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Now, Apple, can we please have the opposite? XCode on the iPad (even if some features had to be removed, like VS Code is to VS), with a containerized shell to r
by jedieaston 7y ago
Now, Apple, can we please have the opposite? XCode on the iPad (even if some features had to be removed, like VS Code is to VS), with a containerized shell to run code we write in?
Please?
- sillyquiet 7y agoWould be good for testing on device I suppose, but ooooh, I am not too sure how pleasurable coding on a touch interface might be, even with physical keyboard. Also, I would hate to de-incentivize one of Apple's remaining motivations for paying attention to their non-mobile hardware!
- novok 7y agoWell good news you can use a mouse on the ipad now, along with remaping capslock to esc in ios 13.4, all in a 1.5lbs computer.
- modwest 7y agoOh shit I didn’t know about remapping. My iPad Pro is my main personal computer now but I’m constantly toggling capslock. Next up, assignable hotkeys for switching between apps??
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- sneak 7y agoI’m most excited about remapping the “globe” (switch keyboards) key which I always hit when I mean to hit Control.
- mark_l_watson 7y agoI have got used to control-[ for escape on the iPad Pro keyboard. I use Prompt for SSH (I am used to it, should probably try other options) and I find opening Emacs and using control-x 3 to split the screen vertically works well. I then esc-shell in one window and edit in the other, or just have two files open for editing. If you have a high resolution USB-C interfaced monitor, plugging in the iPad Pro works fine also, but is I am in my home office I just use my laptop. A big external monitor is great though for watching HBO Now, Netflicks, and Prime.
- karatestomp 7y agoOh man. Mouse support. How did I miss that? How is it with VNC? Might finally be time to move to my iPad Pro + some remote BSD & Linux VMs on a cheap, beefy used workstation tower in a closet for all my personal computing needs. Sell this aging macbook. Maybe a little Rpi4 or something stuck under my desk and connected to Ethernet for when I just need ports. I mean shit now that macOS murdered most of my games by removing 32 bit it has little to recommend it over iOS, aside from native app dev and mouse support, and the latter may now be moot and I can rent a remote Mac if I actually need it to compile iOS apps, iOS dev support's probably showing up on iOS in the next 1-3 years anyway. ... I think I've got some experimenting to do this weekend.
- gadabout 7y agoI've used Pythonista on my iPad and I adore it. The physical keyboard is a personal must-have, but the experience is great otherwise.
- mark_l_watson 7y agoI agree, a great product. Pip install only works for all native python libraries, but that is a limitation of not having a C compiler to build extensions.
- qubex 7y agoThe functions that needed to be removed have already been removed. What remains is comes already pre-loaded on your iPad with iOS/iPadOS. It’s called ‘Notes’. The functionality removed was file management, version control, compilation, building, and interface design. All the rest (text editing) is still already there. Ha ha, only serious. Seriously, I doubt Apple is close to allowing a compiler to run on an iPad. EDIT: Apparently a sense of humour is not a common attribute around here.
- RandallBrown 7y agoThey already have the Playgrounds app on the iPad.
- qubex 7y agoYou’re right. I’m curious to now whether it’s compiled; and if so, what the underlying architecture of the compiler and runtime is.
- Nextgrid 7y agoPresumably the compiler itself was compiled for ARM. The rest doesn’t really have to change as the Swift compile was already designed to compile for ARM for production builds of apps.
- mayoff 7y agohttps://stackoverflow.com/a/40597747/77567 https://stackoverflow.com/a/40597747/77567 The evidence is that iPad Swift Playgrounds compiles to native code.
- why_only_15 7y agoIt's basically JIT compiled with special entitlements
- nickhalfasleep 7y agoThe day they provide this, is the day they are clearly signalling the end of macos.
- MR4D 7y agoI would argue that a phone, tablet, and computer can all have the same OS, just with different UI. So the "end of macos" is unlikely in my book.
- sharatvir 7y agoI'm waiting for the day we can "dock" a phone to a monitor with a mouse/kb & have a full desktop OS experience.
- pjmlp 7y agoLike Windows Phone Lumia, or many Windows tablets.
- mark_l_watson 7y agoyes! Microsoft and Android products have sort of done this in the past, but didn't do well in the market or the user/dev experience was not great.
- kovek 7y agoI want to see pen-on-tablet experience that allows working without a keyboard. Then, plug tablet to monitor and “type/write” on the tablet.
- ogre_codes 7y agoWhy? Writing is much slower than typing and less accurate to boot. There are also a lot of problems to solve for a variant input which have long been settled with keyboard. For example code completion, jumping to the definition, showing errors where they keyboard focus is, etc. Unless someone were to come out with some kind of massive productivity gain by switching input types, people aren't going to switch and these supplemental technologies will never get built.
- lowdose 7y agoThis is similar to asking Apple if you can summon Alexa instead Siri on iOS. Not going to happen.
- liamcardenas 7y agoHow is that remotely similar?
- lowdose 7y agoInside the walled garden only Apple plays with the ball.
- statictype 7y agoPlayground is an Apple product. And other similar sandboxed code environments already exist for iPad.
- lowdose 7y agoPlayground is an Apple interface. Apple is not going to give anybody XCode with a shell environment on iOS.
- fmakunbound 7y agoWTF would you want that for? I'm pretty sure the iPad is not designed for general purpose computing.
- fmakunbound 7y agoIs it designed for general purpose computing then?
- gumby 7y agoI don't understand: what would be the advantage?
- simonh 7y agoNo need to transfer code across from your desktop to the iPad. You're developing directly on the target device, so no emulation and instant on-device testing. Also you can code in any setting where an iPad is easier to use than a laptop. I do a lot of coding in Pythonista on my iPad on the train.
- IOT_Apprentice 7y agoProbably not until you see ARM Apple laptops. Even then, I'd imagine they want you to buy that mac to do development. A better feature would be to have hypervisor on the Ipad Pro and be able to spin up linux or ARM based macos.
- neurobashing 7y agoI've argued for a while that they need to do, as part of their services push, is a "cloud compile" service. I know they want to sell hordes of Mac Pro boxes to devs, but what a cool way to open up development (like, on the iPad). Write code, save in iCloud Drive, tap "compile my app". It handles all the signing and so on, and then boom, it's on my home screen. You limit distribution to your devices at first - maybe you still need a Mac to sign it for everywhere distribution, but you let any device you own run it. You can share source via the usual open-source methods, since everyone just needs to get the code onto their iCloud Drive to build it. There's a huge number of moving parts to get an MVP and we mustn't cannibalize desktop and laptop sales, but it seems like an obvious part of their services push AND "make the iPad a 'real' computer".
- girvo 7y agoI’m not even sure the Mac Pro boxes are for devs. They seem pretty laser focused on Hollywood and similar for whatever reason, to my estimation anyway.
- pjmlp 7y agoThey are for devs, Apple eco-system devs, not devs using macOS as pretty GNU/Linux.
- coldtea 7y agoWell, they're first workstations for video/3D/ad/music/etc production houses (the ones who would need the accessory 6K screen), and secondary for Apple ecosystem devs.
- pjmlp 7y agoThat software is written using macOS and iOS APIs, not GNU/Linux ones, so Apple ecosystem devs.
- mantap 7y agoThey are not for devs. Few workplaces are gonna pony up $10-20k for a developer box. The 16" MBP is Apple's developer machine.
- teruakohatu 7y agoThe sad thing is I had a C compiler + UI designer for my ancient Palm device as a kid years ago, and the very simple Palm event loop (as best as I can remember) made development quite easy. http://palmopensource.com/index.php?more=361 http://palmopensource.com/index.php?more=361
- 72deluxe 7y agoFascinating find, thanks! I miss the "new" feeling of technology prevalent with Palm. We seem to have settled into gaudy client/server apps, where the control/power is in the hands of the server.
- dep_b 7y agoThere's so much Next-y stuff left in Interface Builder that you can forget about using anything but SwiftUI if they would port it. It was a separate application for most of it's life. The build chain already exists thanks to Playgrounds, so it's down to the file system / build settings / text editor part to be ported.
- ksec 7y agoI am willing to bet nearly half of their Mac Sales relies on Xcode. There are over 20M iOS Developers, likely more assuming not everyone publish on App Store. Which is one reason why Mac's user number are growing ( slowly), developers have no choice but to buy a Mac if they want a pieces of the App Store revenue. And one reason why Apple completely neglect the Mac, because it will continue to sell even if they have crappy keyboard and Touch Bar. I could only wish they do something about the keyboard after Oscar winning Director Taika Waititi blast about their keyboard.