I used Cloud9 (pre-Amazon acquisition) for teaching high schoolers the basics of programming. It was super easy to set up and use. It really let me, as the teacher, focus on teaching syntax and principals and less on 'toolchain config', which is helpful for newbies right out of the box.
I haven't used this new Amazon Cloud9 offering, but from the initial impression from the blog post, they've traded in the easy of use that Cloud9 once had for a deeper integration into the AWS ecosystem. The screenshots I saw were not something I'd want a greenhorn to have to walkthrough.
I'm not sure what future I expected when Amazon purchased Cloud9, but I mourn the potential loss of an awesome cloud based IDE that beginners could easily pickup (my mind can be swayed once I give it a try though).
Slightly contrarian opinion, but I think this will be great for bootcamps. AWS skills are starting to be sort of a minimum requirement to getting hired and familiarity with the platform early will pay huge dividends in their careers.
I even think this benefits high schoolers and college students. If AWS gives credits to schools who implement Cloud9 in their curriculums, they're going to get a big win here.
Hi Brock,
At Codeanywhere we have a very simple setup for educational uses, we can even set up a containers especially for you institution. If you are interested please send me an email at ivan at codeanywhere. Best!
I'm also a long time Cloud9 user. I agree that with this AWS changeup, it will suck and be awful that to share a workspace with other users, it will [probably] require them to also be on a AWS account.
I haven't used this new Amazon Cloud9 offering, but from the initial impression from the blog post, they've traded in the easy of use that Cloud9 once had for a deeper integration into the AWS ecosystem. The screenshots I saw were not something I'd want a greenhorn to have to walkthrough.
I'm not sure what future I expected when Amazon purchased Cloud9, but I mourn the potential loss of an awesome cloud based IDE that beginners could easily pickup (my mind can be swayed once I give it a try though).