As a software developer in another job, I find a code repository tool like GitHub incredibly useful, especially for private and side projects. So, I find news about a new GitHub App (available on both Android and iOS) particularly useful. Ever since Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018, the company has committed to bringing more features to the platform and this new app for Mobile phones is one of those new developments designed to bring coders even closer to their code. Work/life balance clearly not a thing for many people.
The new app for the code repository service is primarily designed to help developers manage projects while away from their PC. Like organising and scheduling certain tasks, give feedback on issues, respond to comments, and review and merge pull requests. It also allows people to search through other repos and perhaps find that interesting bit of code they were looking for to solve a specific problem. People can also respond to code or comments using emojis, bringing in features from social media to the service. It’s not clear though if this app will work with organizations that run their code through GitHub privately or just the wider public repos. A lot of these decisions may end up being dependent on the individual companies themselves.
One thing it doesn’t do though is allow users to edit the code. Something which does seem a little weird for a coding repository app, but if you consider that most people use an Integrated Development Environment to code via their PCs, it makes complete sense. The thought of editing code on a phone doesn’t quite sit well with me, though that could change in the future, so who knows.
It’s good to see Microsoft expand on the popular service and hopefully, we will see many more tools developed over time that make it even easier for freelance or hobbyist coders to stay on top of their code
Last Updated: March 19, 2020
