Coding on a PDA/Cell phone/MID

Question

This is an opinion question. If you were to write code using your iPhone, Blackberry, MID, PDA or whatever small-screen, no-keyboard device you have... how do you see the UI working best? I do not mean writing app for the small device, I mean using the small device instead of a PC/notebook/netbook to actually do he programming work.

I cannot see using a touch screen virtual keyboard - too clumsy. Possibly a lot of code snippets bound to virtual key sequences would work better, but still a lot of typing. If it could be done, a graphical coding method might work well because most small devices have a well developed GUI.

How do you imagine writing code on a small device?

Answer 1

IntelliSense-like functionality would rule the day. Seriously, without almost telepathic autocompletion or some such functionality, writing any non-trivial code on today's portable devices would be impractical at best (and not to mention mind-numbingly, unproductively slow).

Answer 2

I suggest an icon/graphical language like Automator. While I am not a fan of graphical programming languages, I cannot see anything requiring a lot of text input to be practical on a handheld device.