What about a WDE?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Uno Punto Zero
1

This suggestion may be beyond the scope of the 1.0 discussion, but I would love to see a web-based development environment (WDE).

Here's how it could work:

  1. You'd log in to the web site to access your files. You could upload, download, edit and create source files. The files would all be safely stored in the "cloud", safe from PC disk crashes.

  2. Compiling and linking would take place on the web host server.

  3. I think that simple avrdude functions could be implemented in Javascript, allowing for direct downloading of compiled sketches to Arduino boards. If it's beyond Javascript capabilities, then you would have to download avrdude for your PC platform.

There are lots of advantages to the WDE. It would minimize the Windows/Mac/Linux platform support problems. One could work on their projects from any PC. Sharing code would be easy.

Of course, there will be disadvantages, too. It would be a substantial development effort. You would still have to contend with browser differences, although packages like GWT can minimize that. And, the biggest problem might be finding servers suficently powerful to host a bazillion Arduino hackers editing, compiling, and downloading at the same time.

-Mike

2

One HUGE negative for me is that you have to be online.

That is a requirement I think one should think about twice before enforsing it on a clientelle.

[edit]That sounded awefully negative. It is a good idea, especially for crossplatform project. And the ability to work on a project from any computer is a wery appealing feature. :)[/edit]

3

mbed works like that (http://mbed.org/) and people praise it and moan about it in equal measure.

Andrew

4

Alphabeta,

I forgot to mention the negative that you have to be online. :slight_smile:

You bring up an interesting point. It would be hard to take away the existing platforms, so the WDE just becomes another platform to support, rather than eliminating maintenance.

Regards,

-Mike

5

You don't have to be online you have to be able to connect to a web server.

Running a local apache server may be more hassle than most users would want but
it is not difficult. If you want local access you install a webserver otherwise
you need to be online.

(* jcl *)