Experiment with Tools Without Committing to Install on Your Device

Hello guys,

Today, I'm going to share with you a simple trick that I've been using quite frequently lately. 😉

You don't have to worry about installing stuff to your local machine anymore hehehehe.

Problem

In the tech industry, when trying out new things, you must first install the necessary software on your personal device, such as a laptop, MacBook, or PC, after checking it.

And somehow, you'll find yourself installing numerous apps/libraries/runners on your device, which consume storage space. Additionally, some of these applications run in the background, using up your RAM and CPU resources.

It's not so great, is it? Just like me, sometimes I can't remember what I've already installed.

Real-life example too, I don't install Docker. But then, if I wanted to check out some stuff that ships via Docker Image, what should I do? Check out the solution 😉

Solution

TL;DR: Github CodeSpaces or any Cloud Coding Platform.

I've been using GitHub CodeSpaces for months, and I absolutely love it. It serves as a secondary environment for me to install various tools and test them out.

After you are satisfied, just simply hit the delete button and that's all. Nothing more.

And recently, GitHub is giving us free 120 hours/month (180 for the PRO account). Which is totally awesome for us to use and enjoy things.

With GitHub CodeSpaces, I can:

Create a development instance with a simple CLICK 🏃‍♂️
- I can choose the machine specs too, if I need more power.
Use any docker images out there to try out things (the latest things I tried: Gotenberg & DocKing) 🧰
Try out multiple libraries, runners & database engines. 🚀
Try out new languages & frameworks with minimal effort. 🍻
... and so much more

And I don't have to worry about anything. I just need to install Visual Studio Code and then all the exposed ports will be forwarded to my local machine (eg localhost:3000)

If I need a better terminal view? Lol I can use iTerm and access the CodeSpaces instance via gh-cli

And you see, the sky's the limit.

Cloud Coding is absolutely AWESOME.

Conclusion

That's a simple trick I'd like to share. I hope it would be useful to you all.

Thanks for reading!

Experiment with Tools Without Committing to Install on Your Device

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