I very much enjoy this post. My first introduction to Robin Sloan was via the novel Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. It featured Ruby programming as a central part of the plot. Ruby! Programming languages, and coding, in a novel? What a wonderful thing to find. I wish him great success.
An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
21–30 of 53 posts
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#22I have several 'home-cooked' apps. One is our shopping list. I have a Pi with a touchscreen in the kitchen running it, and it's easy for us both to add to from there. I also built in functionality so that if we're using a recipe from the web, we can share it to the screen, which is neat. We can also access the shopping list on our phones while shopping. I built a feature that sorts the products by aisle (specific to…
> I'm sure there are commercial (not even paid necessarily) apps that do all this, but this one is used only by us and it's built to perfectly interact with our lives
There is another factor you may not be aware of: shopping apps are juicy targets for acquisition by marketing/data mining company. I mean, there is no clearer indication of what you want to buy than what you put in your shopping list, so it's perfect source of data to mine.
Out of milk is such an example: it was a good app with 5 million users, then it got sold. Users became the subjects of data mining, or their account got deleted (if in Europe). Fun!
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inmarket-acquires-o...
https://twitter.com/JamesLiamCook/status/1407370148349198341
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#23> In a better world, I would have built this in a day, using some kind of modern, flexible HyperCard for iOS. > > In our actual world, I built it in about a week, and roughly half of that time was spent wrestling with different flavors of code-signing and identity provisioning and I don’t even know what. Are you listening, Apple?
The "modern flexible HyperCard" would be something like Swift Playgrounds today. SwiftUI might have all sorts of problems for building large apps or getting very specific with UI design, but it absolutely excels for building "informal apps".
Only problem is that there's no iOS version. :/
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
A common person isn't able to do what the author did, meaning they'll have to reach for the app store. Conveniently, Apple gets a cut of sales on the app store. The conflicts of interest are clear.
Aren't free apps a conflict of interest then? I can imagine that a good platform for making "home-cooked apps" would be beneficial both to Apple and to buyers of their products. I believe Shortcuts was a move in the right direction.
> Aren't free apps a conflict of interest then?
They are indeed, I think. When was the last time you saw a really great free app? That was at the beginning of the App Store ecosystem, I think they've moved away from it.
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#25I was surprised that it was Robin Sloan the author who did this - building an app of that sophistication is no mean feat for someone who’s not a professional.
His books are excellent. I highly recommend both Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store and Sourdough.
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#26I really enjoyed the article. I've several personal apps, and as with home cooked meals, I've a favorite 'home-cooked app' that I iterate on more than others.
Famnom evolved from spreadsheets, to python scripts, to a web-only django app hosted locally, to a web + ios + android client apps. I find it useful daily, and it has a few other regular users (besides my family), though arguably my family are my toughest users :).
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#27> In a better world, I would have built this in a day, using some kind of modern, flexible HyperCard for iOS. > > In our actual world, I built it in about a week, and roughly half of that time was spent wrestling with different flavors of code-signing and identity provisioning and I don’t even know what. Are you listening, Apple?
Apple doesn't care.
To paraphrase Steve Jobs, "You're doing it wrong". Just build a web app.
If you are paying an annual fee just for the privilege of being permitted to write software for Apple's platform, Apple can safely bet that you'll put up with the rigmarole of app deployment as well.
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aren't free apps a conflict of interest then? I can imagine that a good platform for making "home-cooked apps" would be beneficial both to Apple and to buyers of their products. I believe Shortcuts was a move in the right direction.
> Aren't free apps a conflict of interest then? They are indeed, I think. When was the last time you saw a really great free app? That was at the beginning of the App Store ecosystem, I think they've moved away from it.
[deleted]
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#29I have several 'home-cooked' apps. One is our shopping list. I have a Pi with a touchscreen in the kitchen running it, and it's easy for us both to add to from there. I also built in functionality so that if we're using a recipe from the web, we can share it to the screen, which is neat. We can also access the shopping list on our phones while shopping. I built a feature that sorts the products by aisle (specific to…
> it's built to perfectly interact with our lives and circumstances:
this is it right here! I've been contemplating getting an old Android tablet just to run some home-cooked app. Would be nice if iOS devices could support side loading of apps, but I'm cool having an Android device just for running these focused apps and that alone.
Re: An app can be a home-cooked meal (2020)
#30I have several 'home-cooked' apps. One is our shopping list. I have a Pi with a touchscreen in the kitchen running it, and it's easy for us both to add to from there. I also built in functionality so that if we're using a recipe from the web, we can share it to the screen, which is neat. We can also access the shopping list on our phones while shopping. I built a feature that sorts the products by aisle (specific to…
> I'm sure there are commercial (not even paid necessarily) apps that do all this, but this one is used only by us and it's built to perfectly interact with our lives There is another factor you may not be aware of: shopping apps are juicy targets for acquisition by marketing/data mining company. I mean, there is no clearer indication of what you want to buy than what you put in your shopping list, so it's perfect so…
wow that app is taking a nosedive in the reviews
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.capigami.o...
I've been curious if the play stores etc of the world would mind supporting some kind of banner or other notification for when apps change hands between owners. Something to tip them off to the fact that the app is now under new management, much like how restaurants hang banners when new management takes over a spot. Now that I think about it I wonder why restaurants even feel it warranted to notify the public, must have some positive image optimism behind it I guess or is it something regulated perhaps?