What is the smallest device I can program on?

Question

I think of something less than a laptop, which I can spend on working on problems of a project euler or the like.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

If you mean a programming platform, you can get a netbook such as ASUS EEE.

Or, if you meant the smallest programmable device, check out the PIC microcontroller:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIC_microcontroller

Answer 2

It may seem crazy, but try a pen / pencil and paper. No, you cannot run the code, but it will help you not to use online links so much (yes, they are good, but memory skills help us all), and it will probably also help you better plan your code.

Answer 3

I programmed directly into my HP 48G series calculator .

There is a good programming tutorial here . I will have to remove it and see if it passes Project Euler in one minute.

Answer 4

If you are looking for a microcontroller or similar my advice, you should check out AVR, PIC, Arduino , or BeagleBoard .

Everything is relatively cheap and easy to program (the first three more). AVR and PIC are types of microcontrollers that you can program using C or ASM, however you will need some type of prototyping or similar to accomplish something. Arduino is an AVR chip sitting on a board, so it’s much easier to achieve something in a short amount of time. In addition to this, they are quite popular, and you can find many projects that were made at Hackaday. Finally, BeagleBoard is a much rougher board that will run embedded Linux.

My recommendation for Arduino.

There are many more suggestions here.

However, if you are looking for a small portable programming device, you have many options. PC Asus EEE, HP 2133 (I think this is the right model), MSI Wind, MacBook Air, etc. Like other people suggest checking out some netbooks. There are also various PDAs or mobile phones that you can program, such as an Android phone or an OpenMoko phone. There are many options, I suggest you find out what size you are looking for specifically, and this will narrow down your choice.

Good luck.

Answer 5

I will take a reputation to say this: why not read a book or see how the landscape goes? Trying to encrypt more programs on your day is actually not very good for you, and may even make you less productive.

Answer 6

I have been using SmallBASIC on my Palm OS 5 device for a while, and it seems to work well with most of the problems that I throw at it.

Answer 7

How about using Palm with the OnboardC compiler?

Answer 8

A netbook would be perfect.

A graphing calculator may be too limited for programming.

Answer 9

If you are talking about a microcontroller, there are several models of the arduino board that are very easy for those who are not familiar with embedded programming.

Answer 10

I have a Nokia E51 with a python interpreter. I don't like typing with a numeric keypad at all. I think it is as small as possible.

Answer 11

I have a Samsung i760 running Windows Mobile 6. The slide keyboard is great (the best mini keyboard on any device) - I can type it almost as fast as a regular keyboard. I mainly use it to write Oracle Lite queries in mSQL, which is not applicable to any other PDA keyboard.

This question made me wonder about the real programming environments for this device, so I asked another question , and one of the answers was a link to this , which is the Windows Mobile IDE for creating .NET Windows Mobile applications. You write them in C # even.

Answer 12

Netbooks are smaller than your typical laptop and have enough power.

Answer 13

This is pretty subjective. I code on my commute using a 15.4-inch laptop, and I find it rather limited.

I could still work 13 inches, but the limitations would be so great that I was already wondering if it was worth it. Anything less would be correct.

But then I try to work with a lot of open windows. Several editors, documents, browsers, etc. Reducing the time that goes into my productivity. I have a 30-inch display at home. At work, I have 2x 24-inch displays.

If you usually work mostly in one window, rarely consult with documents and other applications, etc., you can probably go less.

It depends on the type of person you are, what you feel comfortable with, how you work, what you work with and ... the list goes on.

My guess is that for most developers, 13 "will be the smallest until it gets so upset that you better listen to podcasts or something like that, but YMMV will be!