personally, the evolution of replit makes me sad. i remember writing some of my very first ever programs in python using replit in middle school, as it wasn't blocked by the school network and it was the best way of running arbitrary code online back then. i used it to execute java code for AP computer science in high school, and i improved a ton at using the terminal as well. At some point, I stopped using the replit web editor and was coding by full-screening the built-in terminal and using vim. it was a formative experience and really helped me develop as a programmer even though all i had access to was a locked-down chromebook. but now, going back to the website and seeing the first thing it shows to you is how you can "build apps using AI", not even being able to even create an environment to run some python code without talking to an LLM, and the company focusing on ARR and becoming "AI-native" and creating value and all that jazz, and it feels like the magic of learning to code for the first time has been lost. luckily, kids these days are spoiled with webassembly and can run pretty much whatever they want in the browser, so i'm sure the next generation of young programmers will be alright
I agree so much with this. I used Replit extensively to prototype things in different languages and share my work with my teammates, who could then suggest tweaks to my ideas. We never came close to the limits of the free tier, but I paid for it anyway because I loved the product.
The magic is definitely gone.
FWIW you can still start from template environments by going to "Developer Frameworks," picking an example language, and clicking "Remix."
It's not as nice as before though. I miss when free accounts could have unlimited projects.
You should be grateful and happy for the people that helped you in your journey, they made it! You know, apps are not AI (yet), what you used for free was built by someone that deserves the success.
But that’s true of everything we use. Someone made that fork you use. That plate. The shoes you wear. Same for an app. You don’t deserve anything. If you make something, and release it into the world, you have a responsibility. Not a reward. A reward may come. People may pay you for your services or your novelty but in no way shape or form are you deserving of it. Deserving of something is a 3rd person observation. You can not demand that you deserve anything.
> But that’s true of everything we use. Someone made that fork you use
I paid a fair price for my forks and plates and shoes, I don't need to be grateful for that. Using a platform for free and then complaining that now they focus on making money is not the same.
> Deserving of something is a 3rd person observation. You can not demand that you deserve anything.
I'm not OP nor Replit owner.
>I paid a fair price for my forks and plates and shoes, I don't need to be grateful for that. Using a platform for free and then complaining that now they focus on making money is not the same.
They were focused on making money back then too. Nobody's complaining that they were trying to make money!
If someone is grateful that the old product existed at the time, because it helped them, it's completely understandable and valid that they'd be sad that it no longer exists to help other people. What there is now has a hundred almost-the-same alternatives[0]; it sounds like what they used to be was unique.
[0] the article quotes a claim about “the first agent-based coding experience in the world” "last fall" but that seems to ignore not-as-successful earlier things like AutoGPT that had code agent projects by early 2024 if not before, with initial "agent" behavior in 2023.