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Programming On Ipad Pro_ (7 Reasons Not To)
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Feb 6, 2024
"Programming On iPad Pro (7 Reasons Not To)" is an informative video that explores the limitations and challenges of using an iPad Pro for programming tasks. The video likely discusses various factors that make programming on an iPad Pro less than ideal, such as the absence of a traditional keyboard and mouse setup, limited support for programming languages and development environments, and constraints on multitasking and file management capabilities. It may also touch upon issues related to software compatibility, debugging tools, and the overall user experience compared to using a desktop or laptop computer for programming. By highlighting these reasons, the video aims to provide viewers with a balanced perspective on the limitations of using an iPad Pro for programming and help them make informed decisions about their development setup.
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0:00
If you're trying to decide between getting an iPad or a laptop for coding, or maybe you
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already have a laptop and you're wondering if it's worth it to try coding on an iPad
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then this video is for you. I'm in the latter cap, I already owned a laptop, and I recently purchased an iPad Pro so that
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I could try coding on it to see how well that would work. It seemed like it's a good idea for a lot of people
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I mean, it's cheaper than buying a MacBook Pro, and it's also a lot smaller so you have
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a better form factor, lighter weight, easier to travel with than to lug around, and it
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would also be useful for doing some photo editing and being able to annotate screen
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recordings, things like that. And if you're really interested in going down this path, I also made a video where I talk
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about the best ways to get started on coding on an iPad, and I'll leave that link in the
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description below. But the big question here is, should you even bother with it
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Here are seven reasons why it's not worth coding on an iPad
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The first thing to consider is how you'll manage your code base as the project continues
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to grow. If you're following good practices and you're creating reusable components and you're doing
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separation of concerns, then it's not going to take long before your project gets really
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big with a lot of folders and a lot of files. For smaller projects, managing files on an iPad is doable, but as projects get bigger
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and bigger, it's going to become really painful not having a solid file management system
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and it's just not going to be that enjoyable. The second pain point for me is productivity
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The small form factor is great for portability, but when you're going from a larger monitor
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or even just from a larger laptop screen, it definitely starts to feel cramped on the iPad
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This is especially true if you're doing front-end development or you're building native applications
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and you want to be able to type code and also quickly see updates to the UI
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To fit it all in, the code on the screen becomes really small. And I mean, I can still read it, but whenever I go to change the cursor by, you know, tapping
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on the iPad with my finger or using the Magic Pen, it's definitely really error prone
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Then if you combine that with actually trying to type on the iPad with the iOS keyboard
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that becomes super painful because that'll take up like half of the screen, and now you're
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looking at even a smaller section of code, and that's just a very slow and clunky way
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to do things. Which brings up point number three. If you even hope to be productive, you're going to want to pick up the Magic Keyboard
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for iPad or else some other external keyboard so that you can type more quickly and still
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maintain that screen real estate. And unless you're a whiz at the keyboard navigation and want to be navigating the file system
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just from your keyboard, this also means that you're going to end up wanting to get either
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a trackpad or a mouse to go with it. This improves the experience a lot, but now you're giving up some of the portability and
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weight savings of this whole setup to begin with. Not to mention, you're going to need a desk or someplace to put all this stuff because
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it's probably not going to work out very well to try, you know, typing this way on
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an iPad while sitting in a hammock. Something that's very doable with a laptop
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The fourth thing to think about is cost savings. If you're looking at choosing between an iPad and a laptop, at first it may seem way cheaper
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to go with the iPad, but once you factor in the cost of getting a mouse and a keyboard
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that really narrows the gap. And if you're looking at an iPad Pro, adding on all those peripherals is going to bring
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the price a lot closer to the base model of the MacBook Air
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And the value savings just doesn't really make a lot of sense. While on the topic of money, likes are free
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So if you're finding this video helpful, a thumbs up would be greatly appreciated
3:24
If not, don't forget to turn the screen upside down and hit the dislike button. Thanks
3:28
Number five, if you watch my other video on how to code on an iPad, and I'll leave the link in the description, then you'll see that setting up your environment is less than ideal
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on the iPad. There's just not a lot of flexibility to do a lot of things locally
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For the most part, you have to rely on third-party applications to get things done
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And this just introduces a lot of friction and makes it not worth it
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Another downside to this approach is that a lot of these solutions require you to access
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your files remotely, which means you're not guaranteed access to them, especially at times
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that are critical. What if you have a customer service agreement that requires you to respond to situations
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and fix bugs or to get failures resolved as quickly as possible, and you don't even
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have access to your code base? At least on a laptop, even if I lost access to a server temporarily, I could still be
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looking through the code and trying to come up with fixes because I have an entire copy
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of the code base on my laptop. Number six, I was able to find a solution that would make it feasible to do front-end
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development with the framework that I like to use, React.js, but that may not be the
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case for you. Maybe you won't be able to get your framework of choice to work or the programming language
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that you are working with. I have definitely received messages from several people who are frustrated at not being able
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to find ways to get their particular stack to work on an iPad
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And part of this is because we're beholden to third-party applications to solve a lot
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of these problems for us, and if they don't exist, then we're just out of luck
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Seven, while you could get by with an iPad for a lot of software development work, there
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are definitely going to be situations that are computationally heavy or projects that
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take up a lot of storage, and these are both limitations of the iPad
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Now the newer M1 iPads definitely are a lot more performant and can do a lot more intensive
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things, but they're still going to be limited when compared to laptops, and you're still
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dealing with the storage limitations. Upgrading storage on an iPad is definitely really expensive, whereas on a laptop, oftentimes
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you have multiple ports that you can use to use external hard drives and to store some
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of that data and offload it onto another device, whereas you only have one port on
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the iPad Pro. And when it comes to laptops, you usually have more options on upgrades that you can make
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You can upgrade the processor and you can update the RAM and sometimes the graphics
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cards or things like that, depending on which laptop you're going with. Whereas with an iPad, you're really stuck on the kinds of upgrades you can do
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If you already have an iPad, then there's no harm in giving it a try and seeing how
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well you like it. But if you're trying to decide between these two options, then I would say definitely go
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for a laptop. And as much of a MacBook fan as I am, if I had to choose between an iPad and a Windows
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laptop, I would take the Windows laptop for programming any day. The cons really do outweigh the pros by a long shot, so remember to do it nice or pay
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it twice. And here's a link to that video I mentioned before if you want to get started on coding
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on an iPad. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one. Lates
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