Coding up a storm

Think you can’t write great programs or websites on iOS? Think again

Pythonista 3 $9.99 omz-software.com

This complete Python scripting environment makes the most of being specialized for one coding language, instead of several. It has a debugger included, tabs for multiple documents, a tool for quickly building visual interface prototypes, and even includes additional modules. Pythonista makes itself available as a sharing extension, so you can create Python scripts in other apps, and then run them in Pythonista.

Coda $24.99 panic.com

This text editor supports syntax highlighting in a wide range of languages, including HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and more than we can list. A custom keyboard helps you write code faster, there are great editing tools including a special magnifying loupe for moving the cursor, and tabs for multiple open documents at once. There’s even a full SSH client built-in.

Codea $14.99 twolivesleft.com

This ingenious app lets you write code (in the Lua language), but adds some brilliant twists to make it easy to get to grips with. Certain elements can be altered with taps rather than by changing the code – tap a color element to pick from a color wheel, or an image element to browse stored pictures. Other parameters can be adjusted with tools such as sliders – or you can stay code-happy for everything.

Textastic $9.99 textasticapp.com

This is the best website coding app on iOS, thanks to fantastic features such as syntax highlighting, local previewing of your work in the app’s browser (which you can then open in Safari), and code completion for HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and PHP. It has a built-in WebDAV server, and connects to FTP, Dropbox, Google Drive, and other services easily. It even has great support for external keyboards (including shortcuts), as well as special editing tools to make life easier.