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Introducing Rust Support in CodeSandbox, start a Rust VM in one click

63 points by CompuIves 4y ago

CompuIves 4y ago
Hey all! I'm one of the co-founders of CodeSandbox and a big fan of Rust. Rust support is something that we've been working on for a while, but the recent addition of Docker support in CodeSandbox really enabled it. Happy to answer any questions!
- MuffinFlavored 4y ago
  Is your biggest competitor Repl.it? What advantages do you have compared to them? I know https://play.rust-lang.org/ https://play.rust-lang.org/ is pretty limited as well.
  - CompuIves 4y ago
    Yeah Repl.it is one of the bigger ones. I'd say that CodeSandbox has a strong focus on extending the existing workflow for developers. That's why we have a VSCode integration, a GitHub integration with a GitHub App that creates a running dev env for every branch/PR, and we make sure that generally all editor features you expect (autocomplete, go to definition, hover info, etc) are available for the languages that we support.
    - MuffinFlavored 4y ago
      Are you basically reselling hosted https://github.com/coder/code-server https://github.com/coder/code-server?
      - CompuIves 4y ago
        No, we've built our own web editor & iOS code editor. In our v1 editor we did run VSCode in the browser, but that was before code-server was released (in 2018). Even if we wanted to run code-server, that would be impossible as we allow for multiple users to open the same sandbox/branch, which wouldn't fit the model of VSCode server (which is single user per server).
      - kylecarbs 4y ago
        They aren't at all (creator of code-server here)! I'm a big fan of their work.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
- terpimost 4y ago
  I recently tried to work on CodeSandbox. Simple examples didn’t work or I couldn’t figure out how to make them work. Using repl.it now. I highly recommend to go through basic examples of frontend projects and evaluate them.
revskill 4y ago
I'm hoping Codesandbox would provide for CI/CD to directly deploy to production somehow. Basically, it's a "code in cloud" dream.
- CaveTech 4y ago
  It's easy enough to add additional actions, so you could pair it with netlify, vercel, etc.
  - CompuIves 4y ago
    Yep that works, you can either create a task in the editor for it (using the CLI), or you connect it to a GitHub Repo and install actions. That said, it is something on our radar, being able to press a button for deploy from CodeSandbox would be valuable for many people!
  - revskill 4y ago
    Ease and how long to do it is orthogonal i think.
sigmonsays 4y ago
How many developers are there who are happy using some web based IDE versus their own tools? I'd prefer having my own dev tools maintained locally by me but i'm curious if i'm becoming the minority
- CompuIves 4y ago
  I'm using a web based IDE for my dev, but I'm biased in that sense. The main advantage for me is that I can easily switch branches, as every branch has its own VM. + I can easily share in-progress work. I do use the VSCode integration, because I'm very used to VSCode. That said, I've also spoken with people who use a Web IDE next to their local environment. E.g. they use a Web IDE for reviewing PRs or making smaller changes, and they use their local editor for feature development.
  - Ankhers 4y ago
    If this is just for being able to easily switch branches, have you considered using git worktrees? Essentially you have have multiple branches checked out into different directories at the same time. The key point though is that all git refs are still maintained in a single place so you are not actually having full clones for each worktree that you have. I personally use Emacs and magit which has great support for worktrees. I do not know if the VSCode git integration supports it.
    - CompuIves 4y ago
      Ah right, the main advantage I have here is that the dev server also stays running when I go to another branch (since it's a different VM). So I can work on one thing, share it with the team and in the meantime continue on another branch. They can see the devserver / running code, while I am working on something else. It's especially useful for things like migrations or dependency management. In one branch I could work on something that has some database migrations, and then I can still switch to other branches without having to roll back the migrations. I didn't know about git worktrees though! I'm going to read up on this.
kodah 4y ago
I'm not really a fan of in-browser IDEs. To me, it seems like a good way to constrain tooling environments. What I would love to see is an extension that runs all of my tests and debugger in a type 1 hypervisor that can simply send a set of instructions to setup the VM, a snapshot of the changeset, and allows a developer to run that exact environment on their machine. Combine that with LiveShare and you have something that closely mimicks the experience of handing a keyboard and mouse back and forth during pairing.

63 points by CompuIves 4y ago

Hey all! I'm one of the co-founders of CodeSandbox and a big fan of Rust. Rust support is something that we've been working on for a while, but the recent addition of Docker support in CodeSandbox really enabled it. Happy to answer any questions!

MuffinFlavored 4y ago
Is your biggest competitor Repl.it? What advantages do you have compared to them? I know https://play.rust-lang.org/ https://play.rust-lang.org/ is pretty limited as well.
- CompuIves 4y ago
  Yeah Repl.it is one of the bigger ones. I'd say that CodeSandbox has a strong focus on extending the existing workflow for developers. That's why we have a VSCode integration, a GitHub integration with a GitHub App that creates a running dev env for every branch/PR, and we make sure that generally all editor features you expect (autocomplete, go to definition, hover info, etc) are available for the languages that we support.
  - MuffinFlavored 4y ago
    Are you basically reselling hosted https://github.com/coder/code-server https://github.com/coder/code-server?
    - CompuIves 4y ago
      No, we've built our own web editor & iOS code editor. In our v1 editor we did run VSCode in the browser, but that was before code-server was released (in 2018). Even if we wanted to run code-server, that would be impossible as we allow for multiple users to open the same sandbox/branch, which wouldn't fit the model of VSCode server (which is single user per server).
    - kylecarbs 4y ago
      They aren't at all (creator of code-server here)! I'm a big fan of their work.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
terpimost 4y ago
I recently tried to work on CodeSandbox. Simple examples didn’t work or I couldn’t figure out how to make them work. Using repl.it now. I highly recommend to go through basic examples of frontend projects and evaluate them.

revskill 4y ago

I'm hoping Codesandbox would provide for CI/CD to directly deploy to production somehow. Basically, it's a "code in cloud" dream.

CaveTech 4y ago
It's easy enough to add additional actions, so you could pair it with netlify, vercel, etc.
- CompuIves 4y ago
  Yep that works, you can either create a task in the editor for it (using the CLI), or you connect it to a GitHub Repo and install actions. That said, it is something on our radar, being able to press a button for deploy from CodeSandbox would be valuable for many people!
- revskill 4y ago
  Ease and how long to do it is orthogonal i think.

sigmonsays 4y ago

How many developers are there who are happy using some web based IDE versus their own tools? I'd prefer having my own dev tools maintained locally by me but i'm curious if i'm becoming the minority

CompuIves 4y ago
I'm using a web based IDE for my dev, but I'm biased in that sense. The main advantage for me is that I can easily switch branches, as every branch has its own VM. + I can easily share in-progress work. I do use the VSCode integration, because I'm very used to VSCode. That said, I've also spoken with people who use a Web IDE next to their local environment. E.g. they use a Web IDE for reviewing PRs or making smaller changes, and they use their local editor for feature development.
- Ankhers 4y ago
  If this is just for being able to easily switch branches, have you considered using git worktrees? Essentially you have have multiple branches checked out into different directories at the same time. The key point though is that all git refs are still maintained in a single place so you are not actually having full clones for each worktree that you have. I personally use Emacs and magit which has great support for worktrees. I do not know if the VSCode git integration supports it.
  - CompuIves 4y ago
    Ah right, the main advantage I have here is that the dev server also stays running when I go to another branch (since it's a different VM). So I can work on one thing, share it with the team and in the meantime continue on another branch. They can see the devserver / running code, while I am working on something else. It's especially useful for things like migrations or dependency management. In one branch I could work on something that has some database migrations, and then I can still switch to other branches without having to roll back the migrations. I didn't know about git worktrees though! I'm going to read up on this.

kodah 4y ago

I'm not really a fan of in-browser IDEs. To me, it seems like a good way to constrain tooling environments. What I would love to see is an extension that runs all of my tests and debugger in a type 1 hypervisor that can simply send a set of instructions to setup the VM, a snapshot of the changeset, and allows a developer to run that exact environment on their machine. Combine that with LiveShare and you have something that closely mimicks the experience of handing a keyboard and mouse back and forth during pairing.