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Show HN: Air Code

twolivesleft.com

35 pointsinterpol_p13 comments

Okay, I'm not being negative, I'm just confused about something...

I purchased Codea on the first day it was announced. I thought it was a cool sounding app and wanted to see what it was about. The idea was to have fun and play around and learn how to code using an iPad. The whole point was "Hey, you can learn to code on your iPad". But, now the message is "Hey, learn to code on your computer but run it on your iPad"? I'm not sure I'm gettin' it. Why not just have the code execute on the computer too? I'm just curious.

Also, I'm am a bit surprised Apple allowed it (due to the App Store rules). Though, with all the Air Drop support coming to iOS anyway, how can they justify rejecting this stuff. I mean, a browser runs javascript. You can build a browser and cache all the new code you want.

Edit:

I was just thinking and was wondering if Codea was attempting to become an "app platform". Like Squeak or Emacs. Perhaps that is what is happening? If it were branded like that I am pretty sure that it would be pulled from The App Store (I don't like that thought, btw). That could start making things interesting... Hmmm. But, again, that is what the overloads have wanted to avoid.

You are reading too much into it. The message was never "learn to code on your iPad". The message was always "make cool prototypes and ideas quickly"

Over time I have added features that I personally use into Codea. Sometimes I like to use Codea at my desk next to my desktop computer, so I added a way to do that with Air Code. I still prefer coding on the iPad directly, but I use both depending on location.

Codea will always be about making your ideas come to life. It attempts to reduce the friction in creating things.

Thanks for the reply. Cool, you are right then, I dug into it too much. Sorry for the confusion. It's still a cool product.

If you find this intriguing but don't want to code in a browser, Diet Coda and Coda 2 are for you.

http://panic.com/coda/ http://panic.com/dietcoda/

(oddly similar name)

Apples and Oranges JacksonGariety. Diet Coda allows you to code external projects that are stored in a server. This is for allowing you to write Codea applications on your computer rather than right on the iPad.

Nice! I'll have to give Codea another try (never really had the patience to code on the iPad)

How did you manage to get around the appstore rules on downloading interpreted code? Does it not count if the code originates from a local network?

I was very upfront in the review notes about how the feature worked, its limitations and the fact that it was designed for live editing over a local network.

Though I developed it under the expectation that it would not be approved — purely so I could use it. Because I find myself using Codea more and more these days, and using an iPad to code at my desk next to a 30 inch monitor felt a bit redundant.

Hey Sim - Paul here (n0p). You using Codea to code games or other things?

I've been using it to make games and game effects/animation tools. I really enjoy experimenting with touch interactions.

It would be nice to know if it's limited to iOS development or would also work for webdev, I can't that mentioned anywhere (though it might be obvious to those familiar with Codea.)

You need a viewport meta tag to make your site work on mobile. Just get a zoomed in version!

What's Codea?

A coding app for iPad http://twolivesleft.com/Codea

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