Web-based C/C++ environments supporting the runtime

Online compiler Description
ARM mbed ARM mbed has an online IDE for C/C++ development available at http://developer.mbed.org. It is free to use and the BBC micro:bit is one of its officially supported platforms. This online IDE provides a simple interface for writing, compiling and sharing projects like the micro:bit DAL, which is based on the mbed SDK.

Our friends using the runtime

Language Description
Microsoft PXT
 The Microsoft Programming Experience Toolkit (PXT) provides a programming experience based around JavaScript. The experience has a built-in progression from simple block-based editor, through in-browser text editor with robust auto-completion and auto-fixing, all the way to a professional integrated development environment, Visual Studio Code.
Microsoft Touch Develop
With its touch-based interface, Touch Develop has been designed for mobile devices with touchscreens. It can also be used with a pc, keyboard and mouse. Touch Develop introduces a statically-typed scripting language with syntax-directed editor. It can be used to produce web-based apps that can run online on any platform.
Microsoft Block Editor
 The Block Editor is a visual editor and provides an introduction to structured programming via drag and drop coding blocks that snap together. You can also convert a Block Editor script into a Touch Develop script which helps with the transition to text-based programming.
Code Kingdoms JavaScript
 Code Kingdoms is a visual JavaScript editor. It has a drag-and-drop interface making it accessible to beginners. You can also change from the visual editor to a text-based editor which supports the transition to text-based programming as the learner’s coding skills progress.
MicroPython
 MicroPython is a completely text-based editor, perfect for those who want to push their coding skills further. A selection of 'snippets' are on hand to help auto-complete trickier tasks and a range of premade images and music are built-in to give you a helping hand with your code.

mbed

ARM mbed has an online IDE for C/C++ development available at http://developer.mbed.org. It is free to use and the BBC micro:bit is one of its officially supported platforms.

The online IDE provides a simple interface for writing, compiling and sharing projects like the micro:bit DAL, which is based on the mbed SDK.

mbed.org online compiler screenshot

Getting started with mbed.org

Hello World on mbed.org

  1. Create an account on developer.mbed.org.

  2. Visit the micro:bit platform page and add the micro:bit to your compiler by clicking the "Add to your mbed compiler" button in the right hand sidebar.

  3. Go to the microbit-samples project, and click the Import this program button for that project. The online IDE will open.

  4. Complete the import of the project and then select it in the sidebar and click the Compile button. The build will start. The first build will take longer than subsequent builds.

  5. Your browser will prompt you to download a file. Save this file locally, then drag and drop it onto your micro:bit. The copy triggers the orange LED on the back of the micro:bit to flash; it will stop flashing when the download is complete.

  6. When the copy process finishes, the micro:bit drive will reset and disconnect from your computer. At this point, your code will also start running!

There is a more detailed guide for using the micro:bit in mbed on the Lancaster-University team wiki on mbed