Whatever the reason for the hiatus I am elated to see you back and seemingly in good health. I do not visit the forum that often and I was pleasantly surprised to read your comments. I hope everything is fine with you and will stay that way for years on end.

Thanks for the reminder but I will be using dead Python 2 for many fruitful years to come. Happy New Year!

Thank you for the link @dgelessus but I just wanted to point out that in a technical environment we should probably talk about “end of support” instead of “end of life”. What about basic idea shaping @mikael? Fundamental research can be tested in any language even “dead” ones. However, Python beats them all with out of the box arbitrary length integers for certain problems. In fact I just got a breakthrough factorizing large semi-primes using Python 2. When (and if) I release its source, I will make sure to set it to be incompatible with 3.x forcing “modern” users to make corrections in every lines or use Python 2. Well @JonB you are right so we better be careful with that “dangerous” Python 2. I wonder if those, like me, who still will use it after the “end of life” deadline will turn into “ghost programmers”. Anyway, thank you all for sharing the humor.

It is about time. Excellent work @ccc and well deserved kudos to @omz. I was a lost programming soul on iOS bouncing between a fairly good version of BASIC, a mediocre implementation of Python and Lua. Then I discovered Pythonista and my life on iOS has never been the same since.

Please define “end of life”. Does it mean that on that date all Python 2 interpreters will stop working? Will operating systems worldwide delete Python 2 and all its libraries from their environment? Will the dead Python 2 be erased from the universal consciousness of humankind and spying invisible aliens?

@ccc With all due respect to you and @mikael, there is no way that Python 2 can be an issue if it is not activated. Even a file containing a virus is harmless if it is not executed. Fifteen years ago, I used to be fascinated by “Nimda” when it just came out and made all that damage. I used to open it (not execute it) and examine its object code without any problem. If Python 2 pauses some risk if it just sits within some Python 3 directory then Python 3 is more dangerous than its older sibling. I am just advocating to uphold the traditional Python 3 distribution model (with Python 2 included) and let a user decide if they want to be “safe” or not.

@ccc I too am absolutely oppose to the removal of Python 2 support from future releases of Pythonista. I couldn’t care less about the innumerable functions and syntaxes being constantly added to python or any other language for that matter. I implement models and solve problems using whatever language that is available in a specific system using the most basic construct possible. Any complex program can be reduced to statement, decision and iteration. If complexity arises, unless it is really extensive or not directly related to my code (such as a GUI), I tend to handle it myself and my way. It is nice to have sympy preinstalled but I would do fine without it. That said, I still mainly use “print” as a statement instead of a function and so many other concepts that might be evolving endlessly within the Python framework that I do not care about. It is therefore easier to place the shebang “#!python2” on top my scripts instead of unnecessarily correcting codes that already work.

If you are using a lower resolution device such as most iPhones the optimal mode (0, 0) may not fit in landscape orientation. It will work fine in portrait though. This is because I cannot yet locate a reliable documentation for the height of title bar in a sheet presentation at any resolution. If you do want to use that orientation change the title_bar_height factor from 50 to 90.

@cvp like the french philosopher Deleuze said: "Il fallait y penser!".

Tools never die @ccc. Will the concept of a hammer or that of the screwdriver die at some point? Even the basic lever is still useful when you only have a stick and a rock to lift a heavy weight. Python 2.xx will always be as useful as it ever was. I went over that discussion with you and others many times as you may remember. No one has ever provided a valid reason for the removal of Python 2.xx from Pythonista. Basic impulses can not dictate the direction of a logical entity (Pythonista).

This is quite a good hack @cvp. Every problem looks simple once you solve them so this is not as easy as you make it look. My Pythonista wish list is for the app to reveal the secret of the afterlife because we only live twice. This means that to me Pythonista is already a dream come true that allowed me to achieve many important goals using an iPad. It is good as it is and whatever comes next is welcomed. However, please do not remove Python 2.xx.

Whatever the reason for the hiatus I am elated to see you back and seemingly in good health. I do not visit the forum that often and I was pleasantly surprised to read your comments. I hope everything is fine with you and will stay that way for years on end.

Thanks for the reminder but I will be using dead Python 2 for many fruitful years to come. Happy New Year!

Yes I know but adapting a Pygame project to the Pytonista environment deserves as much respect. I can run Tauber’s code in Android, being able to do so in IOS is a double treat.

Ok @JonB I understand. Just being able to emulate an Apple ii using Python on an iPhone or iPad is an extraordinary feat in itself. Chapeau bas (respect).

@JonB I think it is an excellent idea to improve on "Applepy". I am currently investigating the interest of big IT (can't live without them) in RSA factorization. I found a quadratic sequence that can solve it in polynomial time. Therefore, I cannot entertain any project of that scale for now. I will probably try something simple (I think) that will take a couple hours (I think) like "Chip-8" or a "p-machine" a la Pascal. By the way, doesn't "Scene" implement some kind of frame buffer? I never really use it mainly because it will be costly (time wise) to build cross platform applications using it. I know most (if not all) of these type of environment implement screen buffering. Below is a screen shot of "iDOS 2" running "windows 3.11" on an iPad mini 4. It is smoother or as smooth as other "DOSBox" implementations I have used. It uses the screen area as a mousepad that is ultra responsive. Games and animations run as well as in the original 3.11 on the best computers of that era. I do not think the dev could have done it without screen buffering and switching. In case "Scene" does not offer screen buffering, could sprites the size of the screen area be used for this purpose? Anyway, it would be swell to have "Applepy" run on a skeuomorphic skin as does "iDOS". Am I dreaming aloud?

I am very much into emulators although not of the video game kind. @JonB either wrote or forked a Python Apple ][ emulator that depends on Pygame. If he did not port it into Pythonista it is probably because this is very (if not extremely) hard. In fact, I saw him talk about that level of difficulty in a few posts in this forum. Anyway, if you want to experiment with emulation on IOS you should try “iDOS 2”. It masquerades as a collection of old video games but is in fact a full DOSBox emulator. If you can penetrate its sandbox (which is not that hard) you can run any DOS program you want including MS Windows 3.xx. You should check out “https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=56790” which is a fairly good discussion of emulation under DOS and Windows 3.xx. It contains a few links to NES emulators for DOS and Windows 3.xx that you can “MOD” if you are into this kind of stuff (and can spare the time for it). I do not know how fast they will run under iDOS. However, I run Windows 3.11 from iDOS on a 2015 iPad mini at similar speed as on the typical 66 MHz computers of its time. If you are part of the crazy “update at all cost” crowd you are out of luck. “iDOS 2” has not been updated in a few years and it has no forum for endless whinnies. However, it works fine and is surprisingly stable. If you want to install Windows 3.xx I would suggest a “MOD” version that runs from a folder instead of a virtual drive. You may find it somewhere in the “vogons” site from the link above. Happy emulating!

@timtim If you can wait forever for Apple to upgrade your device you may as well use Pythonista as it is and make the best of it.