Life is changing every day so do smartphones. If you still think that a little device on your hands is only capable to make calls and text, you’re definitely out of the line. So, what exactly can it do besides the mentioned functions? We would say many and surprisingly, coding is also included.
Yes, it’s feasible in terms of can you code on your phone, but how can you do it and what tools (or apps) are required to do it? Grown Tech Solution will show it all for you in this article.
What You Need To Code On Your Phone
By and large, you can start coding on your smartphone immediately by installing a handful of supporting applications like Word Editor and other Python apps. However, learning how to code on this unusually-used platform will require you to have the willingness. We’re talking about your caliber and experience in coding before rolling your sleeves up and getting the work. It will determine the amount of time you will spend doing this. Nevertheless, the rest is actually straightforward.
You need to bear in mind that your phone has more technology than the Apollo 11 space shuttle, meaning it has enough power and functions to aid you in coding.
What Are The Issues When Coding On Your Phone?
Obviously, there are big, countless differences and quality between coding on phones and laptops/PC. It’s no secret that your coding skill won’t get any improvement after this experience since phone coding is relatively simple and is oftentimes considered an amateur playground for newbies to get used to coding.
So, coding on phones doesn’t necessarily need you to possess great skills and years of experience, thus it’s totally approachable.
What Apps To Download
There is a slew of apps out there that can help you to code on phones and can be set up in multiple languages. These apps below are designed with great and versatile UI, hence you will find it extremely easy to follow up at the very beginning.
Encode
We highly recommend every new phone coder out there install this app due to its simple and sophisticated UI.
That said, the app itself does provide an immense amount of insight into coding, allowing you to choose the stage and level that is suitable to your skills and experience as well as to personalize everything accordingly.
However, it only includes JavaScript, which is the world’s most well-known programming language.
Udacity
Want to turn your smartphone into a coding beast system? Udacity couldn’t be a better option for you with tons of integrated options to choose from. The apps will coach you on how to code: CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and Python.
Some of Udacity’s courses are created and designed by seasoned pros and free-charged. But of course, there are limitations if you want to proceed further, requiring you to pay an additional fee to update your account into a premium.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy is also a great option if you want to learn how to code on a phone as it’s available for both iOS and Android.
Similar to Udacity, Khan Academy has a vast collection of coding knowledge, and more importantly, it’s outright free. Here, newcomers can learn to code with a sophisticated keyboard and text editor.
Further than that, Khan Academy offers a diverse coding experience from CSS to HTML, and from web design to app development.
Code Hub
It’s rare to find any code app on the market that can provide such an intricate coding learning program like Code Hub, which will guide you through from the core, the basis, essentials, and principles to become a pro-coders or developer. Of course, you will have a ton of homework to practice after each course.
Considering its huge coding teaching system, it can be said Code Hub by far is the best app for those who want to take on phone coding.
As you access the app, just go for the categories that you see fit for your skills and let the app do the magic. It will take you from the basic steps and gradually increase the level of difficulty to challenge you along the course.
Moreover, the greatest aspect of Code Hub is its clear learning pathway that allows every learner can keep track of their progression.
Other Requirements
Besides installing apps, it’s crucial to have a QWERTY keyboard, coupled with a simple text editor for coding.
However, you don’t need to worry about that since your smartphone is already integrated with the QWERTY keyboard while the text editor for coding will be presented as soon as you access one of the above coding apps.
Experiencing coding on phones will offer you an opportunity to save your pop-up ideas for various apps and websites. It’s about punctuality!
How To Code On Your Phone?
Before jumping into coding right away, you’d want to turn your mobile device into a desktop. So, how to do that? These tools below are all you need before writing your first code:
1. Text Editor
This is the basic requirement to start coding on your mobile phone: A Source Code Editor. But why do we need it? The Text Editor will aid coders in editing text files that are written in programming languages.
In addition to that, if you want your phone-coding experience to be very smooth, your editing tool must be flexible and simple enough to operate and adjust. Features like cut-paste, UTP-8 encoded text manipulation, and highlight syntax should be included in one single tool.
Apparently, there is a lot of text editors options available on Google Playstore, but Grown Tech Solution highly recommends you to go for DroidEdit, which is relatively simple to use and has many advanced features.
Pro Tip: You should also look for a coding keyboard for your mobile device and there are many of them on Google Playstore currently. But if you find yourself confused by its diversification, Hacker Keyboard is the best choice within this segment since it has been simplified to find special characters like brackets or colons as well as to use arrow keys, shift, ctrl, and all other keys that a PC’s keyboard has.
2. A File Manager
There are many reasons for coders to have a file manager and phone coders are no exceptions here.
When you start writing the program, your phone will automatically store it as a file, but as it begins amassing, you will need an advanced file manager that will help you facilitate the file exploring and managing process easier.
Android phones have File Explorer but its features are limited as it can’t even show the full data on the phones. Therefore, the only solutions left are to get the latest File Explore version or install an Xplore File manager, of which features provide a dual-pane file explorer and thus, allow the coder to manage two windows in tandem.
3. A View-Source Handler
Source Handler is the most essential aspect of web-based development and allows coders to view their source code by copying the URL in a browser. At this point, coders can use View Source Mobile as an add-on for Firefox, Opera, Chrome, etc. Installing VT View Source on android devices is also a good alternate option.
4. A Web Server On Your Phone
As you’ve finished coding your first applications, and you want your friends or anyone to access it via the internet, you just have to ensure that your presence is online. At this point, a Web Server is needed.
You can easily buy Web Hosting to enter the online market where you can find a plethora of websites that provide Web Hosting Services.
Or if you’re having an idea about local web servers for testing purposes, you can solely build on directly on your phone by using some pretty well-known, highly recommended services. With those being available on your phone, you will be able to use MySQL, PHP, and others in one single package.
Verdict
With all information presented above, it can be said that coding on a phone is outright possible and even simpler than doing it on a laptop or PC. But there are definitely some limitations and quality-drop when coding on this little device. After all, it’s still an ideal place to practice coding.
