Re:RFS 5: Development on Handhelds
by neilk on Thursday November 19, 2009 @03:48PM
(#951065)
Is the display on a handheld large enough to be useful for programming? Studies show that larger monitors increase programmer productivity. It seems reasonable to conclude that a smaller monitor would decrease it even more significantly.
An iPhone screen (320x480) is similar to what the Mac Plus had (512x342), but it subtends a much smaller angle of your field of view.
Perhaps the appropriate measure is in square "characters". The VT100 is probably the bare minimum -- 80x40 characters, or 3200 characters square. There's no way the iPhone can display that legibly.
Not saying the idea is impossible, but this is definitely a problem to overcome, either through hardware (HUDs in special wearable glasses? Big lenses to enlarge monitor size, like the movie Brazil?) or software (some other method of input?)
An iPhone screen (320x480) is similar to what the Mac Plus had (512x342), but it subtends a much smaller angle of your field of view.
Perhaps the appropriate measure is in square "characters". The VT100 is probably the bare minimum -- 80x40 characters, or 3200 characters square. There's no way the iPhone can display that legibly.
Not saying the idea is impossible, but this is definitely a problem to overcome, either through hardware (HUDs in special wearable glasses? Big lenses to enlarge monitor size, like the movie Brazil?) or software (some other method of input?)