I've read this post and this one and I'm still wondering if there is a way to deploy a contract without fully syncing the blockchain, for example by using a light client. I would like try my hand at writing contracts (and be more helpful to people on StackExchange!) but I'm short on disk space and would prefer to use a public test net rather than a private chain. My backup plan is to deploy a test net node on a small VPS instance I'm already paying for, so I won't cry if the answer is "you need to fully sync the blockchain".
Contract Development – Writing Contracts Without Fully Syncing Blockchain
clientscontract-development
Best Answer
If you want to start coding smart contract this is a quite smooth environment to set up:
Then you can deploy contracts and test them through MEW while checking out the txs with your testRPC view. I found myself well with these settings. Hope it helps.