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Replit Mobile App

blog.replit.com

21–30 of 212 posts

Re: Replit Mobile App

#21
post #17

On a related note, it would be cool if there was a "coding mode" mobile keyboard option. We have built-in keyboards for phone number and formatters for particular things. It would be cool to have a built-in coding keyboard that adapts to the language being written via plugins, etc.

[deleted]

Re: Replit Mobile App

#23
post #18

This is one of those examples for me where the idea is far superior than the implementation. The idea of anyone being able to quickly write code from anywhere, as the main promo video suggests, is fantastic and greatly motivating. In practice, coding on an iPhone (even with an innovative new joystick), is gimmicky at best, given how deeply ingrained good ergonomics are in the coding process. I struggle to see this as…

This is mostly aimed at people who don't have the luxury of coding from a computer. See this tweet from the CEO: https://twitter.com/amasad/status/1582754947480793093 > We partnered with @TeamMindjoy to test the app by teaching girls how to code in a South African township and we made a video about it. During this time the wifi was super unstable and the few laptops they had were unusable, but kids continued to code…

Yes we have stories from all over the world where people are using mobile to build real things. There is a kid in Egypt, for example, that built discord bots for a living on his phone.

Additionally there are also lots of cases were fairly well off folks with access to desktop computers and wifi that find themselves with a phone and want to prototype an idea or make a quick change to a project. I’ve been using it and I find it relaxing to lay back on the couch and do some fun coding. Especially with Ghostwriter (our Copilot-like thing: https://blog.replit.com/ai) it’s super usable. I built large part of my toy Lisp in Python in the app while in the park, waiting at the doctor’s office, or simply relaxing after a long day: https://replit.com/@amasad/Lisp-in-Python

Re: Replit Mobile App

#24
post #3

Very little innovation is done in the area of coding on a small-form mobile device. Early attempts are needed in order to get feedback and learn from experience what works and what doesn't. It's nice to see repl.it is at least attempting to address this "market". Their previous mobile app was so bad I uninstalled it and used the web site directly instead. Hopefully this works better.

Still doesn't work. 1. Already have an account 2. Continue with Github 3. Blank white screen and just stays there. I think I'll wait.

Repit support here: dm'd you on twitter to figure this out.

Re: Replit Mobile App

#25
Isn't this entire problem addressed by having an 11" laptop?

I struggle to see what this is good for, besides solving LeetCode and/or other small, isolated, well defined puzzles on a small screen.

Re: Replit Mobile App

#26
I'm bullish on this because mobile (and web) development is ridiculously overcomplicated to a beginner. I think it's a common misconception that coding/logic is difficult. I find the development setup and deployment to be much more complicated. As evidence, take a look at the impressive workarounds that citizen developers use to make things work in an easy environment like Excel.

A keyboard and mouse probably solve most of the complaints in this thread.

Re: Replit Mobile App

#27
I originally thought that programming on phones was ridiculous, but then I remembered that I did a great deal of programming on TI calculators when I was a kid.

Re: Replit Mobile App

#28
post #17

On a related note, it would be cool if there was a "coding mode" mobile keyboard option. We have built-in keyboards for phone number and formatters for particular things. It would be cool to have a built-in coding keyboard that adapts to the language being written via plugins, etc.

definitely would be nice to have but also don't forget that you can connect any bluetooth keyboard to an iPhone.

Re: Replit Mobile App

#29
Replit recently raised a bunch of money and have really raised their advertising focus enormously. I'm seeing so much hype from them but so underwhelming actual value provided.

Re: Replit Mobile App

#30
I think it's great that they've identified cursor placement as one of the trickier aspects of coding on a phone. The joystick is a great idea, I found it a bit hard to use at first (kind of flies around the screen) but the little buttons are good for getting your cursor inside a string literal, for example.

I'm excited to get my students trying this, many of them only have a school issued iPad. I'm also curious about how well the autocomplete can be tuned. I think right now suggestions are a bit rough, I'm hopeful they'll start using language server suggestions soon. (Something like System.out.println, you should definitely get out as an option after System.)

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