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A Linux/Windows computer in a household is a device that allows both consuming and creating. Many, if not most of us got into creating using a computer just by

A Linux/Windows computer in a household is a device that allows both consuming and creating. Many, if not most of us got into creating using a computer just by having access to one and being curious. An iPhone or an iPad is just a device for consumption. It completely hides, if not locks you out of, the underlying workings of the device, meaning that you learn nothing and you create nothing.

Angostura 7y ago
You should have a play with Shortcuts on the iPhone - or Swift Playground, or any other the plethora of 3rd party coding platforms that run on iOS.
- agent008t 7y ago
  By being given an iPhone/iPad and clicking around, you wouldn't even learn about what a filesystem is, let alone about anything else in terms of how your device works. On a PC, just by being bored you can learn quite a bit about how the OS works; you can access devtools from a browser; you can learn tons and tons by trying to get some old/obscure game to work; you can google "how to make a game" which would probably lead you to a download page for python, which you could install and start writing some scripts; you could easily stumble upon Blender and some tutorials and start 3D modelling.
  - Angostura 7y ago
    So you haven't played with Shortcuts? https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts/apdb5506f698/ios https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts/apdb5506f698... Or if you want Python https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/pythonista-3/id1085978097 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/pythonista-3/id1085978097
- cameronbrown 7y ago
  Most of these are for education and not real work.
rienbdj 7y ago
you have a very narrow idea of what creating is. non programming tasks don't require low level system access.
- tomc1985 7y ago
  Realtime, low-latency audio does, though
shantly 7y ago
> An iPhone or an iPad is just a device for consumption. Absurd. There are a huge number of tasks for which, if I'm only allowed one device to accomplish it, I'd definitely take an iPad over a laptop. Practically anything involving photography or recording video or audio, for instance. Many sorts of art. Music, depending on the task. If allowed an external keyboard it's better than a laptop for writing in some environments—the decoupled device & keyboard allow for more flexibility in arranging print outs, books, and any other stuff you need. For some of it an iPhone, even, is better than a laptop or desktop. And it fits in my pocket. A laptop doesn't. Slab-of-glass type computers are worse at some things than traditional desktops and laptops but wildly better than "normal" computer at a ton of others, especially given space or budget constraints. The statement that tablets and phones are consumption devices to a greater degree than other computers is very wrong and I can't believe it keeps popping up so often, after all this time. [EDIT] I also object to dividing consumption and creation so neatly. Consumption is part of all sorts of creation tasks. Maybe most. When you look something up on SO has a switch flipped and now you're "consuming" rather than "creating"? If I'm reading a recipe on my tablet is that consumption? What if I'm cooking at the same time? Scanning back through a video on some home improvement project to check my work while I'm working? For that matter, add "basically anything that involves doing things in the real world" to the list of creative activities for which I'd take a phone or tablet to assist me, both as a relevant-media display device and as a tool itself, over a laptop. I use my iPhone a ton just about any time I do actual doing-real-world-stuff work.
- tomc1985 7y ago
  Every 'creative' app I've used on IOS has been disappointing. Even if the GUI is decent touch detection is so imprecise that its always super easy to fat-finger things. FLStudio vs FL mobile, for example When I was younger I thought it would be cool to DJ with a three-iPad setup-- two ipads acting like a turntable/CDJ and a third acting as a mixer. Nowadays, putting on my performer hat, I would hate that setup as I feel like I would be fighting with the touch interface. I'll take real buttons and knobs on dedicated hardware any day of the week.
  - shantly 7y ago
bitwize 7y ago
iPhones and iPads have plenty of creation tools available. What you say is more true of Android, which is fundamentally an advertisement delivery platform.

Angostura 7y ago

You should have a play with Shortcuts on the iPhone - or Swift Playground, or any other the plethora of 3rd party coding platforms that run on iOS.

agent008t 7y ago
By being given an iPhone/iPad and clicking around, you wouldn't even learn about what a filesystem is, let alone about anything else in terms of how your device works. On a PC, just by being bored you can learn quite a bit about how the OS works; you can access devtools from a browser; you can learn tons and tons by trying to get some old/obscure game to work; you can google "how to make a game" which would probably lead you to a download page for python, which you could install and start writing some scripts; you could easily stumble upon Blender and some tutorials and start 3D modelling.
- Angostura 7y ago
  So you haven't played with Shortcuts? https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts/apdb5506f698/ios https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts/apdb5506f698... Or if you want Python https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/pythonista-3/id1085978097 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/pythonista-3/id1085978097
cameronbrown 7y ago
Most of these are for education and not real work.

rienbdj 7y ago

you have a very narrow idea of what creating is. non programming tasks don't require low level system access.

tomc1985 7y ago
Realtime, low-latency audio does, though

shantly 7y ago

> An iPhone or an iPad is just a device for consumption. Absurd. There are a huge number of tasks for which, if I'm only allowed one device to accomplish it, I'd definitely take an iPad over a laptop. Practically anything involving photography or recording video or audio, for instance. Many sorts of art. Music, depending on the task. If allowed an external keyboard it's better than a laptop for writing in some environments—the decoupled device & keyboard allow for more flexibility in arranging print outs, books, and any other stuff you need. For some of it an iPhone, even, is better than a laptop or desktop. And it fits in my pocket. A laptop doesn't. Slab-of-glass type computers are worse at some things than traditional desktops and laptops but wildly better than "normal" computer at a ton of others, especially given space or budget constraints. The statement that tablets and phones are consumption devices to a greater degree than other computers is very wrong and I can't believe it keeps popping up so often, after all this time. [EDIT] I also object to dividing consumption and creation so neatly. Consumption is part of all sorts of creation tasks. Maybe most. When you look something up on SO has a switch flipped and now you're "consuming" rather than "creating"? If I'm reading a recipe on my tablet is that consumption? What if I'm cooking at the same time? Scanning back through a video on some home improvement project to check my work while I'm working? For that matter, add "basically anything that involves doing things in the real world" to the list of creative activities for which I'd take a phone or tablet to assist me, both as a relevant-media display device and as a tool itself, over a laptop. I use my iPhone a ton just about any time I do actual doing-real-world-stuff work.

tomc1985 7y ago
Every 'creative' app I've used on IOS has been disappointing. Even if the GUI is decent touch detection is so imprecise that its always super easy to fat-finger things. FLStudio vs FL mobile, for example When I was younger I thought it would be cool to DJ with a three-iPad setup-- two ipads acting like a turntable/CDJ and a third acting as a mixer. Nowadays, putting on my performer hat, I would hate that setup as I feel like I would be fighting with the touch interface. I'll take real buttons and knobs on dedicated hardware any day of the week.
- shantly 7y ago

bitwize 7y ago

iPhones and iPads have plenty of creation tools available. What you say is more true of Android, which is fundamentally an advertisement delivery platform.