And, the "you can only use certain languages" is an attempt to make it significantly harder to write multi-platform software without outright saying "don't port to another platform."
That argument doesn't even make sense when you look at the facts. You can still code the stuff you want to be portable in C, C++ or Javascript. Unless other smartphone platforms are suddenly banning C and Javascript how is this preventing multi-platform software? The only thing that isn't allowed are 3rd parties sitting between your code and Apple's APIs. So unless Flash and Mono are the only ways to build cross platform applications your comment is way off-base.
To be honest I am a little surprised people are having such a hard time appreciating this decision from a platform design perspective. I can't say it is the best way they could of proceeded but I can totally understand why they would want to develop their platform this way.
And, the "you can only use certain languages" is an attempt to make it significantly harder to write multi-platform software without outright saying "don't port to another platform."
That argument doesn't even make sense when you look at the facts. You can still code the stuff you want to be portable in C, C++ or Javascript. Unless other smartphone platforms are suddenly banning C and Javascript how is this preventing multi-platform software? The only thing that isn't allowed are 3rd parties sitting between your code and Apple's APIs. So unless Flash and Mono are the only ways to build cross platform applications your comment is way off-base.
To be honest I am a little surprised people are having such a hard time appreciating this decision from a platform design perspective. I can't say it is the best way they could of proceeded but I can totally understand why they would want to develop their platform this way.