For some time now I have been using CodeAnywhere as my go to online development environment. Before you read on I just want to point out that this blog article is not sponsored in any way by CodeAnywhere.
The ability to quickly and easily create servers (or containers as they are called on CodeAnywhere) for various projects is a real time saver.
However, the thing I find the most beneficial is the ability to code along with a student remotely. If you know about sharing documents on Google Drive then you will understand what I mean.
In this video I show you how to create an account on CodeAnywhere and how to create your first server. In this instance I am using a PHP stack.
This particular video is from the PHP, PDO and MySQL for Beginners course.
For the most part, the server just works 'out of the box' with different variants available.
Need an install of Wordpress? No problem. Just select the stack with Wordpress and a few clicks later you will have a fully functional Wordpress install available.
At the time of writing, CodeAnywhere still offers a free account. If you feel you need to upgrade then there are 4 more levels available. The Freelancer package at $7 per month does seem to be the sweet spot with an always on container available.
CODEANYWHERE ALWAYS ON CONTAINER
As I mentioned previously, the server box is referred to as a container. One of the negatives of the free account is that once you log off then the server will go to sleep and you will need to restart it again once you log back in. This is not really a big deal if you are patient and can wait a minute or so.
However, if you are developing a client site then you really do need the server to be always on. That is where the Freelancer account comes in handy as it includes an always on container.
Once logged in, and presuming you have paid for the Freelancer account, then right click on your server and select Always On. There is also an option to turn this on when you are actually creating the container.
Overall, I have been extremely happy over the last 3 years using CodeAnywhere.
