Is it possible to learn programming and web design on tablets?

[elzorro]

I want to buy a new tablet for entertainment as videos, mobile games beside my desktop but I am not sure it can help me learn programming or web design online because it's a lot easier to write code with a keyboard than with a touch screen. what do you guys think?

 

[Mike001]

Elzorro,

Most of my students use a tablet to view videos of the training that they are taking on the tablet while working the examples on their laptop or their desktop. This makes for a smooth work flow as the video being viewed is not playing on the workstation that they are using to work through their examples and as such the video does not get physically in the way of what they are doing.

As far as writing code on a tablet. Their are some good apps to assist in code writing for the web that are available for both the Android and the IOS operating system. But at a minimum I would have a keyboard for my tablet, the one I use is built into the case, that does make the process much easier. I have used a tablet for many years to write SMALL changes to my sites or quick modifications to sites for my customers. Many times I will be making these changes while flying where space is at a premium.

Would I want to learn a new programming language on a tablet. Absolutely not. Tablets are good tools but their are many things involved with learning programming for the web, one of the big ones is having a testing environment while you are writing your code and testing it. There really are no good environments developed yet for a tablet, and I know they advertise a couple of them in the app stores, take it from one who has tried them, they do not work well.

You need to have a stable work environment to test what you are writing, this is critical when learning. If you do not you never know if the code your learning is wrong or the test environment is not working correctly. Learning programming can be frustrating at times as you learn the basics, why add to that by having a cramped and unstable environment.

Let me know if there is anything I can help you with.

 

[JoeHamilton]

Elzorro,
Most of my students use a tablet to view videos of the training that they are taking on the tablet while working the examples on their laptop or their desktop.

I agree with you on this, even viewing a traning video course is more easier than vieing on a desktop or laptop and it's flexiable when you can view it wherever you want.

As far as writing code on a tablet. Their are some good apps to assist in code writing for the web that are available for both the Android and the IOS operating system. But at a minimum I would have a keyboard for my tablet

I would recommend a Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad or Android tablets like this

Would I want to learn a new programming language on a tablet. Absolutely not. Tablets are good tools but their are many things involved with learning programming for the web, one of the big ones is having a testing environment while you are writing your code and testing it. There really are no good environments developed yet for a tablet, and I know they advertise a couple of them in the app stores, take it from one who has tried them, they do not work well.

Exactly but I don't really understand which environments you are saying to. can you give some real example?

 

[Mike001]

What I mean by environments is the web server / database environments that most of us use to develop web sites.

Setting up a testing web server on a desktop or a laptop is a relatively simple process. Trying to setup that same type of environment on a tablet is an exercise in futility. It is very difficult to configure and the ones that I have gotten to work were very unstable.

When you are learning coding the last thing you need is an unstable test environment. With that type of testing environment you are never certain if you have an error on the code or the test server is acting goofy.

I hope that clarified what I was referring too.