I've been looking into different sandbox tools to execute C# code in recently.
The one I've been blown away by the most is Replit.
What is Replit?
Replit (formerly repl.it), is a free online IDE that allows users to write their own programs, with a huge range of languages to select from.
Once you have written your code, you can run it in the browser. This will compile the code live, on Replit's servers, and display the result in an output window below.
What is it used for?
The primary focus seems to be collaboration, allowing your friends and colleagues to watch and give feedback on your code whilst writing it.
Programs can only be 2MB in size, and up to 1GB of files can be stored in your account for free users. This makes it ideal for small (or example) applications, but not for anything too complex.
What do I use it for?
Honestly, I don't think I'm going to use the collaboration feature.
The part that stands out for me the most is the ease of use with multiple languages, and the ability to share the code snippets with their community.
You can check out the code I've written on my profile here: Sean Lloyd Posts
The embed features are pretty nice too! And the fact that I can use bash and run git examples in them is brilliant:
Only thing I'm missing is a dark mode flag to put on the iframe (they have a dark mode on their site!), but for now I can forgive that.
EDIT: I have noticed recently that a captcha might appear before being able to use the repl. This is unfortunate! One of the benefits was that users could jump straight in and use the sandbox without much hassle. Because of that, I'm removing the embeds for now.
