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iPad

 
Ranch Hand
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I am thinking about buying a Mac ipad, but because I have never yet actually seen one, I would like to know a little bit more about it before I travel to the nearest city in which it is sold.
If anyone has one, could you tell me about it?

From what I know, it seems that it is a lot like a computer. It has a hard drive, it can be used to browse the internet, it has a lot of applications on it. However, I expect it doesn't have any CD or DVD drive. But on the other hand, it has lots of ports like USB and LAN so you can use a wire connection to the internet or connect it to an external drive or whatever.
Also, I saw on TV that you can use it by touching the screen, thereby eliminating the need for a mouse. Also, you can divide the screen in half, using half the screen as a keyboard and typing on it, and seeing what you type on the other half. I wonder if the user would not feel cramped because the typing area would have to be small.
I just want to use it to get some work done, you know, typing documents and saving files on flash memory.

Also, because I write java programs, I wonder if there is a java compiler, as there is with other Mac computers.
Are there other programming tools included, like Cocoa or something?

Thanks for your time.
 
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I love my iPad and use it all the time, but it is not a tiny laptop. It is its own type of device, somewhere between a laptop and an iTouch. I use it mostly for browsing in coffee shops, reading, and games. It is not something I use for programming or any "heavy" work.

You will definitely want to read up on these and try one out before buying, because I think you're expecting it to work more like a laptop. See Apple's iPad page, and especially iPad tech specs.

Note that there are no USB or LAN ports. The only port is the Apple dock connector, which is used to sync data using iTunes. You can also transfer files wirelessly. Internet connection is via wi-fi or 3G. (The 3G models cost more and require an AT&T data plan.) The storage is flash (16, 32, or 64 GB).

The iPad runs iOS 3.2, with iOS 4 expected in November. All apps are through the iTunes app store. Java does not run on the iPad OS, so there is no JRE or JDK.
 
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No, no development tools are included in the iPad.
All the development is done on OSX powered machine.
Programming on iPad doesn't make sense to me, how do you program? by touch
 
With a little knowledge, a cast iron skillet is non-stick and lasts a lifetime.
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