Software development on smartphone

Question

I never considered this so far, but I am curious.. is it now possible to do serious development using a smartphone as dev environment? (ie not using a desktop or laptop). What are your suggestions and experience? (Or even, your wishes!)

Answer 1

I think software development on smartphone is possible, but limited. Some languages like HTML, CSS and JS work perfectly on Android because you just need the system integrated web view to "run" your code. Other languages don't, for example C++ can hardly compiled on your device, you'll need a PC with Android studio for it. Also smartphone don't support typical desktop libraries or frameworks, so even just making a console application (with ncurses) wouldn't work. For me coding on my smartphone isn't as effective, too. On a PC you can use different documents and a web browser simultaneously, a real keyboard and a larger screen. You also have many dev tools like gcc, many different IDEs and useful hotkeys to make your workflow faster.
Finally I'd say development on smartphone is rather for those languages which are supported by the OS, but maybe not as efficient especially while working on larger projects. Also it doesn't seem like phones were optimized for developers, there need to be more tools, mainly compilers (no online compilers like in SL), this is something google/apple should focus on. I personally hope that the upcoming Linux phone will support many tool I'm also using on my Linux PC https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ .

Answer 2

I am developed some simple apps on my device (like an web scraper and a library most some user scripts for browsers).... I think that its not very funny if you use a small device but with table (with right power) you can do it in more funny way

Answer 3

I think that programming on smartphone is good only when you are in bed 😁😁😁

Answer 4

As rightly mentioned by others, yes, serious dev is much easier with a large screen and good keyboard. So what are the best solutions available to attach those on a smartphone? Any advice on brands, apps, techniques...?

Answer 5

Aha... Any one has any thoughts on using oculus or the like to visualise the screen(s)?

Answer 6

@Martin. Yes sure, we all agree that a smartphone is inadequate for programming. The question is about, what would it take to make it possible, or at least tolerable. And how far can we hack it with the current tech available.
(out of curiosity, say :-) )

Answer 7

Martin Taylor good point about the screen. Would it be possible to adapt the resolution though?

Answer 8

thanks for all your comments so far. That's food for thoughts!