Mini Micro on iPad?

SynapticBytes

In case you haven't guessed already, I love my iPad. I only use my PC when what I want to do can't be done on my iPad, which is a dwindling list these days.

While doing the Rosetta Code tests, I realised I was having my best ideas while mobile, but then had to find a PC for a decent coding experience. So one of my thoughts was, wouldn't it be good if there was a native app that implemented what the "Try It" page does. But then I thought, if there was an iPad version of MiniMicro, that might be a good way to go.

I haven't been using Unity long enough to know the pitfalls of cross-platform development, so maybe it's a non-starter getting it onto iOS, but that's the question. Is it possible to port it, or are there too many technical limitations?

Thanks. Russell.

jstrout

It's definitely not a non-starter, in fact it's on the to-do list. But I'm planning to get version 1.0 out for Mac, Windows, and Linux first. It's just a matter of not wanting to spread myself too thin; if I try to do iOS and Android too, it's going to take much longer to have anything anybody could call finished.

So, realistically speaking, I'll probably wrap up 1.0 for desktops around the end of the year, and then maybe we could have it running on tablets by the end of the first quarter of 2020.

Meanwhile, it might be slightly easier to get the Try-It! page working better on phones and tablets. This is probably mostly a matter of working with the Ace folks to fix whatever issues they have there. I know you're not alone — more and more people these days use their tablets as their primary computer. There's no fundamental reason why that shouldn't work for this.

SynapticBytes

OK no problem. Maybe when I get into looking at it myself, I could whip up something basic of my own, as at the moment I could simply use a text editor to write the code and then stuff the file into a Unity app which simply processes the file and dumps the output. Sounds simple in theory, I bet the practice is not quite so easy 🙂 Time to start chewing down on the implementation guide.

jstrout

Actually, if it comes to that, and you're reasonably comfortable with iOS development in Unity, maybe we should collaborate. I'm not charging for Mini Micro; the only reason it's not open-source is that it relies on several plugins that are not themselves open-source. But I could easily invite you to my repo, and we could work on iOS (and Android? he asks hopefully) support together.

It might be as simple as checking the appropriate Build Settings and pushing Build. But we'll probably want, at the least, a few new APIs (multi-touch and accelerometer come to mind), and usually there are other snags as well. And then there's the issue of presenting an on-screen keyboard, for people who don't use a Bluetooth keyboard... needs a bit of thought. But you're welcome to get involved if you like!

SynapticBytes

Well, let me get up to speed on the basics of getting everything integrating nicely with some tests, and we’ll see. Been a couple years since I actually tried to deploy anything to an iOS device, so things have probably changed a bit. As for Android, I still have nightmares of APK configuration hell, but it’s not totally out of the question, just maybe a factor of not enough bandwidth.