A detailed list of several cloud-based tools to help web developers create awesome apps.
With the fast growing web development industry, many web tools have appeared to streamline the process of creating a web-based application and to help developers overcome the learning curve.
Among the multitude of tools on offer, there are some worth pointing out.
Online Playground for Web Developers
Web app development consists of many elements that require a developer to possess knowledge in many different areas. Almost every web app uses a database to store information, that's why a web developer should have SQL in his or her tool kit.
Going further, you can build app logic using various languages such as Python, Java, PHP, or Ruby. To handle the visual side of things, a developer will likely utilize a combination of HTML, CSS and JavaScript to render a nice looking web application.
To get familiar with this diverse technology stack, web app developers can make use of such as the ones described below.
1. SQL Fiddle is the perfect online tool to test queries and to compare and contrast SQL statements in different database back-ends. Installing each database often requires some effort, especially when we want to check the effect of the query in different environments.
2. JSFIDDLE is an online editor for web snippets for HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The tool supports multiple frameworks and extensions like: Dojo.js, Processing.js, ExtJS, RightJS, Three.js, React.js, Knockout.js, AngularJS, Ember, Underscore, Bonsai, KineticJS, FabricJS, qooxdoo, D3, CreateJS, Paper.js, React, svg.js, Minified, jTypes, Lo-Dash, Brick, ReactiveJS, Vue, JSBlocks.
3. JsApp.US is a platform used to write an application quickly in JavaScript using the node.js platform. It also provides the ability to deploy the created app to the web.
4. Dabblet is an interactive CSS playground and code sharing tool.
5. PHPFIDDLE is a PHP sandbox that provides Web IDE and an execution environment for PHP. The service contains four others: PHPFiddle Main, PHPFiddle Lite, PHPFiddle CliRun , PHPFiddle Mobile.
6. Python Fiddle is a Python Cloud IDE with a syntax highlighter and Python console that enables you to run Python code from any browser, import snippets from other sites, and link to solutions from Stackoverflow. Additionally it’s powered with code auto-completion and supports many Python packages: algopy, asciitable, Cheetah, jinja2, mako, milk, ply, etc.
7. Ruby Fiddle is an online tool for Ruby snippets featured with key bindings for Vim and Emacs.
8. Go Playground The Go Playground is a web IDE for the Go programming language. It’s a web service that provides an editor for Go, compiles the written code, and outputs the results.
9. Regexpal is a JavaScript regular expression tester that contains just two windows. In the one above, you can input a regular expression while in the second one there is a place to test data.
10. Codecademy Labs is a place to test Python, Ruby, and JavaScript online.
11. codepad is a compiler/interpreter for C++, Python, Ruby, Haskell, PHP, and more with functionality to send a link with code or output to another person. This makes it a nice collaboration tool.
12. Cloud9 provides an online code editor with a full Ubuntu workspace in the cloud for HTML, node.js, php, Python, and Ruby. Workspaces are powered by Docker Ubuntu containers. The tool includes a chat that allows developers to communicate with each other within the IDE. Furthermore it allows you to deploy your code to cloud platforms such as Windows Azure, Cloud Foundry or Heroku and on-premises servers. Additionally Cloud9 enables you to work offline — cloud-based copies of code are synchronized with local copies.
13. Codenvy is a Docker based development environment that includes an IDE, source-code manager integration, build environments, and debugging tools. You can create a new project in one of the following languages: C++, Go, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, or import an existing project from git repository. Additionally codeenvy offers a lot of samples based on different technologies (Android, Spring, and Angular).
14. Codio is a browser based multi-language IDE with its own Ubuntu instance to test the code. The tool is powered with additional features like auto-completion for HTML, CSS and JavaScript files, syntax highlighting for C, C++, Java, JavaScript, and Go, as well as project sharing and browser integration.
15. Codeanywhere is a web IDE with additional features provided by a cloud application, such as sharing files, collaboration in real-time, and syntax highlighting.16.
Koding provides web IDE for Go, Python, Node.js, Ruby, PHP, JavaScript, and CoffeeScript. Via Koding, you can play with Docker, Wordpress, Django, and Laravel, and create Android, IOS/iPhone, and HTML5 apps.
17. ShiftEdit provides an online IDE with code completion for HTML tags, CSS, and PHP code assist and syntax checking. You can easily access files from FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3. This app is featured with syntax highlighting, real time syntax debugging, code auto-completion, jump-to-line brackets, and offline support. You can step back to a previous version of the file at any time.
18. Moqups is an HTML5 App for designers to create wireframes, mockups, UI concepts, and prototypes. The left sidebar of the application is full of various objects ready to drag and drop on to your wireframe.
19. Vertabelo allows you to visually design database models for top vendors such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, SQLite, and IBM DB2. You can import the existing database structure from SQL, XML, or using reverse engineering tool. After you design a model, you can generate SQL script or ready-to-use code for various ORMs (Propel, jOOQ, or SQLAlchemy) as well as for Vertabelo Mobile ORM (it provides a database access layer for Android and iOS platforms).