Continuous–C# and F# Development on iOS

 

Released just a few days ago on the App Store is Continuous, a complete C# and F# development environment that runs directly on your iPhone or iPad.  It contains a fairly full featured IDE with capable text editor, programming friendly on screen keyboard and more.  In addition to the editor it contains everything you need for development, a port of the Roslyn compiler, VM as well as implementations of several key libraries such as Xamarins WinForms implementation.

From the App Store entry:

    • Continuous is always building and running your code so you can see changes as you type. Writing interactive apps in Continuous is a pleasure compared to the traditional code-build-run cycle. It frees you to make lots of small changes and see their effects immediately – no more waiting for builds or deployments and no more clicking around trying to get to the screen you’re trying to code.
      Continuous looks and works in many of the same ways as traditional .NET IDEs so you’ll feel right at home, but it also strives to advance the state of the art in IDEs with these features:
    • Full C# 6 and F# 4 compilers so you can use the latest tech
    • Automatic compiling and running so you can focus on the code and the results
    • Fancy text editor with tabs, semantic highlighting, inline error bubbles, and inline values that are updated as you type
    • Watch window enables you to view graphical objects in your app (UI and images), inspect live objects as your app runs, create instances of new objects, and call methods
    • Code completion with inline type info and documentation makes learning new APIs fun
    • Uses standard .NET file and project formats so you can share code with other IDEs
    • Includes Xamarin.Forms and UIKit to build apps and SpriteKit and SceneKit to build games
    • Split screen support so you can keep documentation by your side
    • Execution powered by a new IL interpreter

 

If you are interested in learning more I already did a hands-on video available here or embedded below.  After some more experience I may follow up with a full blown review.  If you are a C# developer and are interested on developing directly on your device, check out Continuous.  It’s a pretty amazing piece of software.

 

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