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I'm wondering if there is any chance to run Node.JS on iOS to develop as on desktop? I definitely realize I must have jailbroken iPad to install node or mongodb. The only I've found is good code editor Diet Coda with FTP/SSH support, but no more. How can I get node in "real" terminal on iPad, launching my .js files on certain port etc?

P.s. I'm not big fan of cloud9 'cause it's requires Internet connection and at this time supports only node 0.6

Found a so-so solution: connect to my server via ssh and develop my app in console. But it requires internet connection, that's not good.

f1nn
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    You should give Objective-C a try! You might like it... :D – Simon Germain Oct 07 '12 at 12:27
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    @SimonGermain, well, I've tried, but developing iOS apps is not my aim. Never liked it(( I'm a NodeJS fan and just would like to develop web-apps on my iPad) – f1nn Oct 07 '12 at 12:30

4 Answers4

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A quick search reveals NodeJS on iOS.

The long story short is that I got NodeJS compiled on my jailbroken iPhone 4! It was a long quest to get it working properly but I've done the hard work and compiled a .deb file compatible with Cydia for your installing pleasure...

It's a year and a half old, so the article might be a little out of date, but it's definitely a good starting point. See also how to set up gcc if you need to do that on your iOS device.

Aside: If you're a rooted Android developer, you may be interested in anode.

josh3736
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I am working on an implementation of Node.js on non-jailbroken iOS devices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzFH80-HYTo

It is not ready for a public consumption yet, but I am making a good progress and have a plan to open-source it soon.

Satoshi Nakajima
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  • It seems to be very insteresting. Could you tell a bit more about your project? Would be happy to do my best to help you – f1nn Dec 11 '12 at 23:40
  • I was building a Node.js application for schools, but have realized that I really want to run the server locally (for various reasons, such as network-latency, security, ...) and distribute it as an app rather than a web service. This is why I have started this project, and I am making a good progress. At this moment, key network components like net.Server, http.Server are working, but there are still a lot of missing features. – Satoshi Nakajima Dec 13 '12 at 05:30
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    Do you have any confirmation that Apple will let you submit apps with this? – Christopher Mason Jul 11 '13 at 03:34
  • @Christopher Mason -- If it's open source you can just build it for yourself (so you can bypass Apple's restrictions without jailbreaking). – podperson Oct 31 '13 at 16:00
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You can use node.js on iOS without jailbreaking, and without violating any Apple terms of service. LiquidCore is an open source project that enables node.js on both Android and iOS for deploying micro applications. iOS support is now available from version 0.5.0.

Eric Lange
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CodeSandbox for iOS works amazingly well, though it's not a console interface.

CodeSandbox for iOS offers a full-fledged development environment with all the tools you need to develop projects of any size. Create a sandbox to quickly prototype your ideas or work on a large codebase with CodeSandbox Projects: whatever your needs are we have you covered.

I've wondered how much work I could get in something like the IconFactory's WorldWideWeb. That company has been around a while, and WWW makes it easy to do work in a browser-hosted environment.

So CodeSandbox almost answers your question, and, if it disappears at some point, WorldWideWeb might be a fallback in a pinch.

ruffin
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