Ipad Programming

Many try to stress that the Apple iPad is not only useful for entertainment purposes, but also as a content creation tool. It’s considered that apps like iMovie and GarageBand prove that beyond doubt. However, there are still useful apps that lack including coding apps. There are out there iPad users that would like to see some programming apps for the iPad. Unfortunately that’s not a real possibility because of the iOS restrictions in place. However, after the Mac App Store made available Xcode in exchange for $4.99, many have started thinking about iPad tools for programming.

It’s true that Apple doesn’t allow iOS to become friendly to programmers, but in the same time programmers don’t look at the iPad like at a reliable programming tool. There are a few iPad text editors that support HTML and CSS but that’s too little support to consider the iPad a programming tool. On the other hand, app developers have a strong reason for not creating programming apps for the iPad: the iOS system file can be accessed and tweaked only if the iPad is jailbroken. Considering that Apple is against jailbreaking I think it’s accurate to say that, for now, using the iPad for programming purposes is not going to happen.

However, there’s something that not Apple and not anyone else can take away from us: dreams. For now Apple doesn’t want developers to tweak iOS and make available programming apps, but in the future the situation is bound to change. If Apple wants to keep the iPad competitive on the market it needs to reach as many market segments as possible and reach not only casual users and geeks but also professionals. Maybe in 5 years the MacBook Air will become an iPad Pro that offers much more support for programmers as well as for other professional categories.

This evolution seems natural if you think that when the iPad was released it was said to be more of an entertainment device with not much support for creation activities. Things started to chance the moment apps that you can use for making music and editing videos were made available. That means positive change can be inflicted upon the iPad. In the same time, as each iPad generation is released iOS expands and the hardware provided become more and more powerful and in the same time more suitable for future programming apps. Who knows? Maybe Xcode for iOS is waiting just around the corner. It’s not wrong to dream and in the same time it’s healthy to keep your options open. In my view you can’t be successful if you don’t attempt to achieve the impossible at least once in a lifetime.

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