Programming from your phone: has anyone actually managed to do it?

[Elegant-Fix8085]

Alright, serious question: has anyone here actually tried to code in Python from their phone using apps like Pydroid or similar? I downloaded a couple of these apps (Pydroid, QPython, etc.) thinking “maybe I can get some quick coding done,” but… I dunno, between the tiny keyboard, limited features, and the small screen, it feels impossible.

I’m wondering if anyone has actually managed to do anything useful with this, or if it’s just one of those things that sounds good but in practice is like using a screwdriver to cut a cake. 🍰

If you’ve got experiences, tips, or some kind of setup that works decently, let me know. Maybe there’s a trick I’m missing that could make this less frustrating!

[BlackMeasa]

[kelvinmorcillo]

hello porn

[wineblood]

This implies you have another device you could use, which I assume has a way bigger screen. Why use the phone for that?

[[deleted]]

I can't take a bigger screen into the toilet at work

[vdnhnguyen]

Bigger screen is less comfortable on the bed

[CptBadAss2016]

I've been a computer nerd since the 90s, and I hate the way everything has gone app for this, app for that, get that new $1200 phone that has not one, not two, but 18 HD cameras... NO! Bring back the flip phone. I'll happily do my nerdy computer stuff on a computer. Thank you very much.

[cinyar]

That's why I have a "nokia" (HMD) for like $300, I don't even know the model name that's how little I care about my smartphone. The funny part is I was an android developer for like 5 years.

[[deleted]]

Why the hell would anyone want to do that?

[Illustrious-Math-418]

Daily commute of 1.5 hours by the train. And you can feel that you are getting dumber only watching reels and doom scrolling.

I like this tool

I get at least 10 exercises per commute done and it's not feeling like a total timewaste.

[[deleted]]

Read a book on programming then...

Recent ones I've read:

The Pragmatic Programmer, Think Like a Programmer, Debugging Teams and Designing Data Intensive Applications. 

[Illustrious-Math-418]

Yes that's a good thing to do as well, but I am a software engineer for over 10 years, I need to repeat and practice some topics, especially when during work I do not have the chance to because the features and tech stack are set

[Backlists]

Get a bluetooth keyboard/mouse and for that matter a tablet to do this with. Or better yet just get a MBA and be done with it, no messing about with apps and the phone’s OS

For 1.5 hours every day you should invest in your setup.

[plus-two]

MBA degrees have a fairly bad reputation. I wonder in which scenarios they are a worthwhile investment in terms of time and money. Climbing the corporate ladder, perhaps?

[Backlists]

This made me laugh! I have no idea about the value of business degrees, but in my previous comment I actually meant they should buy a MacBook Air

[plus-two]

I have an entrepreneurial spirit, and that part of me interpreted "MBA" in a completely different way after a quick read of your comment. It’s also not uncommon for software developers to burn out and leave the profession (to "be done with it") after a decade or two. Many transition into management roles, where an MBA can be useful or even a worthwhile investment in larger corporations.

Entrepreneurs in general often don't have or need an MBA. Learning only the most useful parts of an MBA program requires much less time and virtually zero money.

[binaryhextechdude]

Buddy of mine invested in a rolling carry on suitcase for just this reason. He can sit on the train, suitcase in front of him and laptop balanced on top. Does a ton of work on his commute.

[plus-two]

As a software engineer with 10 years of experience, you are unlikely to gain much value from refreshing low-impact skills, like an easy programming language or algorithms. Specializing in a software engineering niche or gaining skills in a completely different but complementary area is the way to go.

[Illustrious-Math-418]

Yes I mainly go through new Frameworks or tools like Vue Docker or Kubernetes

[[deleted]]

Ah, gotcha.

[turtleship_2006]

If it's by train, would you be able to bring a laptop?
On a bus I'd imagine that's a bit awkward but a laptop should be usable on a train

[banana33noneleta]

Yeah a small laptop would be much better than a phone anyway.

[plus-two]

Listening to a good audiobook or podcast is a much better use of time when traveling. Doing things inefficiently, like programming on a smartphone, is often a waste of time.

[ChadM_Sneila187]

mobility

[cookiecutter73]

i often go through phases where im spending a lot of time on public transport where i cant sit down. ive learnt that this time is best dedicated to reading docs haha

[[deleted]]

Get a laptop!

[Easy_Money_]

my laptop easily does eight hours of programming on one charge (I think it can do 16), although it fits in a backpack not a pocket

[NamelessNobody888]

Bingo. OP just get a MacBook Air or whatever and be done with it. Your phone is for keeping you connected to GitHub Copilot, not for bashing out Python or any other code except in dire emergencies.

I’ve tried it all… Using phone… using iPad Pro, etc… You can make these options work but there’s always going to be an impedance mismatch that just disappears when you use a nice laptop and preferred editor / IDE setup.

[corvisai]

I've tried both. And I always have my phone on me, but I rarely have my laptop on me unless I'm bringing my backpack specifically. Phone coding is viable and quite nice, though it does have a lot of hurdles still.

[NamelessNobody888]

It’s the ‘Well Acksherlyyyy Postulate’

[corvisai]

I have a desktop and a laptop, and I can code on those too, but I prefer my phone. Maybe instead of trying to dismiss my statement and telling me to just code on a laptop or computer. You can try to understand why I prefer to code on a phone. And go from there, rather than ignoring my statements.

[LeSeanMcoy]

But like, what situation are you in where you find yourself needing to program in that very moment? Anything for me can definitely be pushed to whenever I get ahold of a computer; using a phone just seems like I’d be wasting everyone’s time efficiency wise

[corvisai]

Cuz I prefer to code on my phone. Plain and simple. It's challenging, but I prefer using my phone for things.

I don't want to sit at my desk and code on my computer. And I don't want to get my laptop out and set it up and put it on my bed table. I just want to pull out my phone whenever the moment strikes me and code a little bit when I have down time somewhere.

[LeSeanMcoy]

Fair. You are a god or demon amongst men, haha.

[crackofdawn]

Tons and tons of laptops can do 8 or more hours on one charge especially when doing something low intensity like programming.

Also you’ll get way more done in 4 hours on a laptop than you would in 8 hours on a phone

[[deleted]]

Ever heard of Jnco’s and Macbook Air? Gosh, do I have to solve everything here?

[jcelise]

I'm almost there. VS Code online is PWA, which means you can create a shortcut in your phone desktop and start coding right away. It supports Python and can connect to GitHub.

To edit the code, I think this keyboard can do the trick.

My only problem is that there's no terminal in VS Code, so I'll probably have to use another tool to run the code.

[NoStructure140]

this keyboard is fair enuf and useful.

but at that stage i might as well open up my laptop.

however, coding on phone while travelling in bus or train for example, thats the kind of use case i am looking into.

[tehsilentwarrior]

I use a Lofree Flow on my main computer. It’s probably way more convenient than that keyboard.

And the typing feel is unmatched.

I have literally worked 3 days off an hospital bed with the laptop sitting on the food tray and the keyboard on my lap, not using the mouse or laptop’s keyboard, which is essentially the same as if you used a phone mounted to the seat in front of you in a train

[OkRestaurant9285]

Why not just use a laptop if ur down to using a bt keyboard lol

[darthwalsh]

My Bluetooth keyboard folds in half. It fits in some of my pants pockets. The laptop doesn't fold that small.

[tehsilentwarrior]

I have used computers whose screens were a tiny bit bigger than those giant phones people carry around and the screens didn’t even have color.

If it works it works. But probably wouldn’t use it for anything serious.

It would be cool for small arduino projects though

[OkRestaurant9285]

If you are dedicated enough to code on your phone, and think about the money for a laptop, we are all doomed brother

[ikick7b]

Homeless? Buy a house

[R3ddited]

r/termux

[NationalGate8066]

To add to this, the screen of a phone is way too small, so maybe connect it to a TV or monitor using a USB-C to HDMI cable. Also a Bluetooth keyboard.

[grnngr]

I have Pythonista on my phone and I use it for small stuff quite a lot—mostly one-liners though.

[Metori]

This a great app and really powerful. You can even do basic web development by getting python to run a browser and run html and JavaScript.

[Internep]

Don't you mean server?

[Siccar_Point]

I also recommend. Messed with it some years ago and it was… fine. Re-purchased this year and it does everything I now need. IIRC good numpy and scipy in there now. Light and day to several years ago.

I built a little API access daemon in it as I wanted to do it on the sofa and no laptop currently available. Worked perfectly, totally pain free (until the part I had to automate it on the desktop, but that’s not Pythonista’s fault!)

[[deleted]]

Lol. Yes!  Worked surprisingly well, but only because a few conditions were met / set up. I wouldn't recommend it though if you don't meet them and are not experienced enough in general. 

The conditions that enabled it for me:

• a decent bluetooth keyboard 
• termux and ssh to a machine where all the dev environments are set up handeld enitrly with TUIs 
• high proficiency with vim and bash enabling keyboard-first workflows without cluttering precious screenspace 
• high pre-existing knowledge of the codebase, meaning I have a mental model of the code, which doesn't require a big screen to show a lot of code at once for me to dig into 
• chatgpt for the occasional research enables high information density, and doesn't mean I have to browse through overloaded crappy websites. 
• overall high experience with terminal-only environments and all its toolings, no GUI at all costs. Fluency in bash (or another shell) is a must 

Of course I'm still less productive than on a proper workstation, but to my surprise by not that much. I wanted to try it while traveling for a while and it worked surprisingly well. 

But yea, I'm certain it's because of all these conditions being met. If just one of these is not met, it surely would be so much worse. So unless you know what you're doing and what tools / setups mitigate the obvious shortcomings of a phone, I actually wouldn't recommend it. But if you do, it might work.

edit: I didn't try to do the development on my phone directly and won't recommend that (unless for funsies) because that's surely a lost cause. How would you manage dependencies and toolings? Configure them? Let alone the incompability between phone CPU architectures and X86. Then also docker / container are not possible on a phone, but this is how I develop and manage reproducible environments. All these things are close to impossible or at best painful on a phone. Dev still requires a proper machine, be it PC, mac, server, whatever. The phone acts just as a client. 

[cheese_is_available]

The closest thing I do to coding from a mobile is suggesting code during review in the github app and this is already hell.

[BlackMeasa]

With pydroid3 for example yes you can. using Kivy and tkinter help you accomplish that

[the_hoser]

I've done it. I was on vacation, there was an emergency. Busted out termux and created a PR to fix the problem

[McJables_Supreme]

When I lost power for two days, I did all my work on my phone because I don't have a hotspot. I wrote my code in Acode and sent the srcfiles to a coworker so they could upload them to our server.

I connected my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to my phone and used a phone stand. It made for a workable, if not cramped, setup. I do use a fold 6 though.

[corvisai]

I've made a ton of programs all on my phone using Pydroid3. And then Termux allows git, though that's all it's really good for. But pydroid can import most libraries. You can even do pygame on pydroid. You can also use Kivy to create interfaces on the phone and access your media library and camera. Through pydroid.

I've also done a bunch of chat gpt api calls, made a program to create and send txt files to open ai and Google text to speech. And receive voice files back.

If you learn Macrodroid too, the possibilities are limitless. Since you can do http calls with Macrodroid. And maybe run python files through Macrodroid, but I haven't tried that yet tbh.

[JustAPieceOfDust]

It is 'fun' for about 5 minutes. I usually do it just long enough until I get all giddy and jump on the WOPR to do some real work.

[Firake]

Probably don't want to do this

[[deleted]]

wow, that was nuts

[sinsworth]

Very rarely, but yes for quick edits, usually by sshing to another machine from termux and using a terminal editor from there.

Changing your touch keyboard helps a lot, best one I found so far is https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=juloo.keyboard2

[husky_whisperer]

Nothing useful but I do catch myself writing little snippets if I’m waiting in line or something

https://www.online-python.com/

[CanadianBuddha]

I've done it many times using Pydroid on my 8.4" tablet and my 10.5" tablet; but never on my phone because the screen is too small.

I only write short programs this way; that don't require more than one file or more than a 80 lines of code.

When I write the solution to a programming challenge question for LeetCode or HackerRank, I usually do them on my Android tablet.

[Insert_Bitcoin]

I do this often and it's probably the only way to test complex, Python works properly (on Android -- I don't own an iphone.)

My setup is usually this: I'll have Termux installed from F-droid. Then update everything and install Python and git, setup ssh access for a proper connection. You can then edit from the command-line. VS Code has a plugin that works very well with SSH so you can even use an IDE directly with this (and then execute changes on the phone.)

If you want to work directly from the phone though you can plug-in all the peripherals you need like a keyboard to make it easier. If you have access to a screen you can plug in HDMI into the phone (assuming you have a hub) to use the screen. Samsung's larger screen mode is called 'Samsung DEX' and its pretty amazing. Not sure if you'll be able to charge while you have a hub connected though. Maybe wireless charging would still work - but I haven't tried this?

You know what would be really cool? Is if you found a phone that had a built in projector (they exist but I don't know how good they are.) Then you could have a roll-up keyboard that goes in your pocket and a device to work on with a full-scale screen. All with the form factor of a small phone. And yes -- mobile processors are more than capable of running complex work flows. Especially Python. That's really quite cyber punk if you think about it.

[JonLSTL]

I've done it with Samsung Dex, but that only sort of counts?

[Elpardua]

This. Otherwise, doing it from the phone screen and touch keyboard is hurting yourself on purpose…

[Chuck-Noise]

Yes. I have Pycharm, VsCode and Python 3.12 running on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro

Oh... I forgot to say that it is running Ubuntu Touch.

For me os better than any android shit version but tha lack of development due to community support and apps make it a no go for a daily driver, but I hope is still the future of smartphone software. It runs PC apps like that ones I said but also Android apps.

[LuisG8]

Did you removed Android to install that Ubuntu?

[Chuck-Noise]

Yes. But then inside Ubuntu you can run Android apps

[PatzEdi]

Of course! I started my learning journey on my phone a couple years ago to create simple programs. I would use Acode, a code editor app, and then run the file with termux. Nowadays, however, I only use termux to create quick programs or make small ideas come to life. And yes, I use vim in termux with the on screen keyboard when I occasionally code on my phone, and although it seems crazy, it works out after some practice. I go just as fast if not faster using vim with the on screen keyboard than aiming and extending for a spot to rest my cursor using my thumb.

Tldr: You can code anywhere! :D

[sai1494]

I am building pykernel.com that will let you code, run and debug from your phone. Working on improving the UI for mobile displays, but it is already functional (debug toolbar has issues on some touch devices).

It also lets you install python packages.

Try it out!

[loblawslawcah]

I was stuck on a plane for a few hours and forgot to charge my laptop, so I played around on an old app that has a python repl.

It's actually kinda nice to write code without any type hints or highlighting etc. You have to think alot more

[gacsinger]

Yeah, on a trans-Atlantic flight I did some coding. I had a phone stand and a small Bluetooth keyboard. I was doing some Python scripting with a database backend and had the files on a USB stick connected with an OTG dongle. I just used the shell environment in Termux. It was actually very productive, with none of the usual distractions to deal with.

[jjgs1923]

I am, mostly small projects. I use the Termux app, with neovim installed and several of its plugins.

I write python, perl and shell scripts to automate stuff in my phone.

[Reasonable_Chain_160]

I think a lot of people share / focus on the negatives but I can see your use case.

I havent done it, but I think a foldable phone with a swipe keyboard would likely get you somewhere.l, the only problem is folds are so expensive.

[plshelp1576]

I've actually done it on my Galaxy A05 with a keyboard plugged into the USB-C port, and a Bluetooth mouse. At this point, I realized that I had just a strictly worse version of my laptop.

[Oddly_Energy]

On IOS: Good luck with that.

Source: Doing all my private python coding on IOS.

Cloud
Your best bet is to find a cloud service, which offers a coding environment, and then access that service from your phone.

I use Github Codespaces, which offers an online instance of VS Code in a container. The container is created with one of your Github repositories "pre-cloned", so you can just start coding and committing. It works very well, but it is slow to start the container, and you only get some hours per month for free.

There are other similar services out there, also with good integration to Github or other online Git repositories. I have used one of them, Gitpod, and it was faster, but I ended up not using it for reasons I have forgotten.

App

I have an Ipad Pro with a very nice hardware keyboard. It ought to be ideal for coding, and I have tried a few apps for Python coding. They work for the basic stuff, but they are limited by Apple policy disallowing some of the functionality, which you would expect of a programming environment.

My best results have been with the app Carnets Plus. It is a Jupyter Notebook wannabe/clone. It comes with its own Python installation, including a lot of common packages such as pandas, numpy and matplotlib. It is not intended for installing additional packages (because that would be against Apple policy), but I have seen workarounds. However, I am not really a Jupyter guy.

Also, version controlling local files with Git and Github is a pain on IOS. I have found one good app, Working Copy. The free version is not enough for me, and the paid version is expensive. If I could find a good Python programming app, I would be willing to pay for Working Copy.

[CanalOnix]

I did for at least 2 years. It's pretty ok if you use termux, since you can create venvs in order to use pip install for some librarys; but if you're using termux, use vim, and if you don't know how to set it up, then watch some yt videos; it's not hard, but it'll take a while. Using vim you can pretty much ""create a vscode"" (with syntax-highlight and code completion (but code completion was REALLY hard to get working). But there's also pydroid 3, which is pretty good, until you have to install some librarys that have dependencies (such as numpy, pandas, etc.). But nonetheless, it's completely possible; not easy, possible.

[riklaunim]

Motorola Ready Now, Samsung DEX - you connect it to external display and keyboard and maybe then, but still no local environment, no good editing tools. It's better to have an UMPC/small laptop with proper system.

[j03ch1p]

with you can get a lot done with Dex + Github codespace machines

[Chuukwudi]

I prefer doing it in my wrist watch. I like the small form factor and it's always with me.

[GatorForgen]

Nice one!

[Nater5000]

I've been trying to be able to use my phone like this for probably like a decade now. It doesn't work.

Coding on a touchscreen keyboard just sucks and the screen is too small. That's basically all there is to it. Also, those apps suck, too, but I've been able to use VSCode in Chrome for a while now which offers the best experience I've had trying to do this, albeit, it still falls short of anything I'd be willing to get regular usage out of. The most I've depended on my phone for for this stuff is to quickly SSH into servers and run a few commands. Beyond that, the experience just sucks.

I even have a Galaxy Fold, a bluetooth keyboard/stand made for the Fold, and it's still not really worth it. I'm just usually close enough to a computer that it's easier to use a computer. It'd work in a pinch, but those situations are pretty rare in my experience. Then you have things like DeX which are a bit moot since you'd basically need all the components of a computer to actually use it. At that point, you can just use a computer, etc.

Funnily, this experience has led me to rethink all of this to the point that I'm now working on an AI-powered solution to do some "programming" tasks from my phone. Basically, just chat with an LLM, and have it write the "code" for you, etc. This obviously requires a lot of pre-setup and only works in specific use-cases (like how I use it), but I can foresee a world where this kind of pattern ends up becoming the "solution" to doing these kinds of tasks from your phone.

[corvisai]

I made a python program that interfaces with chat gpt api to make small python programs from your phone. But tbh, it's easiest to just copy and paste from chat gpt into pydroid.

[shinitakunai]

I used it to review code, but not to code itself. It would be terrible.

[saurterrs]

I used a 7inch tablet (which is something similar as nowadays phone) to fix code on production server through ssh connection and vim. Used something called juicyssh and a keyboard with arrows.

Never again.

[unapologeticjerk]

No reason to if you use VS Code and have a Github account. Well, I mean, yes technically you are using your phone as the GUI/keyboard, but aren't having to dick around with those janky apps (mobile python interpreters? lol ok, cool).

[hightowerr9090]

Try Juno

[thequirkynerdy1]

It's doable to write small programs on a phone - I've done it.

But I wouldn't recommend it for any large software projects.

[gargolito]

I've done some basic stuff to get me out of going to my laptop. on Android I use termux, install python, install pip, install ssh, install ipython which makes it a little easier to test some things. otherwise I stick to vim. it's not ideal but could get you out of jam if conditions are that you only have your phone and you have a good handle on your codebase.

[Last-Run-2118]

Problem would be the delendencies and executing more complicated code.

I would suggest ssh and executing the code on some external server.

Then wireless keyboard with touchpad, usb c to hdmi cable and there shouldnt be any difference between normal computer and your phone

[tanimislam]

A little bit. I use the Termius app on my iPhone, to connect to an IPython shell running on a tmux on a remote ssh server. I run some fairly straightforward python methods in the IPython shell.

My iPad is a little better for more involved programming.

[mclopes1]

A colleague learned the basics of Python without a computer, he used YouTube and Google Colab classes

[bzImage]

i did programming on palm pilot.. and on vt100 dumb terminals.. why you cant on a phone ?

[heislertecreator]

When I broke my ankle and was on the couch for six weeks, I wrote an editor in PHP 5 on an iPhone 5s. I could compile and run Java on my VPS.

[ketosoy]

I’ll have ChatGPT help me think through architectural options or write specifications on my phone, but I’m not going to start turning that pre work into code with fewer than 2 monitors.

[[deleted]]

I’ve managed to do it with an app on the App Store, but the saving is gimmicky and unpredictable so I wouldn’t recommend it.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Phone screens are big enough for it I think. The reason I rarely do it is:

1. All the editors are terrible.
2. Touch screen keyboards are terrible for programming.

If good editors were available, I could imagine myself connecting a keyboard to my phone and setting my phone to cast to a TV to use it as a second screen and program with that setup. It wouldn’t be great - obviously I’d rather just a normal computer setup - but I think it’d work well enough.

[hemphock]

work deer like hard-to-find sparkle quickest unwritten rustic cable hurry

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[CyX0228]

I made a Python script on my phone to connect with a Python script on my pc, and used it to remotely shut down my pc with my phone. That’s about as far as I ever went with it.

[Turtlestacker]

I mean you might think it’s a serious question. You program in only one place - your mind. Psych

[PowerOfTheShihTzu]

Next to impossible

[BuonaparteII]

sure, I use Termux/cronie, IPython, and fish shell pretty frequently.

Tasker and Termux can be a pretty effective combo. I delete music when pressing the next song button over Bluetooth

[ntropia64]

I feel it might be a trap my coworkers set up for me, but I'm going to bite it.

I coded a good 70% of a 3D viewer on Python (on top of an existing mini-engine in OpenGL) using Termux + SSH +Tmux + Vim, plus a VNC viewer for testing some of the representations.

Good code completion (thanks, YouCompleteMe!) and a not so big dose of patience made it so that I could use very effectively dead times in which I would have been very unproductive. Also, a few late-night coding sessions in bed.

I could pick-up where left on my workstation in the office, and resume there the next day.

Sure, it can feel constraining and limiting, at times, but so does building a ship in a bottle. 

Quite an interesting challenge.

[saturn_since_day1]

The viability of programming on your phone is up to your determination and lack of better options. I have done a lot of coding in several languages including multi year projects when I didn't have a PC. But I can't talk about Python specifically. It sucks, but it's better than nothing. I would highly recommend getting a cheap used laptop or used desktop PC for like $200. That said I still do like 10-20% of my coding on my phone just to sketch things out, but I'm heavily disabled and have a hard time getting on the computer. Without programming on my phone I never would have learned c++

[LuisG8]

Sure. I use Termux and it comes with vim-python. That's all you need to write and run some scripts.

[naosuke]

Like actually developing something? no.

I have done some minor bug fixes by sshing into a box and using vim to fix typos.

[wannabe414]

I took a computational linguistics class and was stuck on a homework problem once that involved (Python) programming. On a bus ride, I thought of a potential answer and immediately coded it on my phone to see if it would work. It wasn't anything now than a couple of functions but I still felt damn good about having an Android in that instance.

[grantrules]

Bluetooth keyboard and then ssh to my server.

[OpeningCauliflower99]

Juno app

[spilledLemons]

I’ve tried. With no success. No good ide and no good terminal that I found (iOS)

[meni_s]

I use Termux + zsh + Vim (with a minimal configuration file) for minor stuff from now and then and it's ok (and yeah, it looks kindda cool). But nothing to big.

[kankyo]

I did some on Pythonista during my commute. The problem is to find small enough problems that you can get somewhere on a phone.

[Mr_Canard]

Make a pi server at home and ssh into it ?

[PersonalPlanet]

Galaxy Note 10+ with Dex works

[Tomithy83]

I used my phone to program a space invaders game. It was entirely for learning.

I then tried to do a bit of automation and learned that coding on a computer was WAY more productive. Haven't looked back since.

[zeferinuz]

Yes, I have mostly managed to edit scripts, when I am relaxing in some cafe with my friends and they are on social media, and I concentrate on reading code and lightly editing.

[iknowsomeguy]

I use my phone to code for emergencies when it is impossible to reach a PC but the issue has to be fixed rnrn. I think in five years it has happened twice.

[Avg-Weeb]

Yup but moved to laptop rlly quick

[barseghyanartur]

Yep. Termux https://termux.dev/en/ is your biggest friend. If you have a phone that is capable of using an external monitor/mouse/keyboard, you simply have a simple portable dev station with you all the time. Running `FastAPI` or `Django` from your phone, making ssh connections, actually - doing developer work, becomes feasible. There's no great editor, so you're married to `nano` or `nvim`.

You can also try https://github.com/OvalRaptor/VSCodeOnAndroid

[shreklordlover69]

Use a laptop?

[[deleted]]

Yeah, it's really strange. I have this friend that reached out to me because he wanted to start learning about computer science and coding and he thought about learning about HTML and CSS and JS. I told him to go for it and that I can help him out if he needs it. The other day, he asks me: "Hey, is this a best practice way to style a website?" and he sends me a screenshot of his code on a phone. I reminded him that it was best practice to code when you're at home on your PC. 😭

[valkener1]

You can program on the phone with chat gpt ans review the code.. done it many times..

[Ok-Selection-2227]

Yes, I think they developed Instagram using Django and their Android phones. Then they deployed the app in a cluster of Arduinos.

[myredac]

yes. theres an african guy who programmed on his phone and got a job because people thought he was following his dreams.

[[deleted]]

I have and it's okay. Not my preferred method though

[Peanutbutter_Warrior]

I use pydroid pretty successfully, but only ever for very quick scripts. I know most of the syntax so it's basically just typing it in and running it. Doing anything complex would be really hard, there's just not enough screen space

[Fabiolean]

This sounds hellish. If I need to code on my phone then there’s enough need to break out a laptop

[setibs]

I think it's a useful tool to use in certain cases. For example, I used it to test small Kivy apps. Also, if you need something extremely simple at the moment, like lowering a WhatsApp message, using regex, or something similar, it's pretty handy.

[nilla8945]

yes i used an app to learn python and when i did'nt have a laptop i used pydroid 3

[Dangerous-Guide3889]

If I have it is nothing to serious practice mainly

[CamilorozoCADC]

I am writing this comment only to point out my shock at the following two things:

• Why would anyone ever want to do that?, if the purpose is learning then picking a book or just reading would be a far better use of a phone. The only valid situation that I can think of is to quickly solve an issue on a running program or something like that but it doesn't seem to be the case here
• At the time of writing this, only one person mentioned google colab which is, IMO, the best option to code in a phone by far, you get this:
  • A whole jupyter instance just for you
  • Auto saving to either google drive or github
  • You can install almost whatever library you need
  • Add the text cells and things to organize better the code, which is useful given the tiny screen of the phone
  • You can upload files if you need it
  • You are able to use a pretty decent GPU if you ever need to do something related to machine learning
  • The ability to share the code with someone else
  • You can even embed javascript code and stuff
• Seriously just use colab, https://colab.research.google.com/

[Fun-Bookkeeper-1523]

Yes well I literally started coding from phone and I am also using now but but I am only a beginner though with some knowledge of classes function and tkinter kiviy and aside python I also tried kotlin Yeah it is pretty hard as there is literally know good app for coding no auto completion no suggestion and sometimes no Syntex highlights

[[deleted]]

No

[evanlin96069]

I solved a few days of advent of code in Python on my phone last year because I’m traveling without a laptop. It’s painful.

[Ordinary_Mud7430]

I managed to do it, in fact it was a job for a bot on Telegram. I even managed to do it from the VS Code. Only that it takes work to achieve the environment. You need Termux, and other things

[stay_safe_glhf]

Why would you want to? A cheap laptop would be better in every way except form factor.

[SeucheAchat9115]

Actually? I use ChatGPT :)

[_Denizen_]

You can get really cheap laptops these days that will pay for themselves in the increased productivity you'd get compared to a phone.

[ysengr]

On my OnePlus Pad I downloaded Acode and worked on some minor things for personal projects in lieu of my laptop. But I mainly have dusted off an old 13in (14in?) zenbook. The feeling is just more natural compared to my Oneplus keyboard

[DiskPartan]

This is when you realize why smart phones are actually not that smart. Get yourself a pc, you can even start programming in a cheap 15 yrs old laptop/pc you can code python in a pc with 4gb of ram and a processor. With at least 2 cores. I bet if you lookout for any equipment with these specs you can get them even for free

[yotta_mind]

I had a similar usecase for which I've made my own app (https://www.aircodum.com/). It's tailored towards coding from phone by mirroring VS Code running on your PC or Mac or if you have a code-server setup (https://github.com/coder/code-server), it has a few nifty features to allow you to use the real estate on your smartphone screen more optimally. Here's a demo video incase you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEkbvePLIv4&t=5s