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I’ve introduced REPL.it into my new job as a teacher, this year. It is utterly transformative. Multiplayer, in a COVID classroom, means I can easily help any

I’ve introduced REPL.it into my new job as a teacher, this year. It is utterly transformative. Multiplayer, in a COVID classroom, means I can easily help any pupil without having to PPE-up and break into their bubble. At the start of every class I post a google quiz whose sole question is “what is your REPL multiplayer link for this class?”. I haven’t used many of the other school features for REPL.it. I can think of a few I’d love to see. Packages are so easy to install. A pupil today told me they’d not really had any luck with their coursework because they couldn’t install textract. A few clicks and they had a poetry enabled repl with textract read to go. REPL.it has brought about a quantum leap in the way we are working with pupils. It is the epitome of how frictionlessness can make an enormous difference.

remram 6y ago
Your post got me intrigued, but I couldn't get any multiplayer to work. Does it only work when signed in? I think it is cool to offer some functionality to guest users, however they should make it clearer what the limitations are so that people evaluating it get a good sense for the features. I even created an account, which changed my repl to "anyone can edit" to "forks on edit" apparently? But still no multiplayer?
- gorgoiler 6y ago
  I am signed in. Multiplayer URLs have “join-“ in the path, and are available from the “share” button in the top left. It would be very handy (and intuitive) if all REPLs were a live read-only window on what the owner was typing. The reload-page-to-get-latest-version thing works, but multiplayer is there and awesome so it seems odd to hide it with a different type of URL that looks almost identical to the regular read-only fork-on-edit one.
  - amasad 6y ago
    You're absolutely right! The UX could be so much better where every repl is live and you can request to edit. Working on that.
- amasad 6y ago
  We're working to make the UX a lot better. For now just click "share" (you have to be signed in) and share the "join" link. Here is a tutorial: https://docs.repl.it/tutorials/05-pair-programming-using-multiplayer-with-repl-it https://docs.repl.it/tutorials/05-pair-programming-using-mul...
alephu5 6y ago
Yes for teaching software development it's amazing, and I can even see it being really useful for professionals to demonstrate and discuss ideas. But I can't imagine it's ever going to replace the IDE or the lowly text-editor, because there isn't a problem that needs solving. Most developers version control their configuration and move it between installations.
- rewq4321 6y ago
  I don't think this comment will age well. Codespaces, repl.it, Glitch, and friends are what the new generation of developers is being brought up on. They're coding on their iPads, Chromebooks, etc. and move between devices regularly. Browsers as a platform just make sense in this new world. These platforms may seem like "toys" now, but if we just look at the trend, it's hard to argue that even the most intensive applications are going to get serious browser-based competitors. Relevant comment from Construct devs about putting their editor in the browser: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24419266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24419266 Godot is experimenting with a browser-based editor too: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-editor-running-web-browser https://godotengine.org/article/godot-editor-running-web-bro...

remram 6y ago

Your post got me intrigued, but I couldn't get any multiplayer to work. Does it only work when signed in? I think it is cool to offer some functionality to guest users, however they should make it clearer what the limitations are so that people evaluating it get a good sense for the features. I even created an account, which changed my repl to "anyone can edit" to "forks on edit" apparently? But still no multiplayer?

gorgoiler 6y ago
I am signed in. Multiplayer URLs have “join-“ in the path, and are available from the “share” button in the top left. It would be very handy (and intuitive) if all REPLs were a live read-only window on what the owner was typing. The reload-page-to-get-latest-version thing works, but multiplayer is there and awesome so it seems odd to hide it with a different type of URL that looks almost identical to the regular read-only fork-on-edit one.
- amasad 6y ago
  You're absolutely right! The UX could be so much better where every repl is live and you can request to edit. Working on that.
amasad 6y ago
We're working to make the UX a lot better. For now just click "share" (you have to be signed in) and share the "join" link. Here is a tutorial: https://docs.repl.it/tutorials/05-pair-programming-using-multiplayer-with-repl-it https://docs.repl.it/tutorials/05-pair-programming-using-mul...

alephu5 6y ago

Yes for teaching software development it's amazing, and I can even see it being really useful for professionals to demonstrate and discuss ideas. But I can't imagine it's ever going to replace the IDE or the lowly text-editor, because there isn't a problem that needs solving. Most developers version control their configuration and move it between installations.

rewq4321 6y ago
I don't think this comment will age well. Codespaces, repl.it, Glitch, and friends are what the new generation of developers is being brought up on. They're coding on their iPads, Chromebooks, etc. and move between devices regularly. Browsers as a platform just make sense in this new world. These platforms may seem like "toys" now, but if we just look at the trend, it's hard to argue that even the most intensive applications are going to get serious browser-based competitors. Relevant comment from Construct devs about putting their editor in the browser: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24419266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24419266 Godot is experimenting with a browser-based editor too: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-editor-running-web-browser https://godotengine.org/article/godot-editor-running-web-bro...