On the other hand 100s of millions of those devices ship with a programming tool on the home screen where you can create tiny pieces of functionality and hook t

On the other hand 100s of millions of those devices ship with a programming tool on the home screen where you can create tiny pieces of functionality and hook them into every system and third party application (Apple Shortcuts). But yeah, it‘s not the same. It doesn‘t get you anywhere close to "producing“ the real software. You‘re programming in a walled garden layer above userspace that you can‘t get out of. To me, these kinds of things are enough to give me hope though (setting aside the ideals of open source). The incentives for learning how to "produce“ real software are strong enough. If more people can build tools for themselves, I‘m happy.