I think this is more common than people realize. Especially in the Indian subcontinent, where most people have a smartphone but only few have a PC. I learnt programming on pen and paper first and then on those phone IDEs even before I had access to a pc. And even after a PC, I used to use my phone as a display for my desktop via chrome remote desktop because my monitor got damaged and only showed shades of green. And my case wasn't even that extreme, I was just not that bothered to get a proper setup until I really got into programming. The situation is way more difficult who are constrained by their financial situation and have to find a way around it.
Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
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Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's gotten to the ridiculous state where common phones will very often have more screen resolution than 14'' laptops. So as long as you have a way to comfortably stand close enough you won't be lacking for pixels. Eye strain from focusing that close will probably be higher though.
But in this case, they just have a low resolution phone, AFAICT.
This is clearly an extreme case, and quite impressive. I was commenting on the general case of developing on a phone screen. 2300x1080 phone screens are now on ~200$ phones, while getting more than 1920x1080 on a 14'' laptop is difficult and gets you a "why would you even want more than FHD on a 14'' laptop" comment consistently. At least 16:10 is now becoming more common so 1920x1200 is growing a bit.
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#13That is some hardcore hackery-dackery. It takes dedication and a real desire to learn to put up with such adverse conditions. I know a chap who, for a while, had spotty access to a PC except for the locked down one he had at work in his (non-programming) job. He passed the long hours making tiny JavaScript hacks in the URL bar.
While I don't mean to slight the front-end dev's dedication, there are more than a few of us who learned BASIC programming in the late 1970's and early 1980's... without access to any computing device at all. We would study BASIC from manuals and other books, and pour over program listings in magazines. Then we would write out programs on paper, and "interpret" them in our heads to see if they worked correctly. Some…
When I first got my hands on a computer late 90s, other people should have seen my fathers facial expression when he saw his 10 year old son typing "weird code" into a terminal window at a "lightning" 1-2chars/sec speed :) I didn't have the pocket money to buy expensive foreign computer magazines, so I was studying at the book store when we went to the mall.
People all complain that the hardware is too closed these days, but I get emotional when I see kids having access to such inexpensive hardware. Amazing times.
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#14Reminds me of Kintaro Oe in "Golden Boy". He learns to program on a fake laptop built with cardboard.
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#15It must be a horrible work of hackery to turn a smartphone based on iOS or Android into a useful device. Kudos to him. If he was able to do that, then development shouldn't put up much barriers anymore. I would totally buy him a decent PC though.
FWIW it really isn't that hard on Android, as you can just install Termux and then install stuff like clang or the Android SDK tooling. For a while a couple years ago I was doing this and using a foldable bluetooth keyboard; the setup was small enough to fit in my jacket pocket and felt a bit more convenient than carrying around a laptop.
I tried this and it was a bit of a pain. Partly because the device didn't have enough storage, but stuff like finding a decent editor was hard, and just about everything needs some tweak to work.
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#16That is some hardcore hackery-dackery. It takes dedication and a real desire to learn to put up with such adverse conditions. I know a chap who, for a while, had spotty access to a PC except for the locked down one he had at work in his (non-programming) job. He passed the long hours making tiny JavaScript hacks in the URL bar.
While I don't mean to slight the front-end dev's dedication, there are more than a few of us who learned BASIC programming in the late 1970's and early 1980's... without access to any computing device at all. We would study BASIC from manuals and other books, and pour over program listings in magazines. Then we would write out programs on paper, and "interpret" them in our heads to see if they worked correctly. Some…
I have a similar history. What amazes me is that I used to write in assembly language for the Z80, plugging in the hex machine code numbers inline into BASIC and Turbo Pascal programs, and I never saw an assembly manual, instruction list or book, and never had an assembler! Somehow picked up instructions one at a time from magazine columns, wrote assembly on paper and hand-translated into machine code. It's such a different world now, being able to order online, if not download instantly, just about everything. I came across Rodney Zaks' Programming the Z80 about 10 years ago in a second hand shop and it was like seeing the Holy Grail—a legendary book I never imagined I'd ever see a copy of, much less own.
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#17That is some hardcore hackery-dackery. It takes dedication and a real desire to learn to put up with such adverse conditions. I know a chap who, for a while, had spotty access to a PC except for the locked down one he had at work in his (non-programming) job. He passed the long hours making tiny JavaScript hacks in the URL bar.
While I don't mean to slight the front-end dev's dedication, there are more than a few of us who learned BASIC programming in the late 1970's and early 1980's... without access to any computing device at all. We would study BASIC from manuals and other books, and pour over program listings in magazines. Then we would write out programs on paper, and "interpret" them in our heads to see if they worked correctly. Some…
I have difficulties understanding this. I learned Basic ard 84 on a c64. I don't understand why anybody would learn it without access to any device. I mean what would even get one interested in it/how would one know this exists?
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#18When I was learning programming, all I had was a big book called "Thinking in C", a notepad (pen and paper), and lots of free time. Few days a week I will go to the library to retype my solutions from the exercises.
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
FWIW it really isn't that hard on Android, as you can just install Termux and then install stuff like clang or the Android SDK tooling. For a while a couple years ago I was doing this and using a foldable bluetooth keyboard; the setup was small enough to fit in my jacket pocket and felt a bit more convenient than carrying around a laptop.
I tried this and it was a bit of a pain. Partly because the device didn't have enough storage, but stuff like finding a decent editor was hard, and just about everything needs some tweak to work.
My experience is not that bad. It's Linux after all, of course you're gonna need to tweak something. I spent a few hours customizing Neovim with Coc.nvim and were off to go.
It's kinda crazy that Termux on my phone runs smoother than any terminal on my laptop. (TBF it does have more RAM and faster storage!)
Re: Nepalese student learns HTML, JavaScript, CSS using just a mobile phone
#20Sadly, this is how things are for many of us students, I currently study bachelors in CS here in Nepal and for me and some of my friends stuck in our villages (lockdown isn't still over here yet), we have been doing C assignments using editors avalialble in the playstore.
Seeing these apps have millions of downloads, we're definitely not alone and I have seen many indian and other south asian friends do the same.
My personal setup includes a 2$ stand and A samsung J7 phone paired with a keyboard over OTG cable. Since I have been doing this for few years I have a pretty complex setup of termux, a student credit powered VM from Azure, emacs. I have managed to develop python cli apps, jupyter notebooks, even flutter development using some port forwarding hacks.