Browser-based IDE for writing webapps 100% in JavaScript | Hacker News Reader

Browser-based IDE for writing webapps 100% in JavaScript

erbix.com

46 pointsvladd24 comments

This seems like a lot more than an "IDE in the cloud" -- they have this great monetization angle of letting you publish your apps directly into their "App Store" (something like Google App Engine but also a store front for customers?) and apps that people "purchase" through the app store have the added benefit of allowing you to automatically roll out updates to them in this controlled fashion.

If these were client-only JS apps, the idea of auto-update makes no sense, but given that this is all geared at client/server apps all written in JS, deploying that into an app-engine-esque execution environment that also doubles as an app store... that's a really creative idea.

For example, imagine if Amazon had an "App Store" front end for all the commercial apps on EC2 that wanted to integrate with it? Or Google App Engine did?

Would make for a very cool discovery method for customers to find cool apps and add a level of convenience for both the developer to notify/communicate with their customers as well as the customers to learn about new apps, get notified in a unified way of new features in their favorite apps, etc.

ASIDE: When I first heard Apple was doing a Mac App Store, I thought it was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. After using it, I can safely say I am an idiot and it's fantastically convenient.

I've come around on this whole app-store-for-all-sorts-of-crap idea... when done right, they can be a really nice thing. That being said, I am not looking forward to a future where I juggle 10 of them, 1 from each major vendor and one for each cell carrier. There is a limit.

Google App Engine does have one.

But it makes no sense for an IDE to have an App store. If they want to make an app store they need to get an angle for consumers not for developers.

The App Store is two parts -- there is the developer facing part where you publish into it and the consumer facing portion for discovery right?

Apple's mobile and Mac App Store work this way. Amazon's app store, google marketplace, etc. etc. I think the concept of an app store implies "developer and consumer-facing pieces".

Maybe I'm missing the point you were making?

I think it's a really progressive look at software development to include the deployment/sales part of deployment directly into the IDE.

I imagine the ecosystem around Java would have been considerably different if 12 years ago NetBeans (and later Eclipse 1.0) had shipped with a Sun-managed client app store right out of the gate.

Remember the whole idea behind commercial Java Beans and Applets for sale? That might have actually worked had there been a central repository for all that with sufficient discovery tools.

Combining the app store and execution container idea all into one is just the next step of services like Google App Engine, Heroku and Elastic Beanstalk I think.

10 years ago the idea of App Engine would have seemed silly, now it's common place and hugely desired. 10 years from now, having a deployment container that doesn't directly help me sell or market my app... well that might seem like an inconvenience to me as the developer.

Apple got the customers first, that drove developer demand not a lot of people using XCode, was what I meant.

Sun could have had a market, it is true, but if it had been via the IDE they could have lost to to IBM with Eclipse. It makes no sense tying these in, when there are standard application containers that are IDE independent.

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying. I agree the demand has to come from the consumer end first no matter how hard devs push out.

I'm not following why it makes no sense? Just like the guy above me said, it's smart to provide the full services: Help build, deploy, update, and sell software.

Having deep integration generally makes for a smoother process.

I've been trying out http://cloud9ide.com/ recently. Auto imports from Github and Bitbucket. Pretty nice, quick and beautiful.

Nice, just signed up. Will be playing around with it for a while today. I wonder if either IDE could benefit from my feature idea from this post a day or two ago ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2715066 )

cloud9 also has Google App Engine integration in the works, http://cloud9ide.posterous.com/cloud9-ide-google-io-2011

It seems interesting, but I find it tries to do "too much"; Like with the AppStore, the SQL console etc etc.

It's definitely really cool that this can be done, but what advantage does this give over my native development environment? Do people really find themselves developing on random machines enough to justify switching to a cloud-based IDE?

I have been hoping for a web-based IDE so I can hack from my Chromebook while on the road.

Good point, that's definitely a valid use. But these browser IDE's have been popping up for the past couple years, long before Chromebooks were announced, which makes me feel like there must some other need or use case that I'm not thinking of.

ssh and vnc? Is this possible on a Chromebook?

Chromebook, in its default configuration, can do limited SSH, but it's designed essentially as a browser.

Eventually, everything will run in the browser.

I agree, when I see "browser-based" and IDE in the same sentence I am immediately skeptical. Granted this looks better than the classic "coding in a textarea" nightmare but in my mind the set of tools a professional developer uses are much like the tools a master mechanic or carpenter might use... carefully chosen, maybe even customized, and so familiar you don't really have to think about the tools themselves when you're working. No browser-based anything has approached that level of functionality in my experience.

I have been eagerly waiting for a good web-based text editor and dev environment since it is the only real desktop app that I still use - but this isn't it

I wish somebody would just write a vi port in js and put it online with a simple file store and git/hg. I started that project a while ago but gave up on it

vi is not a trivial piece of software to port.

Besides, I think you could just use a browser SSH client to accomplish what you mentioned.

Tried http://cloud9ide.com yet ? It's crappy/buggy/slowy now but will be great when beta ends.

Hasn't cloud9 been in the works for almost 5 years? Hasn't it always been "almost there"?

tried it again today and remembered that I tried it a long time ago. It is more like a web-based eclipse with bugs rather than a simple text editor. for some reason it doesn't work with my bb repo's. looks promising, but just not something I would use

1. Rather flaky; I've seen many "The server could not return a valid response" errors

2. Where is source control? This feels like editing code live on the production server.

3. I hope online IDEs take off. It's a much-needed change in the way software is written. Awesome.

So how do you code an AJAX Web page? http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9002170/So_how_...

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