News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like ... by ofalkaed on Saturday April 15, 2023 @07:23AM (#35579591)
>I'd argue that a mobile phone is not an adequate platform for coding. The touchscreen and keyboard layouts make it difficult to type needed symbols, distracting from the problem at hand.

Something akin to hypercard could be made to work very well on a smartphone, or possibly a dataflow environment like PureData but more general purpose. But yeah, 99% of people just want to use their phone and development for phones is much simpler on a proper computer.

Re:Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like ... by anonzzzies on Saturday April 15, 2023 @07:27AM (#35579612)
Drag and drop ‘stuff’ is the worst on phones. You need screen space for it. It works on tablets, but on phones it’s mostly awful. I cannot think of an example where it is smooth and usable, especially on the move.
Re:Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like ... by ofalkaed on Saturday April 15, 2023 @07:33AM (#35579660)
There is no reason to use drag and drop.
Re:Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like ... by anonzzzies on Saturday April 15, 2023 @07:38AM (#35579687)
HyperCard does though?
Re:Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like ... by ofalkaed on Saturday April 15, 2023 @07:44AM (#35579715)
To quote myself with emphasis added, "Something akin to hypercard could be made to work." So something like hypercard but not hypercard and reworked to the strengths of a smartphones interface.
Re:Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like ... by anonzzzies on Saturday April 15, 2023 @07:47AM (#35579740)
Alright, I agree. Not easy to come up with the akin though.
Re:Ask HN: Why don't smartphones encourage programming like ... by ofalkaed on Saturday April 15, 2023 @07:59AM (#35579801)
Hypercard could be reworked without the drag and drop, double tap or long press pops up a menu, select what you need from the menu. It would work like every other phone app and leverage the other apps which come stock, want to place a picture than double tap to get the menu, click add image and it opens your gallery app and lets you select a picture and do basic editing, click done and the image is placed. And I can think of dozens of ways to extend the hypercard idea based off what a smartphone offers.