> iOS doesn't allow you to execute code of any kind locally
Yes, it does. And as of recently you can even put apps like this on the App Store!
Yes, it does. And as of recently you can even put apps like this on the App Store!
pythonista3 is a very controlled experiment as it is now. and it exploits a "tiny blessing" apple gave on the policy of running "user inputed source code" only!
The reason they won't do this is because they would't be able to JIT execute in their App Store app, which would make their browser seem unbearably slow.
I can already run Linux on my desktop computer, and I intend to buy a Librem phone when it comes out, so I can run Linux without performance penalties on my phone
... and without possible retraction by Apple looming over my head.
As for my computer, I use a Mac mini that dual boots macOS and Linux. I have an older Mac mini that runs OpenBSD exclusively. I also have a media server I cobbled together from scavenged x86 parts.
I'm not a programmer, but it's my understanding from this community and others I frequent that Macs make for a comfortable and useful platform for their work and leisure computing life.
So, despite your attempt at gatekeeping, Apple products do have a place in a random hacker's workflow if that hacker decides he wants it; it's not up to you to decide what someone else uses and enjoys.
But there is a danger in this type of "democracy", namely that we're heading for a future where true general purpose computing starts to disappear, and universities and computing enthousiasts have to pay thousands of dollars for a universally programmable computer. With Apple aggressively vertically integrating their supply-chain, and others copying Apple's business tactics, the writing is on the wall ...
I think just the opposite happened. All we had were general purpose computers, then we added "easy to use" computers in the form of smartphones and tablets. It just allowed a lot more people to take advantage of computers, it did not remove access to general purpose computers for the rest of us. Personally, I love the idea of a bifurcated world where the less technically savvy use devices that are far more restricted and secure. I really like that my parents can get a device, like an iPad, that does everything they need from a computer (email, facebook, light web browsing) without having to worry about malware.
I've sysadmin'd all OSs for many years, but I'm with GP: I see Apple as another Microsoft these days (especially given MSs dubious push into non Foss oss) Hell even their efi implementation is non standard, and I really think people should pay more attention to Richard Stallman...(paraphrasing)
"Apple puts the user in a prison. It is a beautiful prison though".
Now, that's not to be defending others that do the same but in a different way (android is crap due to unrootable devices)...
Once again, the four freedoms as explained by RMS are the crux of the matter. The man was and is right, and it gets tiring seeing so many people bandwagon onto attacks against his person without addressing his position, for which I will always consider him a man who saw the future far before anyone else, and is getting more and more relevant every day.
This is a mischaracterizsation. You can boot Linux, it is up to Linux to have driver support for the T2 SSD controller so that it can detect it as storage.
That can be turned down to either accept any OS that was ever signed by Apple, or to boot whatever you want it to.
The third option should let you attempt to boot Linux, but like you said, whether the driver support exists is another matter entirely.
Startup Security Utility -> Secure Boot -> No Security
Codea (a Lua programming environemnt) has been on the App Store since 2011 and has had games written in it on the App Store since soon after as well*. Pythonista has been around for 6 years, has a built-in GUI designer, you can get Dropbox and Github syncing scripts for it and now it has a built-in feature so you can even sync your scripts between devices using iCloud. It also has apps written with it on the App Store.
Usable and capable compared to what?
There is some stuff but it is always way inferior to anything on comparable platforms. That isn't obvious for MacOS, but certainly for iOS. Not that I am a huge fan of Android. It has a lot of similar problems.
But I cannot understand enthusiasm for Apple while it restricts access to almost any part of their software environment.
Compared to pretty much anything - honestly. Pythonista is the gold standard. It has a fully feature integrated syntax highlighting editor, a built-in GUI form designer, graphics and media libraries for games, an integrated debugger, custom keyboard, a selection of Python third party modules such as scipy and Matplotlib, all the standard Python docs and tutorials and included module docs, full integration with share sheets, notifications, widgets, it's a universal app for iPhone and iPad, it integrates with the Github client apps such as Working Copy and it has built-in iCloud syncing for script folders. You can get Dropbox and Github Gist sync scripts pretty easily, I used to use an FTP server script a lot before iCloud integration came along. It's hard to imagine what else it could really need.
But let's compare it to the other major phone and tablet OS for a start. You even say so yourself. The dev apps for iOS are streets ahead of anything on Android. You seem to be arguing that in theory Apple's policies _should_ be holding iOS dev apps back compared to Android, but in reality that just isn't happening, even slightly.
I can certainly sympathise. About 6 or 7 years ago I was seriously considering getting an Android tablet because I expected the on-device dev story there to pull well ahead of iOS in the near future and wanted to be able to take advantage of that. What actually happened was I started using Codea, and when Pythonista came along I switched to that, and nothing comparable on Android ever materialised.
War story - I had to do a programming exercise for a job interview. I did most of it on my iPad on the train, including a custom compression exercise that involved writing my own bit-twiddling routines and a server remote control script using Paramiko, which of course Pythonista includes. I was remote controlling some Linux VMs running on my Mac in Virtualbox, using ssh from Python scripts directly from my iPhone!
It's a terrible shame and I don't understand why Android is so far behind on this. I suspect it's because the Open Source and Free Software communities have never really embraced Android and spent the time and effort to tool it up. Meanwhile Apple has been paying very close attention to this area and judiciously relaxing their rules in consultation with dev app authors. Whatever the reasons though, if you want to write scripts locally on a phone or tablet, iOS is clearly the way to go right now and that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon.
I don't even have to try hard. I use a linux shell on a blackberry android phone (over 6in screen, so i call it a tablet), with a real keyboard, and it is years ahead of anything you describe.
Gecko runs just fine on iOS.
Gecko runs just fine on iOS; it just isn't deployed.
That's neat. Looks like the last commit was in 2015.
Is there any backstory to this project? Was it just research? Is it abandoned?