In the case of termux, Android used to be way less strict about loading code and let apps load binaries straight from user data but they decided to enforce the same restrictions Apple does, which broke the app if they updated it for Android 10. Google likes to blindly copy what Apple does sometimes, without understanding why and what tradeoffs Apple is making. That 2.5.2 carveout I mentioned before patronizingly calls those script interpreters "learn-to-code apps", with the idea that these are educational tools and that developers are expected to graduate to a Mac in order to get real work done. Likewise, Apple doesn't think coding on an iPad is a good idea. One of Apple's big no-nos is "do not give the user a windowing interface", because the core philosophy of iOS is that touch inputs need dedicated software with different code from mouse input. Apple didn't notice iDOS 2 until media outlets were telling people how to install Windows 3.1 onto it. I think the biggest problem here is the "you're holding it wrong" factor, though. They rejected UTM's TestFlight submissions on a similar basis, albeit with less righteous indignation and more silence. In fact, that rejection letter pretty much spells out in plain language that Apple thinks emulators are piracy tools. There are on-device code interpreters for scripting languages in the App Store too - 2.5.2 has a separate, explicit carveout for them that Apple made very clear in the iDOS 2 rejection does not apply to emulators. The reason why iSH is back up is because App Review changed their mind, for reasons I don't quite understand. iSH was banned for a time because of this exact provision - it's an x86 userland emulator with an API-compatible Linux kernel shim, much like that weird Java MIPS emulator a lot of old CS courses taught assembly and OS dev in. But in practice, App Review likes to interpret it as "do not allow the user to load unreviewed code onto their device" - which neatly prohibits all emulation and virtualization apps. Ostensibly, 2.5.2 should mean "do not hide things from App Review by loading unreviewed code", which is entirely reasonable and defensible. But they all have had to fight Apple on Section 2.5.2, which is kind of similar to whatever was tripping up termux on Google Play. Both of these are, somehow, Apple-approved, free downloads from the App Store, and generally work well. On iOS the termux equivalent is iSH and a-shell. Which is sad because these devices as expensive as $1k are very powerful and have all the necessary APIs to make that work, it is only the app store rules that prevent the device from becoming a "real" computer I saw developers literally say "Don't write reviews to complain, we have to follow the rules" using a web browser, online compilation (which is not too different from web browser) and using a terminal that happens to support JDK. This makes it only useful for absolute beginners. Writing Java offline? Good, but you can compile one class at a time, and the possibility of importing another user package is thrown out of the window. I stopped paying attention to these apps because of how App artificially limit what apps can do. "Develop software", which means writing code without the ability to run them, or the ability to compile multiple files as a "project", like all the other code editors on iOS? Easily develop software, view code or take notes on the go
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |