41–50 of 75 posts
The question should be "how effective is it" not whether you can or not. Sure you can read a lot of programming resources using your phone and perhaps even write and run some programs, but it would not be as effective as practicing it on computer.
Can passion overcome constraints?
Probably, yes; the first programmers did not even have keyboards or screens, but rather swapped out the relays manually and checked their voltmeters. But what is the point? You will not be able to complete the exercises as quickly and it will be a pain to download and configure all the software. You can get a cheap Chromebook for $200, stick Ubuntu on it ( https://www.lifewire.com/install-linux-on-chromebook-4125253…
also, while I could buy a Chromebook definitely, hundreds of millions of people are not as much previleged as myself, but so many of them would have this burning desire to build something new, to learn programming. can they do it?
Probably, yes; the first programmers did not even have keyboards or screens, but rather swapped out the relays manually and checked their voltmeters. But what is the point? You will not be able to complete the exercises as quickly and it will be a pain to download and configure all the software. You can get a cheap Chromebook for $200, stick Ubuntu on it ( https://www.lifewire.com/install-linux-on-chromebook-4125253…
Umm...$200 is a lot of money in many parts of the world. You never know who you might be responding to.
Yes. My younger brother did learn programming in a phone. He started in Nokia 2700 Classic, which is not even a smartphone. Then he took a Samsung which runs Android. He certainly didn't become an expert using those devices. But he learnt the basics of Python. One thing to note probably is, he started very young. And in young ages people can learn very easily. I don't think I can learn programming in a smartphone in…
Did you mean GNURootDebian? Don't know about R but I have learned a lot of C using the Termux app, I know python is supported. With Termux you are limited to a terminal, but personally I have never been able to see emulated Linux desktop on a phone correctly... Of course if your course includes gui programming you need full desktop. I would recommend getting an external keyboard for programming, or at least the hacke…
I would definitely try out Termux, thanks so ever much!
Not practically. If you hooked up a keyboard, used emacs or vim as an editor, you would likely be able to program enough to pass a intro to programming course (with significantly more difficulty than anyone on a computer). In theory you could do a fair bit of development work on your phone, but in practice it would be far too much friction to develop any real (i.e. more complex than intro to programming assignments)…
hundreds of millions of people have only a smart-phone as a computer.
Can you play tennis with chopsticks? Sure but it will be terrible. Your phone is a terrible way to program...you will type 20x slower and see 10x less than a real screen. And you won't be able to quickly switch tabs, search Google, etc. Just get a cheap laptop.
Also won't be able to debug responsive web apps, setup break points in chrome or firefox debugger etc etc. Will be quite a nightmare doing this on a smart phone, even if you have a bluetooth keyboard to speed up the typing...
Ehh... Sure. It CAN be learned, but just because you can doesn't mean you should. Everything about the process will be... Just difficult. Tedious. Don't do it.
pedagogical approach for mobile has to be completely different than the classroom ones, and that's what I am after.
Go for it! Adding a USB keyboard would be immensely helpful. Seeing that you have access to the internet I would second @rl3's suggestion about trying a (free or cheap) VPS service and SSHing to the machine, especially for snapshots, networking and better performance.
Have you considered using a Chromebook? It costs $150 and runs Ubuntu.