Back in the 80’s, home computers like the Commodore 64 had an integrated BASIC interpreter. Any kid could learn programming on these machines. Actually, this was one of the major selling points to parents: not only your child will be able to use educational software, he will also learn programming ! (of course most of the kids just used the thing for games)
BASIC had a fantastic main feature: as a language designed for beginners, it was really easy to learn, with instructions that looked like simple human words. Much easier than current popular interpreted languages like JavaScript.
BASIC became a starting point for many children who tried to reproduce other software, or just invent something funny or useful. When they reached the limits of BASIC, it motivated them to learn more complex languages like assembler or C, and more computer science concepts.
Unfortunately, today no tablet comes with an interpreter built-in ; actually some tablet vendors seem to actively discourage such interpreters.
This means that no one can learn how to program on a tablet.
This is a real shame, because a tablet is a formidable tool to learn and not only watch movies and play games.
A tablet BASIC would need to allow anyone to create applications that looks like real native apps, even if they didn’t perform as well.
None of these home brew apps could possibly compete with professional apps available on the various stores and marketplaces ; but it could help a whole generation of kids to learn programming.