10 ms·

Honestly, I try to write code on iOS all the time, and it's not really the absence of tools that can execute that code that really stands in the way. Instead,

Honestly, I try to write code on iOS all the time, and it's not really the absence of tools that can execute that code that really stands in the way. Instead, it's: - The absence of a really good typing story. The 12.9 iPad Pro with smart keyboard is nice for typing text but terrible for moving the cursor around. It's agonizingly slow to do it with keyboard (highlighting is worse, for some reason) and inaccurate to do it with finger/fiddly to do it with Pencil. The only text editor with vim keybindings (an absolute must in an environment where it's hard to move the cursor normally...) of which I'm aware is Buffer, while the only text editor with both good syntax highlighting and good github integration (via Working Copy) is Textastic. Honestly, I really wish one of those two would just buy the other so that I could have both. - The absence of a really good ssh story. Prompt is nice, but for some reason, whenever I try to SSH into anything, there's so much latency that it is really painful to actually do anything. Maybe I just have slow network connections? But anyway, so much for just coding on a linode or something in vim.

nouveaux 9y ago
I'm not sure why Prompt is slow for you but as a suggestion, I really like using Blink. It supports Mosh and it might help with your latency problem
- paultopia 9y ago
  Thanks! I'll totally give it a try.
- yangl1996 9y ago
  \+1 for this. Mosh solved all problems an iPad ssh client may have. It allows the client to go offline and reconnect in no time when the client is back online, which is a common case on iOS (apps get killed when being in background for a short time). Lower latency (thanks to local echoing) and seamless switch between networks (cellular and wifi roaming) are also definitely nice to have. I tested Blink (a client on iOS with Mosh support) on a high-speed-rail trip from Shanghai to Beijing and it was rock solid.
  - paultopia 9y ago
    That is reaaalll nice. I like it a lot. (Although I'm a little embarrassed that I paid 20 bucks for an app in the app store that's open source. But that's totally worth it to not have to fight with xcode...)
    - enedil 9y ago
      Don't be embarassed for paying for open source.
jimbokun 9y ago
My son has been going through Swift Playgrounds, and I think the text selection and editing has been one of the things slowing him down.
- giobox 9y ago
  Does he know the two finger drag on keyboard gesture? This lets you drag the text cursor around like the keyboard is a giant trackpad - it's game-changing for typing on an iPad if you weren't aware of it before, and makes navigating text significantly better.
sologoub 9y ago
Been doing Prompt2 to Linode on an iPad Air (the first one) for a couple of years, mostly over 3G or LTE and haven't noticed much of a lag. Perhaps my expectations are deflated because of the mobile connection...
rahoulb 9y ago
I use Blink (which means setting up Mosh, but Mosh is awesome)
tootie 9y ago
Wait, why?
jclardy 9y ago
I agree, the one thing I was hoping for with the new 10.5" and other iPad announcements was some sort of indirect cursor input for the Smart Keyboard. It doesn't even need to be a full trackpad, even just a nub would work - the idea is it would just be used to move the text cursor around the screen. The on-screen keyboard does it really well...but typing on the on-screen keyboard isn't great (and obstructs half the display.)
photojosh 9y ago
Just checking... the Emacs + standard macOS shortcuts don't work for you? Ctrl-A/E or Cmd+left/right arrows for start/end of line Option+left/right for prev/next word and more here: http://jblevins.org/log/kbd http://jblevins.org/log/kbd Disclaimer: I use an Apple Wireless Keyboard or other BT keyboard, not the Smart Keyboard. YMMV. (Edit: line breaks)
- paultopia 9y ago
  oh, interesting! I didn't know those would work on iOS, but at least some of them do. That's a nice tip.
  - photojosh 9y ago
    I did a little dance around the room when I first learned about them. They were so ingrained from my Mac usage (because as that link said, they're common across any standard text box control), that I think I didn't even notice that I was using them for the first few minutes.
sedm0784 9y ago
> The only text editor with vim keybindings Vim also has Vim keybindings. ;) Sadly, the iOS version has a number of other issues that make it impractical for real use, which is probably why you overlooked it. (Apologies for the pedantic derail. I couldn't stop myself.)

nouveaux 9y ago

I'm not sure why Prompt is slow for you but as a suggestion, I really like using Blink. It supports Mosh and it might help with your latency problem

paultopia 9y ago
Thanks! I'll totally give it a try.
yangl1996 9y ago
\+1 for this. Mosh solved all problems an iPad ssh client may have. It allows the client to go offline and reconnect in no time when the client is back online, which is a common case on iOS (apps get killed when being in background for a short time). Lower latency (thanks to local echoing) and seamless switch between networks (cellular and wifi roaming) are also definitely nice to have. I tested Blink (a client on iOS with Mosh support) on a high-speed-rail trip from Shanghai to Beijing and it was rock solid.
- paultopia 9y ago
  That is reaaalll nice. I like it a lot. (Although I'm a little embarrassed that I paid 20 bucks for an app in the app store that's open source. But that's totally worth it to not have to fight with xcode...)
  - enedil 9y ago
    Don't be embarassed for paying for open source.

jimbokun 9y ago

My son has been going through Swift Playgrounds, and I think the text selection and editing has been one of the things slowing him down.

giobox 9y ago
Does he know the two finger drag on keyboard gesture? This lets you drag the text cursor around like the keyboard is a giant trackpad - it's game-changing for typing on an iPad if you weren't aware of it before, and makes navigating text significantly better.

sologoub 9y ago

Been doing Prompt2 to Linode on an iPad Air (the first one) for a couple of years, mostly over 3G or LTE and haven't noticed much of a lag. Perhaps my expectations are deflated because of the mobile connection...

rahoulb 9y ago

I use Blink (which means setting up Mosh, but Mosh is awesome)

tootie 9y ago

Wait, why?

jclardy 9y ago

I agree, the one thing I was hoping for with the new 10.5" and other iPad announcements was some sort of indirect cursor input for the Smart Keyboard. It doesn't even need to be a full trackpad, even just a nub would work - the idea is it would just be used to move the text cursor around the screen. The on-screen keyboard does it really well...but typing on the on-screen keyboard isn't great (and obstructs half the display.)

photojosh 9y ago

Just checking... the Emacs + standard macOS shortcuts don't work for you? Ctrl-A/E or Cmd+left/right arrows for start/end of line Option+left/right for prev/next word and more here: http://jblevins.org/log/kbd http://jblevins.org/log/kbd Disclaimer: I use an Apple Wireless Keyboard or other BT keyboard, not the Smart Keyboard. YMMV. (Edit: line breaks)

paultopia 9y ago
oh, interesting! I didn't know those would work on iOS, but at least some of them do. That's a nice tip.
- photojosh 9y ago
  I did a little dance around the room when I first learned about them. They were so ingrained from my Mac usage (because as that link said, they're common across any standard text box control), that I think I didn't even notice that I was using them for the first few minutes.

sedm0784 9y ago

> The only text editor with vim keybindings Vim also has Vim keybindings. ;) Sadly, the iOS version has a number of other issues that make it impractical for real use, which is probably why you overlooked it. (Apologies for the pedantic derail. I couldn't stop myself.)