The recent announcement of the open-sourcing of the Codebox IDE is a good excuse to take a break and examine some current cloud-based IDEs.
If you’re new to the space, a cloud IDE lets developers code and manage their projects from a browser. This lets you keep all of your code in the cloud, and means you don’t need to have a powerful laptop to do real programming work. Using a cloud IDE lets you more easily share development environments with your team, which lets new team members become productive faster. Some cloud IDEs also allow you to connect to backend services for build/analysis/deployment, further simplifying the workflow for individual developers.
Most cloud-based IDEs have a similar baseline set of functionality: file/folder management, tabbed editors, access to remote files via (S)FTP/Dropbox/etc. Most claim compatibility with browsers on lightweight devices like tablets, smartphones, and Chrome laptops.