It’s easy to pigeonhole the iPad as a strict content consumption device because it’s just so good at it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to create things either. Codify for iPad is a super slick way to write and run programs on your iPad.
It’s an app for writing software. Which, if you’re like me, sounds incredibly boring. But! Codify makes it cool because you can actually test the programs you’ve written by running it inside the app. Codify uses Lua as its programming language, which is rather simple and perfect for the iPad because it doesn’t rely too much on symbols. The app includes a lot of sample programs (such as games and stuff) so you can learn or crib off of them to build your app. There’s also intelligent auto complete, complete in-line reference documentation, sound effects and more. It’s very probably the best looking code editor you’ve ever used.
Art, videos, music and now even software. The iPad can create all that. It’s quickly becoming a multifaceted tool to have in your arsenal. Maybe it’s not as powerful as the classic computer but it’s a lot more interactive and fun to use. For example, in Codify’s case of writing programs, instead of having to specify colours for your software with code, you can tap the code and it’ll launch a colour wheel so you can easily find the hue you want. Select, done. Same goes with images. It’s bringing down the entry level of programming to a more digestible level and who’s to say those people don’t have wonderful ideas too? The most impressive thing to me though is immediately being able to test the apps you’ve just written. By hitting the play button, you can play the game you just created!
The Best
Touch based programming
The Worst
Not useful for non devs