Probably because natural language will supercede progranming language soon: https://youtu.be/PgT8tPChbqc
do you know how long people have being saying that?
Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
21–30 of 235 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#22Early 80s computers were boring if you didn't code something. That's a simplified way to explain it. It reminds me of the programs people wrote on TI-83 calculators, also because they didn't have any diversions unless you created them.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#23Early 80s computers were a niche market largely sold to people interested in computers and programming.
Everyone was talking automation of business early 80s. Home computers were for gaming and programming, but PCs were meant for non programmers. Even some of the home computers were pushed for business or at least non tech users.
Sure but that market was just starting out in the early 80s, even gaming was more of something they could do not really something they were sold for, the cool kids had a 2600, geeks had computers.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#24There are positive and negative factors presented by mobile platforms:
Negative:
1. Highly abstract, hiding away internal functionality. 99% of mobile is GUI. iOS even abstracts away the filesystem. Android is more transparent.
2. Highly locked down: walled gardens increase the friction to run custom code. Terminal as an app that can be installed, but on unrooted devices it's almost useless compared to terminal on a desktop.
3. Ergonomics: smartphone keyboards and screens are not conducive for onboard development. Solutions exist but are pretty niche, and most people would prefer attaching a real keyboard.
Positive:
1. Arguably mobile platforms have increased the number of coders! The app stores facilitate distribution and payment, encouraging new programmers to make an impact. Desktops are in most cases the actual development platform though.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#25I often wonder how many people actually did any programming on those computers. For a very long time I assumed loads of people did - I did, my brothers and Dad did, my friends did. There were listings in magazines and books. It seemed wildly popular. But looking back now, and having met far more people from that era than I knew in my small town at the time, hardly anyone says they did too. They had computers but they…
So just add load81; takes no space and is great fun.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#26Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#27A smartphone is not an exploratory device.
Its tiny form factor and lack of keyboard input are forbidding.
Even a lower-end unit is a relatively sealed package. I can get a command prompt on my 'droid unit via termux, but it's not going to show much, or easily integrate with the OS, for security reasons.
The kicker is that, from a risk-management perspective, I don't want to jack around with my (non-cheap) 'droid unit and risk bricking or destabilizing it.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#28I'd argue that a mobile phone is not an adequate platform for coding. The touchscreen and keyboard layouts make it difficult to type needed symbols, distracting from the problem at hand. Coding requires deep thought, but phones are optimized for moving around rather than sitting in one place and thinking. As such, use cases like maps, calendars, communication and alarms get priority. The reason people buy a phone is…
As someone who has done a non-trivial amount of coding work directly on my phone, I'll say you just get good at being able to type the symbols you need (though I agree it isn't great; but like, that's what BASIC is for, and I certainly spent a ton of time coding BASIC on my old TI calculators ;P). I also frankly find my phone to be an extremely pleasant device to "sit in one place and think", and given how many games and media consumption apps exist for phones I'm surprised that isn't more obvious ;P. Like, often when I want to seriously think about something, I'll go pick up my phone and lie down in bed, pulling up the notes app--or ssh'ing to a server and using vim--to work on stuff without all of the worldly distractions of having to sit at my desk.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#29The C64&Co did not have a browser.
Nowadays you can go to a page like this ...
https://no-gravity.github.io/html_editor/
... edit the code and see the result in real time.
Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I'd argue that a mobile phone is not an adequate platform for coding. The touchscreen and keyboard layouts make it difficult to type needed symbols, distracting from the problem at hand. Something akin to hypercard could be made to work very well on a smartphone, or possibly a dataflow environment like PureData but more general purpose. But yeah, 99% of people just want to use their phone and development for phones…
Drag and drop ‘stuff’ is the worst on phones. You need screen space for it. It works on tablets, but on phones it’s mostly awful. I cannot think of an example where it is smooth and usable, especially on the move.
There is no reason to use drag and drop.