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Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

andrewbrookins.com

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Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#181

Post by imaginenore »

int_19h wrote: post #118
moises_silva wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and also the fact that it could connect to cellular networks with a SIM card I never actually understood that. Everyone carries a cellphone, can't you just do tethering? that's what I do anyways. I guess the only advantage of an iPad with SIM is that is 'always connected' as opposed to click and connect to your mobile hotspot?

Tethering drains the phone battery very fast, and your phone is usually the one thing that you want to die last on you. But there are plenty of laptops with integrated SIM card slot and modem, and the rest of them can be extended with the same via USB.

Powerbanks are cheap. Just hook your phone to a powerbank.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#182

Post by imaginenore »

flukus wrote: post #73
zozbot123 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd say coding using just a touchscreen would be terrible Text-based coding, sure. But the jury is still out for visual programming systems, of either the Scratch (syntax expressed via custom "puzzle pieces") or the LabVIEW (flow-based semantics) kind.

> But the jury is still out for visual programming systems How many more decades of failure do we need before we decide the jury is in and visual programming is a dead end?

Unreal engine blueprint system is quite successful. People do pretty complex stuff with it.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#183

Post by brianpgordon »

arvinsim wrote: post #140

I will take the "inconvenience" of having to bring a "bulky" MacOS device anyday over having to recreate my coding workflow just to accomodate the iPad Pro. I chalk up trying to code on the iPad Pro as one of those exercises akin to tinkering/customizing on Linux. Interesting and fun but not really something you want when you want your tools to get out of your way and just get things done.

> akin to tinkering/customizing on Linux. Interesting and fun but not really something you want when you want your tools to get out of your way and just get things done.

That's rich. I use MacOS for development out of mere inertia but my god does it require a lot of tweaking work and pricey paid apps to become a useable environment.

* Finder is the worst file manager I've ever seen. Gotta replace it with Path Finder.

* The command+tab/command+` distinction is ridiculous. Gotta buy Contexts so that you can switch between windows.

* The dock is a horrid workflow for launching apps and Spotlight is terrible. Gotta buy Launchbar.

* No on-screen window switcher without the Dock so I've set up dedicated hotkeys for all my apps. This requires jumping through some absurd hoops to do with Automator, or installing Apptivate.

* Windows move all over the place when I connect and disconnect my monitors. Gotta buy Stay.

* There's no way to turn off mouse acceleration for USB mice. Gotta buy a third-party USB driver.

* The built-in firewall has no way to control outgoing connections. Gotta buy Little Snitch.

* How do you live without a clickable calendar on the menubar? Need to install Itsycal.

Etc etc etc, just to make it useable as a modern operating system.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#184

Post by lh7777 »

cageface wrote: post #117
lh7777 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched from a MacBook to a Surface Pro (i5) maybe a year ago and just finished switching back to the same MacBook. I agree that Microsoft's vision for pro users is much clearer than Apple's, which is why I switched in the first place. The Surface hardware is solid for the most part, the Surface Dock is great, the pen is occasionally useful, and I really like being able to rip off the keyboard and use it as a tabl…

Microsoft really needs to win back developer mindshare. They're doing a lot of things correctly now but they've lost a lot of ground over the years.

Apple, too, though. Apple needs to show via their hardware choices that they're still committed to developers and other pros, and Microsoft needs to keep cleaning up Windows.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#185

Post by ilikehurdles »

brianpgordon wrote: post #183
arvinsim wrote: post #140

I will take the "inconvenience" of having to bring a "bulky" MacOS device anyday over having to recreate my coding workflow just to accomodate the iPad Pro. I chalk up trying to code on the iPad Pro as one of those exercises akin to tinkering/customizing on Linux. Interesting and fun but not really something you want when you want your tools to get out of your way and just get things done.

> akin to tinkering/customizing on Linux. Interesting and fun but not really something you want when you want your tools to get out of your way and just get things done. That's rich. I use MacOS for development out of mere inertia but my god does it require a lot of tweaking work and pricey paid apps to become a useable environment. * Finder is the worst file manager I've ever seen. Gotta replace it with Path Finder.…

It sounds more like you wanted OS X to be some totally different operating system and refuse to learn the "OS X" way of doing things.

>* How do you live without a clickable calendar on the menubar? Need to install Itsycal.

By moving the pointer to the right sidebar and clicking my calendar (or, more often, typing calendar in spotlight). You can also swipe left from the right edge of the trackpad with two fingers.

* Finder is the worst file manager I've ever seen. Gotta replace it with Path Finder.

Path Finder looks nice, but from my experience windows file manager is from a prehistoric era, while some linux file managers are decent and some aren't.

* The command+tab/command+` distinction is ridiculous. Gotta buy Contexts so that you can switch between windows.

Why is it ridiculous? And contexts just sounds like a subset of what spotlight already does. There are also gestures if you need to see the window overview. Ie bottom-left hot zone for me is for seeing windows+recent docs of the current application (it's called App Expose, also set to four-finger swipe down), top left is Mission Control which is the global window switcher (also set to four-finger swipe up). I mostly use cmd+tab/` or spotlight though.

* The dock is a horrid workflow for launching apps and Spotlight is terrible. Gotta buy Launchbar.

Again, how is spotlight terrible? I've never had a better experience in either Linux or Windows launchers. I don't use the dock either, but there is Launchpad as a visual+text way of launching and searching for apps. For me its a gesture of pinching with thumb and three fingers.

* No on-screen window switcher without the Dock

Mission Control does that. I've set it up with the four-finger swipe up gesture and also a hot zone in the top-left corner.

Also if you want a nice free OSS app for window tiling and arranging, I recommend Spectacle.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#186

Post by ulzeraj »

kkarakk wrote: post #156
int_19h wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tethering drains the phone battery very fast, and your phone is usually the one thing that you want to die last on you. But there are plenty of laptops with integrated SIM card slot and modem, and the rest of them can be extended with the same via USB.

just buy a 20k mAh battery and you're off to the races, nowadays these can charge your phone and laptop at the same time(usb c PD enabled) if you say you don't WANT to carry another thing then your assertion fails - either you need a full working environ on the go or you don't. tethering with a mobile phone and laptop provides a mobile work environ with no drawbacks at all

What if the person traveling wants to use a SIM card from his country of origin in order to receive important calls but don't want to incur incredible expensive data roaming costs and decides to use a local prepaid sim on the iPad to achieve that?

Just... stop arriving to those definitive conclusions when there are a couple of variables involved.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#187

Post by max76 »

0xADEADBEE wrote: post #66
godid wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the attachable keyboard stand that sits comfortably on my knee when I'm on the train. I can type as fast on that as I can a laptop. Honestly with a half decent IDE/dev toolchain it would be a fantastic little lightweight setup for coding.

I imagine if you coupled that with a stand of some sort, it'd be pretty close to a netbook or something. Thank you so much for the insight!

The A series processors inside the iPad Pros are significantly faster than the Atom processors inside netbooks.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#188

Post by max76 »

wnevets wrote: post #96
0xADEADBEE wrote: post #12

I'm struggling to work out why anyone would want to do this. Leaving aside the other concerns, I personally find input via touchscreen pretty painful and can't imagine being able to program at any real speed. It's entirely possible I'm missing something though!

>I'm struggling to work out why anyone would want to do this. The same reasons why ipads are always shoe horned into a role beyond content consumption.

iPads with a keyboard are awesome at communication tasks such as email, IM, and A/V calls. Some advantages of iPads over laptops for these tasks.

* Laptops go to sleep when not plugged in or being interacted with. The iPad can provide sound notifications all day on battery power.

* LTE means that the communication lines are always open

* Almost everyone treats iOS apps as first class citizens. Skype on macOS is often buggy. Linux often has outdated clients.

* Instant power on

* Longer battery life

* Notifications appear even when the app is not running.

* A really sane operating system update schedule and procedure.

* A really sane app update procedure.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#189

Post by mrkstu »

iknowstuff wrote: post #153
walterbell wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I personally find input via touchscreen pretty painful and can't imagine being able to program at any real speed With Logitech Create Pro keyboard on iPad 12.9, it is comparable to a laptop. 4:3 HiDPI screen has more vertical space than 16:9 laptops. Arm processor means instant on, long battery life, fanless/silent, fast charging and never gets hot in your lap. The web browser is faster (by feel and benchmark) than…

I think the parent means that x86 devices, specifically a favorite of mine, the Surface Pro, can provide mostly all of that and then some, but without the hassle of iOS: * 3:2 screen ratio, 267 PPI * Despite an i5 it has instant on, connected standby, LTE built in * 9h of web browsing on battery: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13471/the-microsoft-surface-p... * Fanless * Charges in 2h40m * Does not get hot * Can run…

I carry all 3 (iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Surface Pro) with me (work reasons), but the Surface hardly gets used as it is inferior to the iPad as a tablet and as a computer to the MacBook. I'm interested in moving to VDI based on the iPad when roaming, but I want to move to the 12" first since my Horizon View desktop feels a bit tight on the smaller one.

Re: Coding on an iPad Pro in 2019

#190

Post by mrkstu »

underwater wrote: post #64

Why not use a Surface? It's built with a physical keyboard as a first class experience, and you're not limited in what you can run. The only limitation is the lack of a polished POSIX environment, but that will of course be missing on iOS too.

Because that 'first class' keyboard experience doesn't actually let it work as a laptop. You still need a stable surface to work on.
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