Is it possible to have real time collaboration in an online IDE?

Question

I am actually trying to create a browser based IDE for educational purpose to code java language programs. I want it to be something like eclipse orion except that the IDE will be capable of compiling and debugging java language code (and it will be only a bare bones IDE). And also, I want to add real time collaboration to at least the editor part of the IDE.

Would it be possible to create an online IDE that would have real time collaboration like the google docs? Also, is MobWrite one of the ways of achieving it and is it good?

If it is possible, please inform me. Thank you very much in advance.

Answer 1

I think there is an interesting option out there by IBM(Just rode in a blog), called "Web Browser-Based Interaction with the Eclipse IDE".

Have a look at this link:

http://www.rodenas.org/blog/2007/10/16/eclifox-web-browser-based-interaction-with-the-eclipse-ide/

So the answer is yes, it is possible somehow.

I hope it helps.

Update:

There is a similar question already on that topic(but browser interaction with the IDE is not mentioned), have a look at it, maybe can be helpful:

Real-time collaboration in Eclipse

Answer 2

In theory, anything is possible.

In practice, I'm not sure that collaborative programming ... where lots of people are hacking on the same files in real time ... is going to be productive.

Programs are qualitatively different to text / markup documents. When you two people are simultaneously editing a program, semantically conflicting edits can break the "work" in a far more fundamental way than conflicting edits on a document. I don't see this being an effective way to write programs.

Answer 3

Sure, JavaWIDE is what you are looking for: http://www.javawide.org

It has concurrent editing, and you can compile and run directly in the browser.

JavaWIDE is free and sites are available to educational institutions.

Feel free to try it out (no account needed) at http://sandbox.javawide.org