Cloud IDEs have existed for about ten years and are on their way to becoming credible competitors to desktop IDEs. This article explains what a cloud IDE is, what the benefits of adopting one are, and what the existing options are.
What is a cloud IDE?
A cloud IDE is a development environment accessible from a web browser, which allows you to edit code located on a remote server.
The cloud IDE presents itself as a replacement for the desktop IDE, following the trend of more and more desktop applications being replaced by web applications.
You can get a quick overview of what a cloud IDE looks like
here.
Why choose a cloud IDE?
Compared to desktop IDEs, cloud IDEs offer several advantages:
You can share your code in real time with your colleagues. So, if you don't understand why your bit of code isn't working, you can simply share the URL to the code in question with another person so they can help you. This also allows for remote pair-programming, by coding together on the same file as one would write on a Google Doc with several people.
Conversely, two common criticisms often made about cloud IDEs are:
What are the existing cloud IDEs?
Although there are several dozen cloud IDEs, here are a few of the best-known and most accomplished:
At Galadrim, we've developed our own environment, based on
code-server, an open-source port of VS Code to the browser. This environment allows us to start new pre-configured projects with a single click, and facilitates team collaboration thanks to real-time code sharing.
The question of whether cloud IDEs will ever completely replace desktop IDEs remains open; we hope this article has helped you form an opinion on the subject.
