But the fact that Swift * is written in Swift says it all.
* and in the future, the OS X, iOS and Server Operating Systems ...
The Swift library of functions is written in Swift at least, I didn't see details of the Swift runtime/interpreter/compiler. I doubt they'd transition a whole OS over but it depends on the benefits. If there was a 10-20% performance hit but the code ended up being significantly smaller making up some of the performance loss and the rest with embedded C code, there's a possibility. Quite a lot of work if it was just for the sake of it. Even though it doesn't support C++, if there's a quick translation app to convert C++ code into Swift this can work out ok. I'd at least like Applescript to be deprecated in favor of Swift and have a migration in XCode from one to the other. Switching Automator over would be nice too. If they had something like this, you could batch actions externally to apps more easily e.g batch actions on images using Photoshop, Pixelmator etc.
The AppleScript/Automator idea is brilliant -- count me in!
The optimization for compact code tradeoff for performance is interesting ...
I suspect that the Apple Watch S1 Chip will run a version of iOS -- so compact code would be desirable. I don't believe that there would be any embedded C code, as Swift is designed to be as efficient as C and outperform it.
Consider: The guy who is responsible for implementing llvm/clang, responsible for Xcode Tools, etc. -- is Chris Lattner -- the guy who designed Swift.
Also, I've been thinking a lot about this ...
Initially, the Apple Watch will use your iPhone as an accessory to access data from the Internet and iCloud.
Typically, this data is passed as HTML, JSON or XML. All of these are verbose (typically 35-70 tag/format overhead) and need to be parsed at the receiving end (memory and processor intensive).
Then, once the data is parsed, it must be formatted for display. Typically, on an iDevice, this involves:
a View Controller
a Scroll View
a View
a TableView
some table cells
some datasource code to fill in and format the data
some delegate code to respond to user interactions with the data
Take the case of a simple list of, say, the birthdays of immediate family members:
10/14 Braden
06/15 Jason
01/28 Marlowe
12/04 Patti
02/24 Standish
Pretty simple stuff ... or is it -- considering all the overhead to access and present the data ...
The list above takes 84 characters (bytes) including a carriage return after each line. If we're using HTML, JSON, or XML the data size would be easily 2X - 5X -- and it must be read [stored], parsed [stored again], formatted for presentation [stored again] ...
And, and ... it gobbles up your battery and cell data allottment!
It's bad enough doing it on the iPhone ... but on the Apple Watch???
The iPhone will use BLE or WiFi packets to pass data to the Apple Watch -- it is crucial that this be efficient as possible.
Look at our list of 84 characters -- it doesn't get much more efficient than that!
So, if the Apple Watch asks the iPhone to get a list from your family birthday calendar on iCloud -- the app in iCloud could send the formatted data as it is to be displayed on the Apple Watch -- a list of 84 characters.
There's no encoding, parsing, storing, reformatting -- it is just passed as-is -- a list of 84 characters. (possibly, the data might be encrypted/decrypted).
What I am suggesting, here is a level of encapsulation of the data specifically targeted to the format and device on which it will be displayed.
Then, when Apple Watch 2 gets its own cell and GPS radios -- it can connect to the outside world as efficiently as possible!
That’s a decent point; should something that big be 16:9? I don’t think so. I’d have to mock it up. Where’m I going to get that much cardboard...
I couldn't imagine having a different aspect ratio other than the 15:10 (3840 x 2560) on my Panasonic 20" ToughPad, the 3:2 (2160 x 1440) that my Surface Pro 3 has, the 4:3 that both my iPad Air 2 and Nexux 9 (2048 x 1536) rocks or last but not least the 16:9 (1920 x 1080) that my Nokia 2520 utilizes, as there is no such thing as the perfect aspect ration, it all comes down to what your going to be using the device for more and than compromise on the rest. For example, the iPad Air 2 and Nexus 9 don't make for a very good portable Kino but their great at surfing and reading magazines, eBooks, etc., where as the Nokia 2520 makes for a great portable Kino but not so great eBook or Magazine reader.
<div class="quote-container" data-huddler-embed="/t/183188/rumor-apples-ipad-pro-to-be-as-thin-as-an-iphone-sport-12-2-inch-display-extra-speakers/240#post_2637222" data-huddler-embed-placeholder="false"><span>Quote:</span><div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Tallest Skil</strong> <a href="/t/183188/rumor-apples-ipad-pro-to-be-as-thin-as-an-iphone-sport-12-2-inch-display-extra-speakers/240#post_2637222"><img src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" class="inlineimg" alt="View Post"/></a><br/><br/><p><br>That’s a decent point; should something that big be 16:9? I don’t think so. I’d have to mock it up. Where’m I going to get that much cardboard...</p></div></div><p> </p>
yes the only big difference is the aspect ratio. 16:9 on the iPhone is actually better than 4:3 on the iPad.
It's better for you, after using a 1:1 aspect ratio on my BlackBerry Passport I love it, websites, e-books, Docs, etc. look amazing. I also really enjoy the 4:3 on my iPad for the same reason. Then their is my Nokia 2520, a Windows RT tablet with a 16:9 aspect ratio that works great with MS Office and surfing in landscape, also watching movies is a real joy, in fact it's my main portable Kino because of the 16:9 aspect ratio, that and it has a HDMI out so I can connect my portable projector.
Like I said above, there really isn't the perfect aspect ratio, it depends on what you will be doing on your device.
Such a device already exists, the ModBooks.
I believe if Apple felt such a market was worthwhile it would have already bought the company that makes ModBooks.
Your list of devices inadvertently highlights the failure of the Microsoft Surface to be an ideal device serving the best of both worlds.
If it were so great at being a tablet and so great at being a laptop then you wouldn't need all these other devices you mention.
Nice try, but by now you know that I'm a gadget fan and would own multiple devices regardless. I'm not looking for the ultimate device anyway, it's a fools errand as it will never exist for me.
Such a device already exists, the ModBooks.
I believe if Apple felt such a market was worthwhile it would have already bought the company that makes ModBooks.
If the potential market size is so low that it makes more sense to let 3rd parties handle it then that's the most likely route for Apple, although they make some exceptions. Tim mentioned the Mac Pro in his recent interview saying it was a low volume product but they chose to keep making it for creative customers. The ModBook looks good enough for drawing with:
[VIDEO]
but they replaced the display with a low quality panel and when you need to type, you have to prop it up anyway.
I'd personally like to see the MBP base made into a touch surface. Flattening the keyboard might not appeal to everyone but there's huge potential for contextual controls. Think of the 3 volume buttons, those would be replaced by having the speakers touch-sensitive and you'd just swipe up and down to raise/lower the volume and they can light up like the sleep light with bars to show how loud the sound is. Mute would be tapping the bottom of the speaker. They can't be covered in glass of course as it would dull the sound but the main area in the middle could be glass that is sunk in.
It would feel like the trackpad surface but extend all the way over the surface. They have just one button for the power and this would also act as an override so that no matter what contextual controls were on the touch surface, just touching that button would revert it back to the keyboard view.
You'd be able to finger paint very easily with it being smooth glass but you'd also be able to run a passive stick over it and get very precise drawing with complete palm rejection. HP has been trying out some crazy input methods but they did it vertically here, which is pointless:
[VIDEO]
Their setup here is much better:
[VIDEO]
That uses a projector to put imagery onto a touch surface. That's pretty neat but it requires a fixed camera above, which isn't feasible in a laptop and a second display would waste a lot of battery. If you look at the perforated speaker holes, there's about 40 holes or so. The 15" laptop's native resolution is 1440 x 900 and realistically they can only fit about 8 width-wise so 320 pixels wide. They can quadruple that to get close to the same resolution as the display. They can illuminate it from behind and block the light with e-ink. The tricky part here is making sure it works well in bright light but they can always make a slim keyboard plate that can be stuck into that area with magnets that allows you type in really bright light. E-ink is perfectly visible in bright light so there's a solution that would work ok. Perhaps they just make a high-res e-ink layer above the metal and below the glass surface.
If they can make that layer flex at multiple points by a tiny amount so that it can click, that would be good for keeping the trackpad functionality as well as pressure sensitivity. There can be tiny pads all under the e-ink display suspending it and only if the pads are pressed at a certain strength does it make a click. It would be good if they made the zooming like iOS too so that it doesn't go fuzzy.
They can also go at it very casually and just get rid of the function key row (move escape next to the 1-key) and have the front portion turned into a gesture area like that at first and the number row would have f-key modifiers.
Like this:
The power button can go back to the old style or maybe even double as the escape key. It can be fn-escape for standby.
The speaker touch replaces volume controls, exposé etc are gestures, music would be a small touch graphic somewhere. That lower panel would be displaying graphics, either black e-ink outlines or illuminated outlines. This can handle display brightness controls too. The number row is the function-keys using fn.
Comments
The AppleScript/Automator idea is brilliant -- count me in!
The optimization for compact code tradeoff for performance is interesting ...
I suspect that the Apple Watch S1 Chip will run a version of iOS -- so compact code would be desirable. I don't believe that there would be any embedded C code, as Swift is designed to be as efficient as C and outperform it.
Consider: The guy who is responsible for implementing llvm/clang, responsible for Xcode Tools, etc. -- is Chris Lattner -- the guy who designed Swift.
Also, I've been thinking a lot about this ...
Initially, the Apple Watch will use your iPhone as an accessory to access data from the Internet and iCloud.
Typically, this data is passed as HTML, JSON or XML. All of these are verbose (typically 35-70 tag/format overhead) and need to be parsed at the receiving end (memory and processor intensive).
Then, once the data is parsed, it must be formatted for display. Typically, on an iDevice, this involves:
Take the case of a simple list of, say, the birthdays of immediate family members:
10/14 Braden
06/15 Jason
01/28 Marlowe
12/04 Patti
02/24 Standish
Pretty simple stuff ... or is it -- considering all the overhead to access and present the data ...
The list above takes 84 characters (bytes) including a carriage return after each line. If we're using HTML, JSON, or XML the data size would be easily 2X - 5X -- and it must be read [stored], parsed [stored again], formatted for presentation [stored again] ...
And, and ... it gobbles up your battery and cell data allottment!
It's bad enough doing it on the iPhone ... but on the Apple Watch???
The iPhone will use BLE or WiFi packets to pass data to the Apple Watch -- it is crucial that this be efficient as possible.
Look at our list of 84 characters -- it doesn't get much more efficient than that!
So, if the Apple Watch asks the iPhone to get a list from your family birthday calendar on iCloud -- the app in iCloud could send the formatted data as it is to be displayed on the Apple Watch -- a list of 84 characters.
There's no encoding, parsing, storing, reformatting -- it is just passed as-is -- a list of 84 characters. (possibly, the data might be encrypted/decrypted).
What I am suggesting, here is a level of encapsulation of the data specifically targeted to the format and device on which it will be displayed.
Then, when Apple Watch 2 gets its own cell and GPS radios -- it can connect to the outside world as efficiently as possible!
Won't it resemble a "giant iPad Air 2?" Why would it resemble a giant iPad 2? Typo?
It will actually resemble a giant iPhone 6, without the phone capability.That’s a decent point; should something that big be 16:9? I don’t think so. I’d have to mock it up. Where’m I going to get that much cardboard...
That’s a decent point; should something that big be 16:9? I don’t think so. I’d have to mock it up. Where’m I going to get that much cardboard...
I couldn't imagine having a different aspect ratio other than the 15:10 (3840 x 2560) on my Panasonic 20" ToughPad, the 3:2 (2160 x 1440) that my Surface Pro 3 has, the 4:3 that both my iPad Air 2 and Nexux 9 (2048 x 1536) rocks or last but not least the 16:9 (1920 x 1080) that my Nokia 2520 utilizes, as there is no such thing as the perfect aspect ration, it all comes down to what your going to be using the device for more and than compromise on the rest. For example, the iPad Air 2 and Nexus 9 don't make for a very good portable Kino but their great at surfing and reading magazines, eBooks, etc., where as the Nokia 2520 makes for a great portable Kino but not so great eBook or Magazine reader.
That’s a decent point; should something that big be 16:9? I don’t think so. I’d have to mock it up. Where’m I going to get that much cardboard...
yes the only big difference is the aspect ratio. 16:9 on the iPhone is actually better than 4:3 on the iPad.Well, it’s better... on the iPhone. The size and use case of the device makes all the difference.
It's better for you, after using a 1:1 aspect ratio on my BlackBerry Passport I love it, websites, e-books, Docs, etc. look amazing. I also really enjoy the 4:3 on my iPad for the same reason. Then their is my Nokia 2520, a Windows RT tablet with a 16:9 aspect ratio that works great with MS Office and surfing in landscape, also watching movies is a real joy, in fact it's my main portable Kino because of the 16:9 aspect ratio, that and it has a HDMI out so I can connect my portable projector.
Like I said above, there really isn't the perfect aspect ratio, it depends on what you will be doing on your device.
It's all about the software. A 12.2 "pro" device needs better software than the current iOS for iPad.
A 12.2" "pro" device deserves OSX and not iOS
Not if it’s a touchscreen.
I believe if Apple felt such a market was worthwhile it would have already bought the company that makes ModBooks.
Your list of devices inadvertently highlights the failure of the Microsoft Surface to be an ideal device serving the best of both worlds.
If it were so great at being a tablet and so great at being a laptop then you wouldn't need all these other devices you mention.
Poo
Your list of devices inadvertently highlights the failure of the Microsoft Surface to be an ideal device serving the best of both worlds.
If it were so great at being a tablet and so great at being a laptop then you wouldn't need all these other devices you mention.
Nice try, but by now you know that I'm a gadget fan and would own multiple devices regardless. I'm not looking for the ultimate device anyway, it's a fools errand as it will never exist for me.
If the potential market size is so low that it makes more sense to let 3rd parties handle it then that's the most likely route for Apple, although they make some exceptions. Tim mentioned the Mac Pro in his recent interview saying it was a low volume product but they chose to keep making it for creative customers. The ModBook looks good enough for drawing with:
[VIDEO]
but they replaced the display with a low quality panel and when you need to type, you have to prop it up anyway.
I'd personally like to see the MBP base made into a touch surface. Flattening the keyboard might not appeal to everyone but there's huge potential for contextual controls. Think of the 3 volume buttons, those would be replaced by having the speakers touch-sensitive and you'd just swipe up and down to raise/lower the volume and they can light up like the sleep light with bars to show how loud the sound is. Mute would be tapping the bottom of the speaker. They can't be covered in glass of course as it would dull the sound but the main area in the middle could be glass that is sunk in.
It would feel like the trackpad surface but extend all the way over the surface. They have just one button for the power and this would also act as an override so that no matter what contextual controls were on the touch surface, just touching that button would revert it back to the keyboard view.
You'd be able to finger paint very easily with it being smooth glass but you'd also be able to run a passive stick over it and get very precise drawing with complete palm rejection. HP has been trying out some crazy input methods but they did it vertically here, which is pointless:
[VIDEO]
Their setup here is much better:
[VIDEO]
That uses a projector to put imagery onto a touch surface. That's pretty neat but it requires a fixed camera above, which isn't feasible in a laptop and a second display would waste a lot of battery. If you look at the perforated speaker holes, there's about 40 holes or so. The 15" laptop's native resolution is 1440 x 900 and realistically they can only fit about 8 width-wise so 320 pixels wide. They can quadruple that to get close to the same resolution as the display. They can illuminate it from behind and block the light with e-ink. The tricky part here is making sure it works well in bright light but they can always make a slim keyboard plate that can be stuck into that area with magnets that allows you type in really bright light. E-ink is perfectly visible in bright light so there's a solution that would work ok. Perhaps they just make a high-res e-ink layer above the metal and below the glass surface.
If they can make that layer flex at multiple points by a tiny amount so that it can click, that would be good for keeping the trackpad functionality as well as pressure sensitivity. There can be tiny pads all under the e-ink display suspending it and only if the pads are pressed at a certain strength does it make a click. It would be good if they made the zooming like iOS too so that it doesn't go fuzzy.
They can also go at it very casually and just get rid of the function key row (move escape next to the 1-key) and have the front portion turned into a gesture area like that at first and the number row would have f-key modifiers.
Like this:
The power button can go back to the old style or maybe even double as the escape key. It can be fn-escape for standby.
The speaker touch replaces volume controls, exposé etc are gestures, music would be a small touch graphic somewhere. That lower panel would be displaying graphics, either black e-ink outlines or illuminated outlines. This can handle display brightness controls too. The number row is the function-keys using fn.
A 12.2" "pro" device deserves OSX and not iOS
Amen!A 12.2" "pro" device deserves OSX and not iOS
Amen!
OS X requires a keyboard. iPads don't sell with a keyboard.
A 12.2" "pro" device deserves OSX and not iOS
Amen!
OS X requires a keyboard. iPads don't sell with a keyboard.
Yeah, they do. It’s built-in.
Yeah, they do. It’s built-in.
Hah! Good point, the virtual keyboard. So there'd just need to be a toggle to get it to pop up as needed?
Yeah, they do. It’s built-in.
Hah! Good point, the virtual keyboard. So there'd just need to be a toggle to get it to pop up as needed?
You just tap the screen where you want to write, and the keyboard does, indeed, pop up.