Learning To Program In Microsoft Visual Studio: From A Chromebook &Chrome OS User

While there is the Neutron Drive IDE Web App for Programming in Chrome OS, anyone who wants to learn how to Program in any or all the Languages that come as part of Visual Studio, it's probably best to learn how to Program using Visual Studio since it's the Industry Standard IDE for Programming.

But Visual Studio is expensive!!!! I hear you cry, well that may be true for the Professional & Ultimate Editions of Visual Studio which have been part of the Visual Studio line since 2005. visual Studio Express 2013 is composed of 3 different Editions (Visual Studio Express Web for Developing Web Applications, Visual Studio Express Windows for Developing Windows 8+ Modern UI Apps & Visual Studio Express Windows Desktop for Developing Traditional Windows Programs that run on all versions of Windows) There is also an Express Edition of  the server-side Version Control Team Foundation Server that also runs on Client Machines thanks to Windows built-in Web Server IIS. These Express Editions including Team Foundation Server are free to Download & use on as many Windows Desktops or Laptops as you like, Visual Studio 2013 only runs on Windows 8/8.1 so if you're running Windows 7 then you will need Visual Studio 2012. Visual Studio Express takes all the complexity out of Visual Studio Professional or Ultimate.

Using Chrome Remote Desktop To Use Windows, Mac OS X Or Linux In ChromeOS

While many people call Chromebooks not real Laptops because you can't run programs like Visual Studio or Office on them and the fact that some of the Chrome OS apps that do the same thing are a little lacking in features compared to their Windows, Mac OS X or Linux equivalents.

Google does offer a lightweight and convenient solution for anyone who needs to use Windows, Mac OS X or Linux programs in the form of Chrome Remote Desktop, Chrome Remote Desktop allows you to keep using your Chromebook, Chromebox or Chromebase while being logged into a different OS remotely. This is handy if you need to use a particular program doesn't have a Chrome OS equivalent.

Programming In Chrome OS Choices

 

If you're a Programmer and use Chrome OS you've got a choice of applications that you can use.

Text

Text is a simple text editor, it has line numbering and syntax highlighting. Text is ideal for anyone who prefers to Code in a minimalistic environment .

With Text there is no Debugging menu or on the fly Compiling to test your Code.

Text can also be used as a simple notepad as well.

Nitrous.IO

Nitrous.IO is a basic IDE for Ruby On Rails, node.js, Python & GO along with C/C++. Nitrous.IO uses a subscription model if you want to create more programs than what you get with a free account.

Nitrous.IO isn't one of the best designed IDE's around as it's a very basic IDE.

Neutron Drive

Neutron Drive is as fully featured IDE that allows you to program in a large range of languages, and is ideal for any type of project that you might want to create.

best of all Neutron Drive is free, but as of writing I'm unable to find Neutron Drive in the Chrome Store.

Conclusion

Neutron Drive is probably the best programming app in the Chrome web Store, Neutron Drive seems to be hidden if you do a search from the Chrome Store homepage but a link is available from the Neutron Drive website, here is the neutron Drive Chrome Store listing.

There are other programming environments available on Chrome /Chrome OS, but this is just a small selection of what I've ether had installed in the past or currently got installed.

Roland

Developing In Chrome OS Using Neutron Drive

Neutron Drive is a fully featured Cloud based IDE that allows you to code in a large selection of Programming Languages, Scripting Languages, Markup/Template Languages, Query/Data Languages as well as others including CSS.

[caption id="attachment_2033" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Page 1 of the Languages available in Neutron Drive[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2035" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Page 2 of available Languages in Neutron Drive[/caption]

Once Neutron Drive is all setup for your chosen Language/Project it looks just like a conventional IDE such as Microsoft Visual Studio.

[caption id="attachment_2036" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Neutron Drive setup with code entered & tabs for various aspects of the Project[/caption]

Like all apps designed for Chrome/Chrome OS Neutron Drive uses Google Drive to store your Projects.

I'll go into Neutron Drive more in the future as I attempt to Program in the various languages available in Neutron Drive.

Conclusion

Neutron Drive looks to be the best Programming IDE for Chrome/Chrome OS and could be a way for Chromebooks, Chromeboxes & the recently introduced Chromebases into the Business/Professional world.

Roland

Learning to Program In Google Apps Script (Part 2)

In part two I'll go through some more of the Google Apps Script tutorials.

The third Script

The third Script is basically just creating a custom function that uses Google Sheets to convert from Inches to Millimeters, it's not as complex as the script used in the first of the Google Sheets Scripts that was the second of the tutorials that I did in the last part.

The fourth Script

The fourth Script is still pretty basic but it's a little more advanced as it uses a Google Sheets Spreadsheet to send messages to multiple recipients, this could be used to send basic emails to multiple contacts. But in reality I think it's just an example of what you can do with Scripts in Google Sheets.

In the next part of this series I'll go through some more of the tutorials.

Roland

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Learning to Program In Google Apps Script (Part 1)

Setting up Google Apps Script

The first thing that needs to be done is to Install the Google Apps Script web app from the Chrome Store, using the web app for Apps Script will prevent you from losing the bookmark in your bookmarks folder in Chrome and will make it easier to open Google Apps Script when you're using Chrome OS as you'll be able to pin it to the Chrome OS Shelf.

The Google Apps Script IDE

The Google Apps Script may look lightweight and simple when you first open it, but from reading what Apps Script can do on the Google Developers Apps Script tutorial site it looks like a very powerful scripting language.

Creating a first Script

Google Apps Script is based on the JavaScript scripting language so anyone proficient in JavaScript should feel right at home and only need to learn how to use the Google specific pieces of code to write a script or customization. for anyone who doesn't know how to code in JavaScript the I'd recommend using the tutorials here and set up your workspace so you can follow the tutorials without having to switch between Chrome and Google Apps Script (if you're using Chrome OS I'd even alter the resolution of your Chromebook, Chromebox or Chromebase so that you can snap Chrome and Google Apps script to the sides without any overlap 1536x864 resolution, it's not the best for playing YouTube videos, but if you need to maximize your screen real estate then it'll be ok, just remember to drop down to the recommended resolution when you've finished )

The first script in the tutorials

The first script in the tutorials is a simple one, but when I tried it I keep getting an error saying TypeError: Cannot find function getbody in object Document. (line 6, file "Code")

[caption id="attachment_1954" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Error message[/caption]

But yet if I copy and past the code into the Apps Script editor it works without any problems what so ever.

Extending Google Sheets

The second example in the tutorials is a simple case of downloading a sample Google Sheets Spreadsheet into your Google Drive library and copying the sample code into the Apps Script editor and following the tutorial instructions for running the script. it doesn't teach you much in the way of coding the particular Script but you can always look through the code that you've copied at your leisure, but the tutorial shows you some of the advanced scripts & customization that you can do with Apps Script.

In the next part I'll go through another two maybe three of the tutorials from the Google Developers website.

Roland

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Programming in Chrome OS

When it comes to programming in Chrome OS the main language and IDE is Google Apps Script. Google Apps Script is a Scripting language based on JavaScript. Google Apps Script can be thought of as similar to the VBA Scripting language used to develop automation style Add-ons in Microsoft Office.

Google Apps Script is used to develop customizations and automation Scripts for Google Services such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and much more.

[caption id="attachment_1941" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Google Apps Script project selection window[/caption]

Google Apps Script's IDE looks like the IDE from any other language, but with several differences.

1. Google Apps Script can't be used to create complex applications like you can with Python, C, C#, C++, Visual Basic as it's more like VBA meets JavaScript.


2. Google Apps Script can't create Scripts for Microsoft Office as that requires VBA (but it might be possible to create Scripts for anything written in JavaScript).


3. If you want to create anything big and complex like an OS and OS Kernel then you might be better with something like Assembly language or C or C++.

[caption id="attachment_1942" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Google Apps Script Code Editor[/caption]

If you are proficient in JavaScript then it's entirely possible that you can write some pretty complex customizations or even automation scripts for Google services.

If like me you're new to Google Apps Script or even writing code then a wealth of tutorials and information can be found on the Google Developers website.

If you want to create something a bit more complex than what you can create in Google Apps Script while still using Chrome OS then there is the Nitrous.IO IDE that can create Python, PHP, Ruby/Rails, Node.js & Go programming languages, but for the average Chrome OS user then I think Google Apps Script will be more than adequate. Google Apps Script will be enough for professionals that are ether using Chrome OS or just the plain old Google Apps service on a Windows, Mac or Linux setup as Google Apps Script is a cloud based scripting service and your scripts are stored in Google Drive then it makes it a truly cross-platform  language that can be used on any of your devices (I'm not sure if scripts or customizations will work on the mobile versions of Google Drive or not).


My next Chrome OS series will be on learning how to create scripts and customizations for the Google services that are supported by Google Apps Script.

Roland

My Move From Windows 8.1 Pro With Media Centre To Ubuntu 13.10 (Part 11)

In this part I'll talk about Software Development on Ubuntu 13.10. There are loads of different Development tools available for linux that range from the nano code editor that comes with Ubuntu 13.10 and is accessed from the Linux Terminal to full IDE's. In this part I'll be focusing on the Qt Creator IDE with the Ubuntu SDK Plugin installed.

TheGNU nano Code Editor

Development Credentials

I'm not a Developer or even proficient at writing any form of code be it Python or even html, and I've not even had a look at the Markdown code that has been introduced on Wordpress & my only dive into the Code Editor on Wordpress is to add my Google+ Profile badge to the end of every post, & even then I just copy and past the Code.

By now you may be wondering what the hell am I doing writing an Article on something like a Programming IDE when I'm not a Programmer or even have any proficiency in writing code. Well I've been interested in Coding since Microsoft introduced Visual Studio Express, but never could workout how to do anything with it. I then tried Python earlier in the year with a Tutorial that I got from a Linux Magazine and got the hang of Python fairly quick, but then gave up after I was unable to get one of the tutorials to compile (think I was using on of the Ubuntu 13.04 Development releases at the time) & ended up giving up.

I've now decided to try and pick up learning to Code again, probably when this series has finished so I can then move onto a new Coding series and not have to switch back and forth between to series and have more time to dedicate to learning to Code.

Qt Creator & Ubuntu SDK

The Qt Creator IDE is very slick and easy to understand as you are talked through the steps of creating a new Project and get to select where files e.t.c. go, and you are then presented with a slick and minimalistic Code Editor that isn't full of  multiple panes, toolboxes, icons and when using the Global Menu option in Unity you're not overwhelmed by having the Menu Bar on display all the time.

The start screen of Qt Creator with the Ubuntu SDK in is minimalistic compared to that of Microsoft Visual Studio & the Welcome option on the top of the left hand menu panel even has a Tutorials option (which I might have to investigate when I'm starting the next series & actually learning how to Code).



The New Project Screen lists all the different projects in the left hand list with all the different options for the selected project type on the right. This layout makes it simple to see what you can do with each project type without having to select a project type to move onto a window listing the options which makes it easy at a glance to know which project type to choose for what you want to create.



The Code Editor window is minimalistic with the IDE's options menu on the left hand side showing up from the Start Screen, then the Projects file Tree panel above the Open Document window with the Code Editor panel taking up the rest of the Screen with that being it for the Code Editor.



The IDE Menu is absent from Qt Creator when Using Unity Global Menu, but if you have got Unity Global Menu switched off or using KDE or Gnome Desktops the Menu will be permanently attached to Qt Creator.



I personally like how tidy the Unity Global Menu keeps everything by hiding the Application Menu so I only see the Qt Creator Menu when I mouse over the Unity Panel.

Conclusion

Qt Creator is probably one of the best designed Development Environments I've seen and I look forward to getting to know it more and document more about it. The Ubuntu SDK for Qt Creator is an added bonus and I can see being very useful.

Roland

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