When I was mentioning having to learn a new language in a past post, @robertlyon directed me toward https://repl.it/ and I am so glad he did. Repl.it is a web-based development environment for a huge number of languages. It won't be the place to develop huge systems, but if you just want to experiment or learn a language this the place to be. Their site defines their mission:
Is to make programming more accessible. We build powerful yet simple tools and platforms for educators, learners, and developers."
Here are some of the reasons I am excited about repl.it:
- Supports many languages
- Can work as a solo developer experiment platform
- Has full classroom support. Teachers can create classes and invite their students
- Code can be shared via a link for integration into other classroom software
- Basic functionality is free
- Includes some code completion
- Syntax highlighting
- Easy way to add an input stream
- You can create self-grading assignments
Right now this is my leading candidate for our Intro to CS class next semester as we switch to Python. Since we are already so tightly integrated with Google Classroom, I don't think we'll utilize the classroom support functions. Each student can create a repl.it account and share links to integrate into google classroom. Many thanks to @robertlyon for pointing me in the toward repl.it. I would love to hear other's opinions of the system.