

Browser-based IDE for writing webapps 100% in JavaScript - vladd
http://www.erbix.com/js/

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rkalla
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.

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justincormack
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.

~~~
rkalla
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.

~~~
justincormack
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.

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

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

~~~
mw63214
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> )

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d0m
It seems interesting, but I find it tries to do "too much"; Like with the
AppStore, the SQL console etc etc.

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guptaneil
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?

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

~~~
guptaneil
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.

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ams6110
ssh and vnc? Is this possible on a Chromebook?

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

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nikcub
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

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

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

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krallja
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.

------
known
So how do you code an AJAX Web page?
[http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9002170/So_how_...](http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9002170/So_how_i_do_i_you_code_an_AJAX_Web_page_)

