Yeah, I've been meaning to review that one for my codex. It'd be neat to see how well their UI works, given that it was designed directly for touch on a single platform.

Just realized it's from the creators of Codea

Tasty

that's a strange decision to me. Of course I'm not saying it won't sell like crazy. I know I'm rarely able to predict what will and won't sell but since you basically can't do game dev on iOS/iPadOS then you'd be doing game dev on your laptop/desktop so why would you want to edit shaders on your iPad/iPhone when you're editing everything else on another machine? Maybe they are anticipating Apple allowing dev directly on iOS/iPadOS

They have a product that allows game development on iPad and iPhone

I love seeing apps experimenting with what touch and mobile can add to traditional workflows instead of just looking at its limitations. Every time a new “future” of coding app is presented, and it only works with mouse and keyboard and requires a large screen I’m a little sad of the missed opportunity. If it doesn’t look a little stupid, it’s not future enough.

I'm always to sniff out the beautifully, uncomfortably ridiculous: delight mixed with the discomfort of a new taste to acquire. If it doesn't rub bit, then it's not new. (Refined, smooth, well-worn is a good aesthetic too, but the future has rough edges.)

Gawd damn sometimes I hate Apple. From the rules for apps on the App store.

4.7 ... Apps may contain or run code that is not embedded in the binary (e.g. HTML5-based games, bots, etc.), as long as code distribution isn’t the main purpose of the app, the code is not offered in a store or store-like interface, and provided that the software (1) is free or purchased using in-app purchase;

So anything made in Codea must be either free or used for in-app purchase. Do they follow that rule? AFAIK no, it lets users make software so not it is not following this rule

(2) *only uses capabilities available in a standard WebKit view (e.g. it must open and run natively in Safari without modifications or additional software)*;

Does Codea follow this rule? Can run the software created in Codea in Safari without modifications or additional software? AFAICT no

your app must use WebKit and JavaScript Core to run third-party software and should not attempt to extend or expose native platform APIs to third-party software;

Checking the examples on the Codea site this rule is clearly broken. They offer features that you can't do in Safari like direct WiFi networking and going fullscreen so they are exposing the native platform (more than you can do in Safari)

(3) is offered by developers that have joined the Apple Developer Program and signed the Apple Developer Program License Agreement;

This rule also broken. Users are not "developers that have joined the Apple Developer Program and signed the Apple Developer Program License Agreement;" So how is Codea shipping? They must be bribing someone or giving kickbacks or have a seat on Apple's board or something because anyone else trying to ship such an app would have it shut down.

If you're doing the coding-like activity entirely inside the app, coding for yourself, the app is probably fine by Apple's rules. The thing Apple are mainly worrying about (see sections 2.5.2, in addition to 4.7 excerpted above), as Scott mentioned, would be someone creating an ecosystem that sits on top of — and bypasses! — the iOS app store. That's why you can have terminal apps like Prompt, code editors aplenty (Pythonista, Coda, Codea, Replete, etc), coding games, etc. These apps don't expose native APIs (which is the "carrot" to entice devs to create a proper native iOS app rather than a web app), and they don't establish a marketplace (bypassing App Store review). It's also worth remembering that the App Store rules are enforced by reviewers, and different reviewers have a different sense of how to draw the line. Worse, the review team is separate from the editorial team, so you get cases where an app will be featured in the App Store by the editorial team at the same time as it's removed from sale by the review team with some message like "this app shouldn't have been allowed in the first place." It's happen a few times now, frustratingly.