Kodiak JavaScript - a mini review

General
1

Hey kids. Just grabbed kodiak js from the App Store, it’s 5 bucks for the next few days during launch. I love Codea, but I’m a code slut, and I just gotta try out the new things. So - I grabbed it, gave it a whirl.

Pros: it’s got tons of built-in libraries, a nice syntax-hilighting editor (and, I dare say, perhaps a better keyboard than Codea, but they’re both good). JavaScript has a metric ton of useful libraries. You can access the camera and photo roll (but not, I think, automatically) which you can’t currently do in mobile safari JavaScript. The app itself is pretty slick.

Cons: it’s still very 1.0, despite being marked 1.2. I sent them some feedback, but their docs are basically nonexistent (or I can’t find them, same result), there’s a silly error in what very little docs (a comment in their main index.html) there are, no forum - so no community, no place to ask questions. Pythonista made the same launch mistake - I don’t think many realize just how important forums are. So far as I can tell, no console access - so you can’t see errors (!!!). They include firebug, but I can’t seem to make it work, and there’s no example covering it. I also was unable to make an external web call, but I can’t tell for sure why due to no console - I suspect it’s js trying to prevent cross site scripting. A fundamental problem here is going to be js being designed, and libraries expecting, a regular browser environment. Finally, other than cut and paste, there appears to be no way to import/export code (sound familiar?).

So - if you dig on js, or are a language whore like me, it may be worth grabbing, especially now - 5 bucks is cheap. Otherwise, it’s iffy as of yet. I give them a solid C-, which may go to a B once they have a forum and we have solid examples/docs about debugging and network access, and differences between the environment and regular mobile safari. (An A would involve nitro, and exposing things that phonegap does to make it a regular 1st class environment)

TLL - go look at their keyboard. I found the button bar at the top to be damn nice. Also, while I’m thinking about it, since you did air code, consider exposing the codea projects directories via the web (WebDAV, or just a web interface - I use an app named “air sharing” that does this), it would be useful.

For those wondering - Codea still beats everything out there by a country mile. I give em an A, and am hoping for the elusive A+ (which, frankly, may be beyond reality due to apple’s restrictions around code import/export).

2

Cool. I’m looking at it now. I use Procoding for my iOS JS HTML5 Canvas coding right now… So I’ll see how it fairs.

3

I use Textastic for javascript. I find it great for the code exchange and keyboard. How would you compare Textastic vs Kodiak Javascript?

4

Also, i doubt Kodiak will improve with forum and docs: kodiak php is still a desert wrt these features.

5

I gave it a try.
AMAZING!
Bortels, thanks for showing this magic box to us.
So much available, readily packaged for my usage…
Worth every cent of the 4,49€.
Thanks.

6

Yeah I gave in and grabbed js and php. It’s been years since I played with php :slight_smile:

7

I wrote asking them about console or some way to see the errors. Their response:

“Anyway, I see the problem with the lack of a “console” or at least an error log. I’ll see if we can get it into the app somehow.”

This fairly boggles me, frankly - Especially seeing they included firebug in the libraries (I’ve been unable to get it to work). This suggests to me that perhaps they don’t eat their own dogfood; I don’t know about most people, but using alert dialogs as the sole means of debugging is… crude. And I’m not sure 50 libraries is as great as it sounds if they may or may not actually work in this environment.

Asking about docs: “No, I did not thought this was necessary, because the environment is supposed to be the same as Mobile Safari.”

I also asked them about a forum, and I’m apparently the first person to ever ask them about one (!!!).

Without docs, some sort of reasonable debugging, or a place where users can try to work this all out - I have to put this in the “interesting toy” category. Maybe they’ll fix some of that… time will tell.

(aside: I’ve tried to cobble this together on my own - jailbreak, run lighty for a server, but I kinda want a good editor. Hmm - maybe just one of those code editor things, and point lighty at that documents directory?)