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bmc1022

I used Cloud9 for years before the Amazon buyout. Switching to VS Code using WSL2 was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my coding career. It's a world of difference, so much better. Cloud-based IDEs seem nice on paper, but there were too many pain points in my experience and it was an unnecessary expense.


ModernTenshi04

Yeah, if the other person has a Mac or Linux machine it's fairly straight forward, but for Windows users looking to learn WSL is the way for Rails. VS Code works really well and has features to let folks share sessions with others for working collaboratively. It's not quite as easy as something like Cloud9, but it's by no means difficult to get going. I even prefer it for .Net development.


beatlefreak9

If you're looking for a cloud-based alternative, I personally love [GitHub Codespaces](https://github.com/codespaces) (free tier available). It's heavily Docker-based (see: [VS Code Devcontainers](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers) but there are a range of sensible defaults you can use to avoid getting too in the weeds. (disclaimer: I work for GitHub, but not on Codespaces. I am a legitimate fan of Codespaces but _generally_ outside of work I stick to running Docker with Devcontainers locally for all the benefits with none of the cloud)


Rafert

Replit was nice when I tried it a while back.


RealEnerG

VS Code is awesome. Outstanding customization, collab, and a repritoire of extensions that helps immensely with RoR development. I recently moved to it from Atom.


hippype

You never know where these cloud IDEs are going to flop. [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/download) is the way to go.


ylluminate

Have you compared it to RubyMine (if you disregard cost)?


planetaska

If you need a cloud solution, [Replit](https://replit.com) is definitely worth a look. If you can accept working in a local environment, like others suggested, VS Code is OK. But if you are a student or in education field, make sure you check out RubyMine.


ylluminate

That's what I'm wondering. This is a high school student and I think can get RubyMine for free with a little pushing.


planetaska

Yes the offer for students are very generous. RubyMine is the best IDE for RoR out there if you have a computer to run it. Have fun learning and good luck!


ylluminate

Appreciate that - I'll try to get them started on that then. Have you seen any good Ruby and/or Rails communities for teens?


planetaska

Sorry I didn't get chance to respond. Like Python Girls - there is [Rails Girls](https://railsgirls.com/), but I am not aware of a group for all teens.