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Comment by pygorex | Hacker News Reader

The day I can code an iPad app on the iPad is the day I enter the post-pc era.

Or code, test & deploy web apps from an iPad.

Or design & layout web pages on an iPad.

We live in a post-mainframe era even though mainframes are still alive an kicking. But a mainframe isn't required create, test and deploy PC software. Once PCs are no longer required to create, test and deploy code for mobile devices we'll be in a post-PC era - that is, once PCs are no longer a required part of the general purpose computing ecosystem.

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In that way, I think of the iPad a lot like I think of game consoles. They're not self-hosting (or whatever you want to call it), and they're not designed to be anytime soon. They're designed to be a software/content distribution channel for a hardware manufacturer who takes a royalty of that in addition to selling the device.

I think you're missing the point. The post-PC era means that only tech savvy people need/will use PCs, not that PCs will disappear completely. What I'm really waiting for is for some company to realize this and make a device that caters exclusively to developers.

Part of the claim was that for most people, the tablet (with the retina display) is enough for all the computing they want to do. I think "most people" excludes us - the programmers/makers. We will always need a full general computing machine.

We might go back to the day when there were home PCs, business PCs, and workstations for engineering/development.

Except now the "home PCs", and many "business PCs", will be replaced by tablets.

I hope all of HN is like you, much less competition in the future for the rest of us that don't define the era based on your parochial toolsets.

Interesting comment, because that means Apple is the biggest impediment to a post-PC era.

> Or code, test & deploy web apps from an iPad

I do this sometimes. It's definitely possible, and, under certain circumstances, preferable to using a laptop. I like having both in my arsenal.

You can do that right now on Android.

If you use a web-based IDE and develop web apps on an iPad then you're already living the dream.

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