We’ve passed an important landmark in software development. Using only a browser, it’s now possible to develop, debug and deploy software in the cloud.

To prove it, I spent a few hours today teaching myself how. Using just my Chromebook I wrote, tested and deployed a simple Node.js program using Cloud 9 IDE, Heroku and github.

Cloud 9, based in Amsterdam and San Francisco, just received their Series A funding and are growing fast. Their product is maturing quickly: the Heroku support was just added, for example. Cloud 9 is available as both a hosted service and an open source project.

If you wish to use Cloud9’s debugger, then at the moment you must restrict yourself to JavaScript applications using Node.js. The IDE supports host of other languages though, including Ruby, PHP and Python.

I was able to set up a one-click deploy to Heroku. You can also deploy to Joyent’s servers.

To find out more about Cloud 9, read this excellent article about Why Cloud 9 Deserves Your Attention.

Below is a screenshot of Cloud 9 running on my Chromebook. It’s a little rough around the edges yet: documentation is a little lacking and at times it got confused making new files.

This is seriously impressive work, though. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an acquisition by one of the larger cloud companies soon: Salesforce, Joyent or VMware seem obvious candidates.