Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Handheld Programming?

Posted by Cliff on from the taking-your-IDE-with-you dept.

dutky asks: "What devices does Slashdot recommend for the programmer on the go? Recently I went on vacation to Vietnam. Before we left my wife asked what I would do if I couldn't program for a month. I tried to assemble an inexpensive and portable programming environment using a Palm 130, but it was less than satisfactory. With the recent article on the Zarus PDA I have gotten to thinking about the problem again. Notably, I -don't- need a whopping amount of RAM, disk space, or processor speed, and I can live with fairly modest screen sizes. I was unable to find anything that matched all these criteria in about two weeks of occasional (and hurried) research. Do any such beasts exist?"

"My requirements are pretty simple:

  • Small and durable (I was packing three and a half weeks of clothes and stuff in a moderately large backpack)
  • Long battery life (able to get in a good 8-hour programming session without interruption)
  • Able to use a keyboard (I can't write C code from Grafitti)
  • Reasonable screen resolution (I need to be able to see at least 80 columns by 40 lines)
  • Ability to run a wide variety of programming tools (at least a good editor, C compiler, and probably several common scripting languages as well)
  • External mass storage of some kind (I'd settle for SD or CF cards)
  • Relatively inexpensive: $200-$400 is a good range (I don't want to be too upset if it gets lost, stolen or dropped off of a cliff)"

2 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. IBM Workpad by glenstar · · Score: 5, Funny
    Before we left my wife asked what I would do if I couldn't program for a month.

    Translation: "If you bring a computer, you are guaranteed to not see the inside of my panties for a month".

    Find an old IBM Workpad. Not the handheld one, but the one that looks like a tiny Thinkpad. They rock. Unfortunately, the have been discontinued, but I am sure you can find one.

    Seriously, though... check out sex. It's much more fun to boink your wife in some new and exotic place than it is to debug C code... really.

  2. OMG! by dfinster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lemme get this straight... You get a vacation *for a month*, to an exotic location, and you want to code? Just "code"? Did you have an actual project in mind, or is it just "coding"? Hey, I program for a living too, but I don't look for an excuse to be a geek when there is something better to do... Like say, look up from the screen for a while and see some new sights.

    Try changing "coding" with "auto mechanic":

    What devices does Slashdot recommend for the mechanic on the go? Recently I went on vacation to Vietnam. Before we left my wife asked what I would do if I couldn't work on cars for a month. I tried to assemble an inexpensive and portable grease-monkey environment using a matchbox car, magnifying glass and jewelers screwdrivers, but it was less than satisfactory.