iOS Does The iPhone Have 'App Inventor' Equivalent?

[uraniumwilly]

I want a simple interface to build my own apps like hypercard had. Android, it seems, now has one in App Inventor.

http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

We are an Apple family. We have an iPad, 3 macbooks, apple desktop, ipods, etc. But for the phone we hate AT&T and bought our first Android, and in the future might get rid of our iPad if we can't customize it the way we want to - if the Android/iPad equivalent does it nicely.

Are there any jailbreak apps that do what appinventor does?

 

[ct2k7]

No.

xCode

 

[iphoneguy123]

nope.

google : 4359345
apple : 0

 

[0dev]

App Inventor looks really cool.

Apple, however, aren't one for open development environments. I'm afraid it's Xcode or nothing.

 

[aforty]

I want a simple interface to build my own apps like hypercard had. Android, it seems, now has one in App Inventor.

http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

We are an Apple family. We have an iPad, 3 macbooks, apple desktop, ipods, etc. But for the phone we hate AT&T and bought our first Android, and in the future might get rid of our iPad if we can't customize it the way we want to - if the Android/iPad equivalent does it nicely.

Are there any jailbreak apps that do what appinventor does?

You write your own apps for Android to customize them in a way you can't with an iPad?

If not then you shouldn't be concerned about this.

 

[uraniumwilly]

You write your own apps for Android to customize them in a way you can't with an iPad?

If not then you shouldn't be concerned about this.

The Hypercard-like ease of App Inventor vs the complexity with iOS is the idea here. It's programming for people who generally don't program.

 

[aforty]

The Hypercard-like ease of App Inventor vs the complexity with iOS is the idea here. It's programming for people who generally don't program.

But why are YOU worried about how easy or difficult it is?
Get the device that has the apps that YOU want.

 

[uraniumwilly]

But why are YOU worried about how easy or difficult it is?
Get the device that has the apps that YOU want.

Waddya born under a rock? I'm worried about it because Hypercard was an Apple product and I want it AGAIN on my Apple products.

ALSO, I'm worried about it and posting on this forum because a certain community of people SHOULD be a bit concerned about the evolution of the content of the product they so dearly love.

And gee, thanks for the advice about what to do about purchasing a device. I want an iPhone, but I want to also custom design my own apps.

Get it?

 

[thep33t]

god bless, hypercard. Been a while. Good little program.

 

[aforty]

Waddya born under a rock? I'm worried about it because Hypercard was an Apple product and I want it AGAIN on my Apple products.

ALSO, I'm worried about it and posting on this forum because a certain community of people SHOULD be a bit concerned about the evolution of the content of the product they so dearly love.

And gee, thanks for the advice about what to do about purchasing a device. I want an iPhone, but I want to also custom design my own apps.

Get it?

So you do write your own apps? That's what I was trying to find out before. Alas I think you're be mistaken if you think this app designer will result in anything more than fart-apps and whack-a-mole, times 10,000. I really don't think this will be any kind of great differentiator for Android in terms of platform quality.

 

[uraniumwilly]

So you do write your own apps? That's what I was trying to find out before. Alas I think you're be mistaken if you think this app designer will result in anything more than fart-apps and whack-a-mole, times 10,000. I really don't think this will be any kind of great differentiator for Android in terms of platform quality.

Yes, inasmuch as I am someone can call me a plumber when I fix a leak under the sink. Again, "...programming for people who generally don't program."

I've never made any claim that it's any kind of great differentiator. Some people of a certain type like to customize things.

Just like some people of a certain type actually advertise their wares in Mac discussion forums.

 

[kdarling]

I still remember when many/most people who bought personal computers actually learned to create apps on them, instead of being only app consumers.

Looking at the available blocks, you could quickly create some interesting stuff with it. For instance, in a few minutes you could create a flash card app that rewards your child for correctly speaking phrases into the voice-to-text block.

Perhaps even use it to prototype a product you want funded.

It's really too bad that Apple forbids Hypercard-like apps.

 

[uraniumwilly]

I still remember when many/most people who bought personal computers actually learned to create apps on them, instead of being only app consumers.

Looking at the available blocks, you could quickly create some interesting stuff with it. For instance, in a few minutes you could create a flash card app that rewards your child for correctly speaking phrases into the voice-to-text block.

Perhaps even use it to prototype a product you want funded.

It's really too bad that Apple forbids Hypercard-like apps.

Yeah, I think it's certainly worth playing with if you have the time. I'm a little hesitant because I want my results to work on my iPad.

I don't believe Apple forbids Hypercard-like apps. I think it requires the right language, like HTML 5

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhd7mt3t_3ckqtwb3g

 

[djrod]

As a web developer I have to say:

WYSYWYG/graphical editors ALWAYS produces CRAP apps.

Real developers handwrites the code, this move from Google is going to provide a lot of apps to their market, but very low quality ones, you'll see

 

[aforty]

WYSYWYG/graphical editors ALWAYS produces CRAP apps.

Ditto.

I guess to answer your original question, no Apple doesn't have anything like this planned and I doubt they ever will. It may be easy to create some simple app but it doesn't produce quality and that's what Apple seems to be after. With the current set of tools Apple has no problem attracting developers to their platform and although it is prohibitive to the kind of people that would use this tool from Google, I don't think they care too much. Apple is no longer interested in exponentially expanding the number of apps, instead they are now after quality. Google wouldn't mind a higher quantity that they can tout in advertisements in their fight against the iPhone/WP7/BB.

 

[kdarling]

Apple certainly went through a quantity-over-quality phase, so they're in a glass house and cannot throw rocks.

However, I don't think it's about increasing the quantity of Android store apps. It seems more about letting people create their own personal apps, and the sharing of such code.

I can't count the number of friends who've asked what it takes to make an iPhone app and become disappointed that there's no easier way.

My son-in-law, who isn't a programmer at all, tried creating a Palm Pre app to get surfing forecasts, using their Ares tool... but got stuck (it's not as easy a tool to use). So I helped him create and customize a WebOS app with a picture of him and his one-year-old son as the startup image. He and his wife love showing off that app.

How many other people wouldn't love to download an Inventor app template and fill it in with their own family photos and information, for instance... just for their own use.

 

[dejo]

How many other people wouldn't love to download an Inventor app template and fill it in with their own family photos and information, for instance... just for their own use.

Why not this?:
How many other people wouldn't love to download an HTML app template and fill it in with their own family photos and information, for instance... just for their own use.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

The Hypercard-like ease of App Inventor vs the complexity with iOS is the idea here. It's programming for people who generally don't program.

People who don't program and won't take the time to understand the basics of good software design quite frankly SHOULDNT program.

What Android has done is opened the gates for even more crappy shovelware developed by people who don't have a clue for gullible rubes on the Android Marketplace who don't know any better than to pay for shovelware designed by novices. Its like the second coming of the fart application all over again, but this time automated.

Its a vicious circle. It will eat itself in time.

 

[uraniumwilly]

As a web developer I have to say:

WYSYWYG/graphical editors ALWAYS produces CRAP apps.

Real developers handwrites the code, this move from Google is going to provide a lot of apps to their market, but very low quality ones, you'll see

Like Hypercard, this stuff is generally, though not always, for personal use. My interest is toward personal use. Hypercard had a look and feel that wasn't exactly flashy but it worked fine.

I've never expected anything like a new Hypercard from Apple. There might be other interested parties out there who would be interested in producing such a thing.

 

[kdarling]

People who don't program and won't take the time to understand the basics of good software design quite frankly SHOULDNT program.

If you meant programming something major for sale, I agree.

(Although hundreds if not thousands of apps in the Apple Store certainly don't meet your criteria. Heck, lots were just clones with minor changes.)

If you meant programming for yourself or friends, who cares?

How many other people wouldn't love to download an HTML app template and fill it in with their own family photos and information, for instance... just for their own use.

I'm all for that as well. Know of any?

 

[mkrishnan]

I'm all for that as well. Know of any?

Bento for iPhone isn't that far from that... if Bento gets compared to a program, it's rather Hypercard more often than not....

 

[firewood]

Dashcode

Much of the apps that App Inventor can build can also be done by making an HTML5 web app. Then you can make a web clip of a web app on your device and the result will act just like an app, pretty icon and everything.

Building powerful web apps (for clipping) is a greatly under-publicized way of deploying iPhone apps.

My hope is that Apple or somebody will add some iPhone custom templates and some "drop" icon style interaction building tools on top of Dashcode.

 

[ldkaplan]

People who don't program and won't take the time to understand the basics of good software design quite frankly SHOULDNT program.

What Android has done is opened the gates for even more crappy shovelware developed by people who don't have a clue for gullible rubes on the Android Marketplace who don't know any better than to pay for shovelware designed by novices. Its like the second coming of the fart application all over again, but this time automated.

Its a vicious circle. It will eat itself in time.

I couldn't disagree more.

What the Google tool does is a simple version of what most IDEs will do. Nobody codes a UI by hand anymore. And most IDE's (Visual Studio for example) generate 80% of the code you need. AND it will write it faster and better than most trained programmers can do.

This will be great for someone who has an idea and wants to play around with it a bit. Lots of folks have hobbies where apps just don't meet their needs and there should be a simple tool to draw a UI and a simple data store.

I hope Apple adds similar functionality to xCode.

 

[admanimal]

I couldn't disagree more.

What the Google tool does is a simple version of what most IDEs will do. Nobody codes a UI by hand anymore. And most IDE's (Visual Studio for example) generate 80% of the code you need. AND it will write it faster and better than most trained programmers can do.

Visual Studio and the like generate only the most trivial parts of the code. All of the real logic and design of the program (i.e. most of the real code) is still up to the programmer. Xcode 4 does add some additional support for generating some of the tedious property/outlet/action code.

I would be frightened if it became any easier for people to create crappy cookie-cutter apps. There are already more than enough.

 

[ldkaplan]

Visual Studio and the like generate only the most trivial parts of the code. All of the real logic and design of the program (i.e. most of the real code) is still up to the programmer. Xcode 4 does add some additional support for generating some of the tedious property/outlet/action code.

I would be frightened if it became any easier for people to create crappy cookie-cutter apps. There are already more than enough.

You can go along way with Studio before needing to write anything. I support a few applications that were initially devleoped by novices using Studio.

There are reasons to build applications beyond selling them. Remember that in order to get up on the app store, you have to pay a fee. That will prevent a lot of people from uploading fart apps. This will open the door for those that just want a simple utility on their phone that can easily be created with a wysiwyg app.