Show HN: Web development IDE running on Android | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Web development IDE running on Android

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88 pointskryps34 comments

I always dislike the negative comments in Show HN, but I have experimented heavily with writing code on mobile devices, and there are much bigger issues than the editor. This may be a good product, the screenshots look good (though the same number of people buying the app as the number of current upvotes on HN, so that looks fishy as all hell). Regardless, the form factor just isn't suited to content creation, and nothing in the description or screens addresses this.

The form factor of what? I could be sitting in front of Android running on a 21-inch display using a normal keyboard and mouse. And the CPU behind it might be the same one that usually runs OS X or Windows.

Guess, parent meant form factor of a typical mobile Android device. An external display and HID devices aren't mobile.

Yes, I know, one could move their phone between docks and that would be mobile, but bet this is a very rare case. If one has stationary terminals, I think it would be very unusual if they're used solely as a dock station — one's likely to also have a stationary computer attached to them.

I have a 12 inch tablet with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, its perfectly good for content creation, it comes with an office clone that makes creating docs a snap.

I have been using a bunch of editors, and while many of them are great the mostly suffer from 3 main problems.

1. Capacity, most can handle a 200 file project, but they sieze up solid much beyond that.

2. Git and github integration is often poor, for some reason they all get ocd about dropbox and google drive integration, but fall apart on git or svn integration.

3. They need a good ssh client embedded, both to provide sftp capability, and to allow you to have one click access to your dev, staging and production servers.

The form factor of a mobile device? What you described is not mobile.

OK. I'll dial it back a bit. How about a 10" tablet on a small stand with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

Pretty mobile and nearly the same size as my main development laptop.

>I could be sitting in front of Android running on a 21-inch display using a normal keyboard and mouse.

Do you refer to some future possible Android or to the Android of today?

On a good day, how many people interact with Android with a mouse and without a touch screen to get real work -- programming or writing, say -- done? If your answer is more than a handful, then I'd like to ask you how you know that.

I'm curious what the bigger issues you've experienced are. I've never done any serious content creation on a mobile device, but the obvious issues that come to my mind are lack of keyboard and mouse, and the responsiveness of the UI. Presumably, those can be addressed or mitigated through hardware. Are there issues that go beyond that?

Well, the lack of a keyboard and mouse and the lack of an intuitive way to solve these problems in a mobile device. These comments seem to imply that I can add hardware and the problem is solved. If I add hardware, I no longer have mobile on the go development, I have a bag of crap that makes this less convenient than an air or ultrabook. Now if someone invents a way that eliminates the need for the keyboard, then I'll use it with glee. But this product is a desktop app on a mobile device and does nothing to really innovate in the space. I want this to work, but it isn't as simple as writing a desktop app on android.

What about keyboard cases such as the one with the Surface or the one Google announced yesterday?

Does this look like a "bag of crap"?

http://www.google.com/nexus/new/images/nexus9/N9-keyboardlow...

The issue for me is that every app was modal. Even when playing around with Windows/Android split screen views, they just aren't as productive as a windowed system for me.

>>though the same number of people buying the app as the number of current upvotes on HN

I believe those downloads are for first few hours since the app is only 1.5 days old. Play Store Install numbers are typically 1-2 days old and app was launched on October 14th.

I agree with you, but the folks who made this app clearly don't.

The fact that these devs put so much time and energy into making something that I cannot imagine wanting to use for the reasons you describe makes me think that I have a very different relationship to my mobile devices than some other people do. Another example in the same vein is typing emails or docs. I don't ever type anything longer than a couple of sentences unless it's extremely urgent. But there are many people who don't seem to mind one bit!

I think the developers use Asus Transformers (tablets with associated keyboard docking stations that turn them into de facto laptops) extensively, so having a full IDE that can run on one of those would indeed be a boon -- even if most Android users have little use for it.

But why?? The point is that I would never choose to do development on a smallish device. In fact, I would always choose the largest, most powerful device available! Multiple screens, speakers, lots of ports, power, etc.

Maybe there is a market for commuters/travelers? Even then, I would prefer a large-screen laptop.

As a traveller it's a bit hard to argue with that sweet, sweet 12- to 16-hour battery life.

Regarding typing, I think a lot depends on the keyboard you are using. With default keyboard, yeah there's no way I'm typing more than a couple of sentences, as you said. But with a better keyboard (e.g. Swift on Android), I can easily type a few paragraphs. Because text prediction and spelling correction is so damn good, I just need to press the keys roughly near the one I intended (e.g. jekko -> hello).

Although, I could type natural languages, there's no way I'd be typing code. Simply the number of special characters required makes it very slow and frustrating. And if you need to be mobile, you can just buy Chromebook (or similar device), install Ubuntu/Arch/whatever and happy coding.

I've messed around with coding on mobile and basically came to the conclusion that it's only practical for emergency situations or making very minor tweaks. But in an emergency situation it can be extremely valuable to be able to make a quick fix while you're traveling without a computer. Even if it is a little tedious to work on the device.

So for that reason I'm happy to see mobile development tools being made, even if I don't plan to use them day-to-day quite yet.

I dunno if you can categorically rule out portable form factors for "content creation," though. Content creation is a biiiig space.

I used to be quite productive writing on the road using a Handspring Visor Deluxe (more info for the young 'uns among you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handspring_%28company%29#Visor_...) with WordSmith (http://danbricklin.com/log/wordsmithreview.htm) and a Stowaway foldout keyboard (http://danbricklin.com/log/stowaway.htm). And that was on a 3" black-and-white display and a 16MHz single-core CPU! I know, right?

I wouldn't have wanted to program on it, but as a writing environment, it was fine. Now give me writing software of the same quality as WordSmith, a keyboard as good as the Stowaway, and my ho-hum Galaxy S3 with its 5" hi-res color display and a quad-core 1.5GHz CPU...

There is nothing about phones that make them inherently bad for content creation. Sure, they just tend to have more support for consumption use cases (which is what makes them great IMO). But I think it's only a matter of time before they reach of good enough point to use them as the primary tool for productivity.

Obviously, it could be useful if Android finds its way onto more "desktop-like" devices, with keyboards, mice, large displays, etc.

I've been using AIDE since the early versions and it just keeps getting better and better. It's actually very usable given it's form factor. They've taken a lot of the environment's constraint into account. I wouldn't do all my android development solely from the phone, but I wouldn't mind it too much if I had to. It's a pretty solid IDE with a lot of great features. Using hacker's keyboard helps a lot because of all the special characters but most of the time I get by with the character bar they have above the keyboard. Just depends on what's being coded. I also have a dock for my Note 2 so i can use a regular keyboard, but I rarely bother. I use dropbox to sync the code and usually I'll do the heavy lifting on the computer in eclipse and then make small changes while I'm away from the computer in AIDE. Also being able to compile and run right from the phone is huge for me. It's not for everyone I'm sure but it's a great tool to have in your toolbox.

Their Java IDE for Android development is also nice. Amazing to be able to write Java on my phone.

The same developer has had IDEs for Java and PhoneGap available for some time, with a good number of installs and decent reviews for the Java version. I have both, but haven't really used them since I have more need for a general text editor. That said, with an external keyboard there's no reason these couldn't be quite functional for programming.

There are other development options on Android devices as well, including Terminal IDE (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spartacusr...) for a full command-line based development environment and DroidEdit (Free and Pro versions) (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aor.droide...) for a more GUI-oriented programmer's text editor.

This looks interesting for a learning/classroom setting.

For comparison, check out http://try.jquery.com/ if you haven't seen the wonderful progress lately.

My current recipe for developing on mobile: iPad/iPhone + "ServerAuditor" app + bluetooth keyboard + vi

It looks interesting but I notice that the in-app purchases range from £1.57 - £23.51 per item. Which bit is £23? Seems steep given that you can write code in Notepad / TextEdit and then load it in your OS-bundled browser on a non-mobile device (laptop/desktop).

I would agree that the tablet / phone is not an ideal platform for writing software or editing code; they are best suited for content consumption.

I also notice that the app is 19MB which seems massive to me for just a text editor and reuse of the built in HTML renderer?

Hopefully this does not seem too negative - just some issues I have with it before even installing it. The other AIDE interface (for Java) seemed alright when I briefly tried it on my Xoom, but it was most effective with a bluetooth keyboard; even then I quickly found the tablet UI limiting.

The internal lessons beyond the beginning ones are $4.99 for 1 month of access or $2/month if you sign up for 1 year, so that's the price range. There are also some "explorers" that look like they're designed for learning more about some areas, mostly in terms of Bootstrap demos.

Thanks for the info. I perhaps have fallen into the trap of devaluing "app store" software given the effort needed to write it.

why?

I've had some long trips a couple times where I would have loved to pull out my nexus and do some web programming. The natural solution would be to get a Surface 3, but I've had a Nexus 10 for a while and really enjoyed it. Battery life lasts forever as well.

We are at the high of the HTML5/JS hype cycle.

Let's say I'm reading a book on functional javascript and want to test some examples.

Same reason writers tend to carry around a moleskine, or artists a sketchpad. Ideas don't always come when you're absolutely ready for them, and being able to get something out right then and there is a lot less frustrating than trying to remember that idea hours later when you're in front of a "proper" device.

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