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Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

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Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#71

Post by seba_dos1 »

danuker wrote: post #5

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. 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…

A teenage me regularly debugging hard programming problems many years ago on a Neo Freerunner with a small resistive touchscreen in a tram while traveling to/from school using nothing but a slightly pointy fingernail would disagree. It's not as convenient as a PC with full keyboard, sure, but it still works fine given the right software.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#72

Post by pdntspa »

Because smartphones are designed to keep you stupid. Computer literacy means you are able to poke holes in their shitty abstractions. The industry does not want you programming or creating, the industry wants you to be consuming. Preferably with your credit card.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#73

Post by mharig »

pdntspa wrote: post #72

Because smartphones are designed to keep you stupid. Computer literacy means you are able to poke holes in their shitty abstractions. The industry does not want you programming or creating, the industry wants you to be consuming. Preferably with your credit card.

Not only the industry.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#74

Post by bluedino »

danuker wrote: post #5

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. 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…

We wrote tons of games on 80's computers with crappy keyboards and 40x25 text on poor quality TV's

Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#75

Post by nigamanth »

Everyone nowadays is lazier than the average man in the 80s. In the 80s, you probably had to buy music in a store rather than use Spotify or Apple Music or had to look up information in the library instead of google it.

The industry wants you to get everything you want through one click, nowadays though, it's not even a click, you just need to talk about it and Alexa and Google Home will pick up on it.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#77

Post by nindalf »

nigamanth wrote: post #75

Everyone nowadays is lazier than the average man in the 80s. In the 80s, you probably had to buy music in a store rather than use Spotify or Apple Music or had to look up information in the library instead of google it. The industry wants you to get everything you want through one click, nowadays though, it's not even a click, you just need to talk about it and Alexa and Google Home will pick up on it.

This is just a low effort “kids these days are X, unlike when I was a kid” or “back in my day, men were men”.

Your specific claim isn’t worth responding to, but maybe you’d enjoy a short history of “kids these days are spoiled” - https://twitter.com/paulisci/status/1600628195854020608?s=20

Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#79

Post by kkfx »

Classic systems was designed with the idea of desktop computing: having something flexible at the users fingertips. Modern mobile devices are designed as consumption and monitoring devices of someone else service.

The user in the classic desktop design was intended as a powerful tools in hes/shes hands, modern mobile+cloud are designed to milk data and keep people entertained.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like early 80s computers?

#80

Post by throw_m239339 »

The interface? you kind of need a keyboard to type code, and a touch screen doesn't make typing easier nor faster. But you could create some sort of visual programming language (with nodes for instance or bricks) that is easy to edit on mobile.
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