Could combined with software like Samsung Dex liberate portable devices from being consumption-oriented devices? 🤔 Apple has kept a strong hold on keeping ipadOS from threatening macOS. But the Android ecosystem does not have that limitation (see Waydroid or BlissOS or PostmarketOS for example) Projecting in the future, we might even get briefcase size displays/machines that unfold into a full tabletop-style communal computing interface.

My take on this is: It's not a matter of display size, it’s a matter of interaction models. We'd be happily programming on touch-screen smartphones, if someone had figured out how to provide a better interaction model for programming on such devices. Granted, it's even harder for smartphones than it is for tablets, but there's not many projects that explore this space. It seems as if 99% of all “future of coding” projects still assume large display, keyboard, pointing device, and text-based programming. Even visual programming explorations usually start from mouse interaction, instead of touch-first, which is similar but subtly different. There are also many sensors in tablets and phones that could be utilized for such an experience, which you usually won’t find in laptops and certainly not in desktops. But it seems few of us target these device classes, and if so, only as an afterthought porting something that has been designed for keyboard and pointing device, which is just not going to provide a better experience.

@Stefan That's very insightful! I do find swype keyboard very efficient but your post provokes much bolder approaches.

FWIW: I think that there are at least 2 interaction models: (1) end-user (non-programmer), and, (2) developer. When I write code, I use emacs, because I can do just about everything with 10 fingers and without lifting my hand off of the keyboard to fiddle with the mouse or Apple pencil. Mousing and swiping and speaking are operations that are too large-grained for me when I'm "in the zone" writing code. I used to play piano and observe that a QWERTY keyboard is more efficient than a piano keyboard (less arm motion involved). I used to play guitar, but, wonder if the Chapman Stick is a better way to cause audible vibrations (). The Yamaha WX7 Wind Controller used 8 fingers and the mouth and lungs. Artists want nuance. Software developers are like code artists, I guess. At one time, we explored building a diagram editor that was like emacs - mostly keyboard, mouse optional.