT as well. So, maybe it would be possible to build a browser that has its own renderer but uses JSC for javascript. But then, I suppose that most if not all of the demanded features are not HTML5 but actually javascript.