Cloud technologies have penetrated virtually every industry, from IT, finance and marketing to education, government and even the public sector. No downloads, instant access to services, immediate exchange of information – this is just a short list of the benefits the cloud can offer.
When it comes to software, nearly every desktop app now has several web based counterparts. For some people who grew up during the cloud boom, the use of desktop apps is an atavism. The last bastion of desktop software is the IDE – the system that developers use to create apps, services, SDKs etc.
It seems odd that every type of application has already moved to the cloud, but IDEs still hold on to the past.
This article doesn’t aim to discuss the pros and cons of cloud based and desktop IDEs. There are more than enough of such discussions online. It’s a question of time and history. The rising cloud market will definitely pursue an offensive, and it’s really interesting to watch it.
Easy onboarding is among the top advantages of cloud based IDEs, which means that in order to get an account and start building your first application, you will need around 2-3 mins. That’s because you don’t have to set up an environment and look for plugins for your IDE: everything’s already set up. It’s true, trying out new technologies is easier than ever!
The question that has preoccupied me for some time is “Just how long would it take to create a simple Spring app (out of a template) and deploy is to a Cloud Foundry, provided you have a clean Linux machine?”
The only thing to do, then, is to actually try it. After all, how can one prove the benefits of cloud IDEs other than by visually demonstrating it?
Below is a recording of our little experiment with fairly precise records of the time required to complete the abovementioned task, using two approaches: desktop (with Eclipse) and entirely in the cloud (with Codenvy).
See what you think.
Eugene IvantsovEugene Ivantsov is a tech writer, and manages customer support at Codenvy.
