In this Mashable post, it seems that Apple’s own developers are walking on egg shells concerning the “Thou shalt code iPhone/iPad apps only in C/C++/Objective-C without the aid of code generators” or something to that effect directive that apparently comes directly from Steve Jobs. Jobs’ response: “We’ve been there before.” So no backing down.
Read the article at: Mashable.
This is a battle that Apple — or, more precisely, Steve Jobs — will “lose.” In this case, Apple is admitting that its hardware cannot handle less than perfect code. No code is perfect and it is up to an Operating System to be resilient enough to catch bad codes and shut the app down gracefully. I have a feeling the iPad OS does not do that, instead relying on near perfect code to save the day.
If Jobs believes he can dictate to developers how to code their apps and what software to use to do so, he’s self deluded. Not only will [Apple’s own] developers continue to use whatever software help them code productively (and Adobe’s software, among others, do that) but there is no way for Apple to verify without the shadow of a doubt that developers did not code directly in C/C++. Unless they set up a “police” department to go thru thousands of lines of codes, it’s just not practically feasible — or even useful.
Let developers code however they like. After all, consumers are not dumb. They will buy apps that are solidly coded and shun those badly coded. How will they know? If an app runs fine, it’s fine, period.
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