As developers grow more interested in remote development and configuration as code, cloud-based integrated development environments (IDEs) show a lot of promise. Yet hardly any developers are using cloud IDEs.
So what exactly is an IDE? How do the cloud IDE options available today differ from local developer environments? And why should more developers consider using them, more so now than ever before?
This blog will explain the basics.
What is an IDE?
IDEs typically consist of at least a code editor and tools for debugging and building and have historically been built to be installed and configured on
individual machines.
Most software now has some cloud component, either the app running
entirely on the web (e.g. Google Docs, Salesforce, etc.) or more
commonly using the web for distribution and installation. Despite this
trend, software is still typically written on individual laptops and
workstations in local development environments configured by the
developer.
What is a cloud IDE?
What defines acloud IDE is where the bulk of the development environment resides, especially the compute-intensive tools for debugging, building, and compiling.
When people usually think about cloud IDEs they envision an environment
running on a server somewhere and accessed entirely through a browser
window. This is indeed the typical model. However, some offerings also
allow you to run an editor locally while the other components of the IDE
run in the cloud. The distinction is important, as we will see, but for
my purposes here I will consider both to be cloud IDEs.
Two approaches to cloud IDEs
There are two general approaches to creating a cloud IDE:
- Create an entirely new IDE, which only runs in the cloud
- Take an existing IDE originally designed for running locally and move it to the cloud
IDEs that run exclusively in the cloud
This is the approach of Codeanywhere and Cloud9, two of the first cloud IDEs. The primary advantage of this approach is all components of the IDE can be deeply integrated because the product is cloud-native. The primary drawback is that users must adopt a toolset with which they may not be familiar, and developers are often fiercely loyal to their preferred workflows.
Moving a local IDE into the cloud
This is the approach of code-server, the open source project that we maintain, and GitHub Codespaces, both of which allow developers to run VS Code remotely and access it through a browser.
Commercial products using this approach often support multiple editors accessed through the browser. Gitpod users have a choice of VS Code or Eclipse Theia, for instance, while our own product Coder supports VS Code and any JetBrains-based editor. A major advantage to this "adapt for the cloud" approach is that developer adoption is typically easier since the environments include toolsets with which they are intimately familiar.
Benefits of using a cloud IDE
For individuals and organizations willing to make the move to a cloud
IDE, there are some significant advantages over traditional localhost
development.
Less setup effort
Most developers spend between 2-8 hours, and sometimes more, setting up a new dev environment locally. With cloud IDEs developers are typically logging into an existing online editor or launching
environments as containers from existing images. They can begin coding
in minutes, if not instantly.
Remote access
When your IDE is in the cloud you are no longer tied to your individual
machine. Want to spend a week working from a tropical island instead of
the office? No problem. Your laptop in the shop for repairs and you only
have a tablet available? It's still possible to write code on an iPad,
too.
In most cases, all you need is an internet connection and a browser. Of
course, if your tropical island lacks internet connectivity you are
better off coding on your laptop, but you'd probably be even better off
closing your laptop and enjoying the views.
Standardized workspaces
With cloud IDEs, developers no longer need to build and configure a
development environment on their personal machines. This saves them
time, ensures that all team members on a project are working with the
same environmental settings, and can reduce configuration
drift as a
result.
Reduced build times
Developers spend a great deal of time waiting, waiting for builds to
compile, for tests to run, for applications to deploy and load, etc.
With a cloud IDE, those times are typically reduced because rather than
depending upon the resources of the developer's own machine the IDE is
tapping into the resources of its cloud infrastructure.
Reduced personal hardware requirements
Because the compute is handled by the cloud, developers don't require
high-powered machines themselves. As mentioned above, it even becomes
possible to code using a tablet. For businesses, this translates into
cost savings as they can provide less expensive hardware for their
employees.
Companies could even implement BYOD (bring your own device) policies
when utilizing contractors and other temporary workers.
Facilitates collaboration
Cloud IDEs also foster collaboration with some offerings permitting pair
programming or even live collaborative editing as with Google docs. Some
cloud IDEs also make it easier for developers to share the applications
they are developing while in progress.
Concerns about Cloud IDEs
There are many reasons why developers have been slow to embrace cloud-based IDEs, some of which we have written about before from our past experience.
Latency
Latency is probably the single most cited concern about cloud IDEs from
developers. As one developer put
it,
"If you have fingers that walk on water, even the slightest blip is
noticeable and drives you nuts." Certainly, if you have ever tried to
use a VDI or remote desktop you have likely experienced the kind of
keystroke lag that drives users mad.
However, most cloud IDEs like code-server use web elements instead of
streaming an image back to the local device. This eliminates the need
for a round-trip from the user's keyboard to server and back to the user for
text to appear on the user's screen.
Having to adopt a new workflow
"Developers are a finicky bunch," wrote John Biggs and Ryan Donovan on the Stackoverflow blog."Like a dog refusing to walk on wet grass, there always seemed to be a bit of resistance to changing up a routine." Briggs and Donovan were
writing about the surprisingly large number of developers who still prefer Vim and Emacs over modern IDEs. The fact that Biggs and Donovan could write that post in late 2020 exemplifies the resistance many developers have to moving to a cloud IDE.
The most successful cloud IDEs in terms of adoption over the coming few
years will certainly be the ones that allow developers to continue using
the tools and workflows they already love while also easily
demonstrating how using them in the cloud is better.
Vendor Lock-in
If you want to adopt Codespaces as your cloud IDE then you are limited
to using GitHub for version control. If you want to use CodeReady, then
you have a choice of Git repositories, but you are committing to running
OpenShift on Red Hat Enterprise. After being purchased by Amazon, Cloud9
is now only available on AWS.
Vendor lock-in is more of a concern for businesses than individual
developers. However, with many organizations taking a hybrid and/or
multi-cloud approach to their computing needs, vendor lock-in is a major
consideration when picking any cloud-based service, including a cloud
IDE.
If vendor lock-in is a concern, then businesses would best be
served by looking at cloud IDE offerings that are not projects of
companies whose primary revenue stream is another product or service
that comes as a package deal when using the cloud IDE. Both Coder and
Gitpod meet this criterion. Such offerings are also more likely to
support multiple editors through the browser, as well as multiple Git
repositories and deployment on a variety of cloud providers or even
on-premises installations.
Next steps
If you would like more information about the advantages to be gained by
moving software development to the cloud, as well as how to overcome
resistance to such a change within your own organization, check out our
playbook "Software Development in the Cloud: How to Get
There."
If you would like to see how Coder moves developer workspaces to your
cloud while providing a superior developer experience, request a
demo or sign up for a free trial.
