
Show HN: FriendCode – Reinventing coding with the cloud - friendcode
https://friendco.de
======
showsover
What value does this add to a local IDE? With my local IDE I can still program
when the internet (or any one hop between my pc and your servers) goes down.

A friend invited me to his workspace and all I got was an email containing the
following: > Code with me on [https://friendco.de](https://friendco.de)

~~~
WithTeeth
This is not the place for debating the value of cloud IDEs - they're out
there, whether this one, cloud9, koding, or codeanywhere. This is the place to
provide feedback on this particular product within that category. Let's not
reinforce the stereotype of HN commenters if possible.

~~~
benologist
This is exactly the place to debate the value of a product we're being shown.
That feedback is far more valuable than what the OP will get if we dismiss the
business model as taboo. There are negative ramifications to using online-only
software, that's not the same as a negative comment.

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k__
Heh, still got the chrome plugin, which replaces 'the cloud' with 'my butt'.

It makes tech-news a charm to read.

~~~
ToastyMallows
Link for the lazy: [https://github.com/panicsteve/cloud-to-
butt](https://github.com/panicsteve/cloud-to-butt)

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cbhl
On your pricing page: for Enterprise plans, instead of saying "$ TBD/mo", you
should just say "Contact Us" in both spots.

~~~
SamyPesse
Good idea, thank you :)

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esw
This looks incredibly slick, but I'm still seeing "FriendCode is setting up
your Environment. It may take a few seconds" after about ten minutes of
waiting. I clicked in from the large graphic on the home page (using FF 24.0).

~~~
SamyPesse
Thank you, it's possible that there is some issues booting a new VM for your
project because of the amount of VMs already booted, we are working on these
issues.

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diggan
I was interested in trying it out for doing pair programming. Didn't get so
far before I gave up though.

* Login with Github, trying to import project, didn't work.

* Setup demo application, trying to find how to try it out.

* After looking around ~5 minutes, found the "open web server url" link

* "An error has occurred: {"code":"ECONNREFUSED","errno":"ECONNREFUSED","syscall":"connect"}" as response when using the url

* Trying to open up terminal to debug, terminal loading never ends

* Open up logs console thing, blank file.

* Closed tab and gave up

~~~
SamyPesse
* Login with Github, trying to import project, didn't work. -> Is it a public or private project ? Can you give me the github url ?

* "An error has occurred: {"code":"ECONNREFUSED","errno":"ECONNREFUSED","syscall":"connect"}" as response when using the url -> The "open web server url" link open the port 5000 of your VM, you need to run something on this port before accessing it.

* Trying to open up terminal to debug, terminal loading never ends -> It seems there is an issue connecting you browser using websocket.

~~~
diggan
* Github, public and private. [https://github.com/victorbjelkholm/angularblog](https://github.com/victorbjelkholm/angularblog) is one public I tried.

* Aha, shouldn't be impossible to add a better error message or a hint that you actually need to start the software? Starting a new application, it's not clear that nothing is done for you. For example, when starting the NodeJS template, it would be cool if it ran npm install and node web.js or something like that so the setup would to be.

* Websockets shouldn't be a problem, running Chrome Canary and Firefox Aurora.

This looks very similar to Koding what I can see. Could you tell me of any
differences you know about between this and Koding?

~~~
SamyPesse
* Ok thank you, I'll look into this issue.

* Thank you for the feedback, we need to improve this by adding an "auto-execution" system (in a way like Heroku) which detect the project type and run it (install package.json dependencies for node, requirements.txt for python, ... and start the application).

* Ok, it's probably an issue on our side.

* We are focus on simplicity and trying to not just bring the local IDE on your browser, but really add innovation that can only come from a cloud IDE : realtime collaboration, ... We are building FriendCode as a collaborative workspace editor in the cloud : each projects is a GIT repository and each branches is a workspace. Koding is more like a local IDE in the cloud : each user has its own VM and do whatever he wants inside, FriendCode gives a clear separation between projects : each projects has its own environment.

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ateevchopra
This is awesome ! This is exactly what I was looking for. And i'm sure every
small startup teams would love to switch to it. I just have a suggestion for
you guys, Create something like a section for small students projects too.
Small teams from colleges can learn to work together with this very fast.

UPDATE: I'm not able to signup with bitbucket. ?

~~~
SamyPesse
Please Can you send me your Bitbucket username and email address at
samy@friendco.de.

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danielgrieve
I created a project using the Ruby sample app, but that's about as far as I
got (same Setting up Environment problem that others are reporting).

I thought I'd try deleting the project I created, but it doesn't seem to do
anything. It's also very weird to have a checkbox to delete the project, and
then clicking "Save".

~~~
SamyPesse
Thank you for the feedback, really sorry that workspaces are down right now ..

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lcasela
"FriendCode is setting up your Environment. It may take a few seconds"

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denshadeds
Before I say goodbye to my editor, here are a few features that are critical,
but sadly are missing:

\- Debug break points. Yes, I can't live without a debugger. \- Follow a
signature to its implementation/declaration, usually by clicking on it. \-
Auto completion. I refuse to work without this. \- Refactor tools, I've loved
these tools since the 90's. \- Code generation like getters/setters. ...

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eranation
Sounds great, but I get an error (simply seeing "Error :(" displayed briefly)
when clicking the "Try Now" button... then it redirects to the login page...
is that as designed? I need to sign up to try it?

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denshadeds
Also creating my environment would take a few seconds. It's already running
for 2 hours.

[http://imgur.com/RLkai25](http://imgur.com/RLkai25)

Yup, this is about the time it would have taken me to set it up myself.

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WithTeeth
This looks great! I use Cloud9 right now for all my development; can you tell
me if this is different or just an alternative? The collaboration looks more
advanced than Cloud9's for one

~~~
SamyPesse
Yes, we're more focus on realtime collaboration and simplicity (more simpler
to deploy to PaaS like Heroku, Openshift, etc, and simpler to use with GitHub
and BitBucket).

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benjy1
Looks like a great service, maybe add a subscribe to your homepage for people
who are having issues creating a workspace. I'll check back later. Great work
though, looks very nice!

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IanCal
Looks cool, but I haven't been able to make a new workspace so far,
everything's just waiting. I assume you've had quite a traffic bump.

~~~
SamyPesse
Yes, really sorry about this...

~~~
IanCal
Not a problem, I'll try again later or in a few days (repeatedly trying to
load things probably isn't going to help matters).

My wife is learning to code, and this might be a good step on from codeacademy
where she can actually make a website and get it hosted with minimal fuss.

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jophde
It's awesome when you can't work without Internet! I am traveling around South
America and offline docs and editors are a godsend right now.

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lynchdt
I signed up and created a sinatra and java app. Wouldn't usually be one to but
a downer on a new product but the whole process was quite buggy.

Great idea though.

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epaga
Looks very impressive. Can't get a new blank Java project to compile or run
yet though (java: command not found). May be doing something wrong.

~~~
SamyPesse
Sorry, We don't include java in the current VMs, but it's coming soon.

~~~
epaga
OK, too bad.

Any other limitations to know about?

Like I said: looks very promising!

~~~
SamyPesse
Right now, you can't install anything in the VM using apt-get (because you
can't be root), but a solution to this will come soon to let you install
anything you need.

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wslh
Nice but the cursor is not properly positiones in iOS6.

~~~
patman81
Testing it on my iPad was he first thing I wanted to try. I would love it, if
I could make small changes while on the go with iOS. But, I'm still waiting
for the environment to start. I guess I will have to try again tomorrow.

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colinbartlett
So this is Heroku in its original form?

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cyrus_
Seems very similar to Nitrous.IO.

~~~
SamyPesse
We are more focus on bringing simplicity and more collaboration to the
developer environment in the cloud, and nitrous is more focus on cloning the
local developer environment to the cloud.

------
af3
"Goodbye the cloud – Reinventing coding with the Old Editor" \-- Sublime Text
3 coming Oct 9th to all theaters in your area!

~~~
davexunit
Please use a free editor instead. I recommend Emacs. Vim is fine, too.

~~~
shawabawa3
> Please use a free editor instead. I recommend Emacs. Vim is fine, too.

Why? I have tried a huge number of editors including vim and emacs. Sublime is
by _far_ my favourite, but I shouldn't use it because it isn't FOSS?

Fuck that

~~~
davexunit
>but I shouldn't use it because it isn't FOSS?

Yes.

>Fuck that

Have fun when it's no longer supported in a year or two.

~~~
shawabawa3
> Have fun when it's no longer supported in a year or two.

..or 10, or 20. Or until it's open sourced

The developer has said multiple times that if it ever comes to a point where
he no longer wants to develop it he'll open source it.

Either way, it's the best editor right now for me. If it stopped being
supported today, it would _still_ be the best editor for me. I will continue
to use it until it isn't.

~~~
davexunit
The main problem is that the developers do not respect your freedom. When
there are plentiful free replacements, I see no reason to use proprietary
software.

~~~
shawabawa3
> The main problem is that the developers do not respect your freedom.

Now I just feel like I'm getting trolled.

Doesn't he have the freedom to market his software however he wants? It's not
like I'm being forced to use his software, I'm not even forced to _pay_ to use
his software (the trial is so unobtrusive that I used it for a year before
paying).

