Who's Coding on Their Phone? | Hacker News Reader

Who's Coding on Their Phone?

Me.

  Irssi Connectbot (archived version/modified).
 Hackerkeyboard (modified)
  Ssh + GNU Screen + emacs
  Pixel Fold

Interesting! I've been wanting to build something in this space. Any learnings you can share about your experience so far?

it's been awesome ... i've been using this setup for 7+ years. Obviously with other phones (former pixel 5) but the passport form factor of the pixel fold works great for one handed use and I use it folded most of the time. Unfolded is just icing on the cake.

I build webapps so there's no difference using my phone or a laptop save for app switching/multi-window speed. As for typing speed, sure it's a bit slower but it helps I program in clojure(script) so the concise and terse syntax helps.

Also, when I need to dive into developer console I use KiwiBrowser which is slower to get around compared to desktop chrome but it gets the job done.

I've been meaning to share the minimally modified APKs I use and write a blog posts.

https://x.com/ashafa/status/1702499586982412720/photo/1

I'll also "Ssh + GNU Screen + emacs" occasionally on my phone and I'll be honest... it's way better to throw a bt/mini keyboard in the mix.

After that you can have a mostly normal desktop experience w/ the addition of a tablet. How long can a person stare at a screen that's only six inches?

So, ultimately I'd suggest using a tablet and [mini]keyboard with the phone as a hotspot instead; unless you're a die-hard masochist. Of course it's a slippery slope and a full laptop might be ideal for most users.

Phone displays are just too small.

> I've been wanting to build something in this space.

Did you have something specific in mind?

Interesting, what got you interested in having a mobile setup btw?

> Did you have something specific in mind?

I'm still brainstorming on this topic, would love any ideas. But one habit I am noticing amongst my friends and I is assigning a task to an agent, then moving onto the next task while the agent works on the previous one (this can be in codex, claude etc). All of this doesn't need to be on the laptop, infact it could be done through whatsapp or telegram. Let's say I have an ongoing chat with the agent, me giving instructions, getting a diff, reviewing and then hit to commit. Would be useful when I am away from my desk.

Another thing could be an information assistant, to keep me in the loop with what my agents are upto by summarising their performance and current active tasks and letting me butt in when they're stuck somewhere.

As you can tell I am still thinking it through :)

> what got you interested in having a mobile setup

Over time the need to quickly address administrative and operational issues while on the road converged with marathon coding sessions. So, I'd say it was organic and more "evolutionary" than "revolutionary". More often than not, I think advances tend to happen in that fashion.

Perhaps that's something to consider while you brainstorm. IOW, it may be good to compromise between a more grandiose vision and a mundane, but tangible delivery... then iterate.

Is this hedging bets a little? Sure, but I've grown into a somewhat risk averse developer so I like playing "small ball". Whether or not that's the best approach, I can't say.

I've had some fun conversations failing to explain why someone needed to try a multi monitor setup. It seems one could just get used to small screen. I normally use a redmagic phone. Today I had to test a website on an older iphone and got some claustrophobia vibes from it. No idea how I've ever used it.

I did some experiments with this https://synesthesia.go-here.nl but was to lazy to sufficiently learn it. I never got around to writing a code viewer.

Many decades ago I had this vision that the quality of ones ideas scales with the distance from civilization and specially from computers. If true pocket computers would rule out good ideas.

I use to plan out entire projects in my head. Today I'm indeed guilty of chatting with llms rather than gaze at the horizon.

Me too, I find myself gaining or loosing motivation for projects based on social sentiment online. When you're in the real world, it's so different almost as if it's completely disconnected from what we see online. Especially in tech waves, we tend to focus on the fringe instead of making basic progress because we're afraid we're already too late. But when you step outside and talk to real people, you realise it's really not too late. So I agree, ideas get better the further away you are from a computer :)

There is this abundance of real things in the real world (haha) you cant help but have thoughts attacking real problems. I will come up with software idea in areas where the state of the art is pathetic. Browsing online you won't run into things that didn't get enough love.

It does seem to be possible to flip out your phone in the field and write a solution on the spot but the main drawback I think is that you cant properly pronounce something like for(i=1;i<42;i++){ and typing it on an onscreen keyboard might even be worse. I remember writing code in a textarea one time then pulling the screen down refreshing the page. I've been wondering eversince if blanking input areas on reload is ever what the user wants. I put so much work into those 10 lines.

The medium seems more fit for a "language" of dragging around elements in flowcharts. Then again, how would you begin to pronounce that?

Maybe a simplistic DSL without symbols to [say] only make crud apps?

Perhaps start out with something like:

    HAVE A FORM WITH USERNAME AND PASSWORD. 
    IF USERNAME AND PASSWORD MATCH A DATABASE ENTRY
    REMEMBER THE USERNAME AND SET A SESSION COOKIE.

And work towards:

    HAVE A REGISTRATION FORM.

With some default database structure. If there is no DB make it, if there is no table make it. Have 3rd party account providers baked into the language.

It seems LLM's would be really good at strictly defined English.

I've been thinking with the advancements of agents being more capable of being left alone and just treated like a co-worker, is anyone actually finding themselves doing the assingment tasks from their phone, away from their laptop.

This logic seems reversed though. If someone is primarily vibe coding, why wouldn't a phone be just fine?

Either way, there are still completely legitimate reasons why one would want to code on their phone, with or without AI.

That's what I meant to say, that task assignment to agents could shift to mobile. What experience would you personally like, from a mobile continuity perspective?

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