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iOS Programming on the Ipad

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bigmat1201

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 21, 2008
65
0
Houston
Interesting question, the iphone/touch was too small to do any major programming on. But do u think someone like Sun/oracle will make a version of netbeans for the ipad so ppl can program on the go? I guess any IDE would do, but that one's my favorite :)

I've done search's and i couldn't find an IDE for the iphone yet, but i could be wrong, if there is already an IDE for the iphone could someone please point me in the right direction.

Thanks
 
Not what i was talking about. I don't want to make iphone apps, i want to make computer programs on the iphone/touch/ipad.
 
You are asking for a feature that is specifically denied by the App Store. The only possible way that you might be able to do this is to base it on HTML and Javascript and use the built-in webkit and Javascript engine.
 
miles01110 said:
Yeah, I know. Not going to happen.
Click to expand...

I know English is your probably your second language but your answers are still missing the point.

To the OP. I think there will be some niche programming tools available for the iPad. I know of someone writing a touch based WYSIWYG Web development environment that is still a ways off but looks very promising.
 
If I am not mistaken, apps cannot have their own interpreter or something. Hence why it prevents like Opera Mobile (not Mini) from being on the iPhone.

It would prevent any IDE on the iPad cause they would compile and interpret the code.

Course this is what I think I remember.
 
there is a jb app that lets you build web sites, thats it. and why would you want to build mac apps on a iphone? maybe an ipad but.
 
Yeah unfortunately a full IDE wouldn't fly for various reasons.

A somewhat related app that would be useful is an app like TextWrangler that lets you open remote files over ssh or ftp and does basic syntax highlighting. It would be very useful for doing quick edits on remote files, which could include code/html or whatever.
 
bigmat1201 said:
Interesting question, the iphone/touch was too small to do any major programming on. But do u think someone like Sun/oracle will make a version of netbeans for the ipad so ppl can program on the go? I guess any IDE would do, but that one's my favorite :)

I've done search's and i couldn't find an IDE for the iphone yet, but i could be wrong, if there is already an IDE for the iphone could someone please point me in the right direction.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I'm on the same issue too, i study system engineer and i made a lot of programs with my slow and pain in the a** acer aspire celeron, having in home an amazing imac but im far away to work with it on the day.

For this reason, i'll have to buy a 13'' MBP instead of the iPad :(
 
It would be cool but from what Apple has said about SDK restrictions you cannot have your app execute additional code.

However, some games apps such as the Commodore 64 emulator and the Sega Ultimate collection run their own ROMs.
 
Yeah, I doubt we will have any sort of IDE. Someone (I forgot which emulator) threw in a BASIC interpreter and Apple had them pull it mad fast! And it was BASIC!!!! :).

And they definitely don't allow Java to run on iPad so why would they allow you to run a Java compiler :) How would you test it? Running Java right? Not allowed on iPad. :)

I agree with Miles. Not going to happen.

Edit: However, I do believe at some point they will bring iLife to the iPad and we will get iWeb. That's just my thought.
 
I believe by January next year the iPad will have iLife, and then after that Apple will gradually introduce versions of their Pro software: Logic (music creation), Final Cut Studio, Motion, etc. Then, if enough people are using the iPad as their "primary" computer, then Apple may just put Xcode onto it.
 
You could pretend with VNC, but even that I wouldn't want to do much of. But maybe for quickly looking at a few things, or with a web-based text editor.
 
Someone could build a touch based GUI front end for the iPad that would talk back to a remote Intel Mac running XCode. Would not necessarily have to use a slow screen scrape protocol such as VNC (except maybe for the Simulator). Source code editing could all be done locally on the iPad, since XCode allows external editors/etc.

But gdb on the iPad would severely break the security model, so don't hold your breath.

As for Basic, et.al., there are web sites that allow you to enter and run programs in various educational languages, remotely from Safari.
 
bigmat1201 said:
Not what i was talking about. I don't want to make iphone apps, i want to make computer programs on the iphone/touch/ipad.
Click to expand...

miles01110 said:
Yeah, I know. Not going to happen.
Click to expand...

miles01110 said:
Wrong on both counts. An IDE on the iPhone/iPad won't happen until Apple changes the terms of App Store submissions, which is highly unlikely. If you'd like to provide a counterexample that's not web-based, please do provide a link.
Click to expand...

Well, if you knew what he was talking about at first, you completely ignired his question and posted irrelevant nonsense.

I think SOMEONE will make an HTML/PHP/JS/CSS/etc editor for the iPad pretty quick. Build in S/FTP features and hooks to the iPad WebKit browser (and maybe the media browser system we've seen a little bit of in iWork) and you could write/edit, upload, and view any sort of web content on the iPad without the need to execute any code or do anything not already being done in other apps (edit text documents, upload/download data files from remote servers, and put a custom wrapper around the Safari engine).

I'll buy it when it's released, if it doesn't suck, too.
 
Web Development on the iPad should be pretty easy I guess. All you need is an editor and FTP file upload. I already see Apple saying something in the commercials like: "And if you want to develop your own website, there's an app for that!" "Now everybody can say he developed his website on a device of Apple!"
 
Netbeans?! First of all, as others have said, Apple forbids interpreted engine on an app (although one may make the argument for Commodore 64 app).

Secondly, Java is incredibly slow and/or memory hungry for client side apps. You do not want to use a lightweight computing device like the iPad for Java development.
 
nutmac said:
Apple forbids interpreted engine on an app (although one may make the argument for Commodore 64 app).
Click to expand...

The difference between the C64 app and a BASIC interpreter, for example, is that the C64 app is limited to running whatever ROMS the developer includes rather than letting the user of the app run arbitrary code that they enter, so in effect it's not any different than a regular old game engine with separate files for different levels.
 
miles01110 said:
Wrong on both counts. An IDE on the iPhone/iPad won't happen until Apple changes the terms of App Store submissions, which is highly unlikely. If you'd like to provide a counterexample that's not web-based, please do provide a link.
Click to expand...

I think he's referring to your first post, where you mentioned the iPhone SDK, but I think the OP was asking for a coding environment that would run on the iPad, not a coding environment to program iPad apps.
 
What we're talking about here is something like having general development tools on the iPad, right?

Right now, since the iPad follows the iPhone way of doing things, rather than the Mac way, it seems unlikely. It's a pretty "closed" platform, more like a cell phone or a GPS receiver than a general-purpose computer.

I see apps being developed for the iPad that are far more "personal computer-like" than iPhone apps, but as long as the SDK and app distribution is locked down by Apple, I don't see anything like software development tools running on the iPad.

Sure it could run apps like a code editor, GUI builder, compiler, etc., and in the open source world of other tablet devices, you can do that. But in the iPhone/iPad world, that's just not Apple's way.

I'm a software engineer and tinkerer, and I'd love to play with stuff like that on the iPad. I'd love to have a version of Eclipse (open source IDE) that's non-keyboard friendly. But I'll have to get that on another platform.
 
There is nothing saying that an IDE on the iPad would need to be able to compile source code. I would be happy to write code on the move but wait until I got home to compile it.

This would be especially useful for JavaScript/CSS/HTML development, as there is no compilation needed. As long as the IDE has the capability to save the code in a location that Safari could access, that would be all I need.
 
miles01110 said:
Wrong on both counts.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I apologize. It is hard to derive tone from forum posts. However, my co-worker writing a touch based iPad web development app must know that programming is not allowed. Maybe there is a way around i because I know he is only supporting non complied code that can simply be viewed in safari. Maybe he is planning on deploying it on Cydia or something I will ask him what he was talking about again I guess it could just be another in house tool he is making. I'll get back to you because I have definitely seen it running on simulator at his workstation.
 
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