Develop Reference

Advice on the best way to go about developing an app for Android and iOS as first project

Sorry if the title wording is not clear enough. I need to deploy a very simple app on Android and iOS for a partner company (app does not need to be in App Store or Google Play) to control some machinery via bluetooth. Interface needs to be very basic and only contain a couple of buttons and some text labels that display some information (and be able to read a QR code).
We are not a mobile development company, thus I don't have any experience building apps like this, but the required functionality seems simple enough to at least look into what needs to be done.
Now, the problem is that I only know C/C++ and Python (moderate experience with the Qt framework) and am not really willing to learn both Java and Swift. I might consider learning Swift specifically for a simple project like this, seeing as iOS development is very much tied to their platform, but Java is out of the question. I've looked around and there seems to be a way to write both of them in Python and deploy to each platform, but something tells me it's not really worth the incredible amount of problems that could arise. I need your help with some advice on how to handle this project:
Can a cross-platform app be developed with python(or C/C++) and deployed to iOS and Android (thus halving the overall development time) whilst keeping a sufficiently tidy aspect and bluetooth communication?
If not, can I develop an Android app using C/C++ or Python without immense hurdles? I'd prefer Qt as i'm already familiar with the framework, but i suppose anything does it.
When developing an Android app under point 2, is it possible to see how the app looks like without installing it on the phone for every change in code?
Sorry if the post is too long, am really curios how difficult would a task like this be. I dont want to waste my time learning 2 new languages for just this project nor do i want to end up delaying the partner company with beginner problems caused by my scarce knowledge of a new language.

I really wouldn't suggest cross platform for this kind of project. The bluetooth stacks and APIs are going to be tremendously different, minimizing ability to code share. The UI stacks are completely different. Really using anything but the native tools on iOS can be particularly tricky. Python in particular is hard, because its not meant to interact with either platform. C would be easier, as both Java (via JNI) and Swift (via objective C to C bridges) can call C code. However the UI layers of the two are so different that it would only be useful for business logic, I would still recommend writing the UI in the native platforms.
If you were going to try and do cross platform, I'd suggest react native and javascript, merely because it's the most mature of the cross platform products. That said, their bluetooth stack is likely non-existant or poorly developed because its not the type of thing used by many of the type of apps that choose react native, so you'll likely have to dive into the deep end and learn how to make modules.
Given that this is going to be a company specific app not on an app store- do you actually need to support both OSes? Or can it be done on company devices of a single type? Pushing back on that product requirement might be your best bet.

Is there a technology which makes it possible to develop a game for Android, iOS and Web simultaneously?

As the topic states - is there any technology that would let me write code for a simple commercial 2D game which could be then compiled to work well on Android, iOS and Web browsers or at least two of them (e.g. Android and iOS)? There is so much buzz about cross-platform nowadays that I was wondering if I'm missing something.
My goal (set by my producer) is to make this game for all of these three platforms, and so far I planned to use:
- Web browsers: Adobe Flex,
- Android phones: Java (since my favourite C++ is recommended only for short snippets),
- iPad/iPhone/iPod: Objective-C (are there any alternatives?).
It pretty much means re-writing the same source code three times. Is there any way to speed it up by using a technology that would work on at least both of them?
However, I don't want to use Adobe Flex for all three (though it's possible), because it requires Adobe AIR (works only with Android 2.2 and higher) and not a lot of phones have it (it's totally different with browsers where 98% of people have Flash).
I don't mind adding some platform-specific code for each version, of course.
Also, if you have any suggestions about choosing a fancier technology for any of the platforms (maybe some nice frameworks?), I'd really appreciate that, too.

Take a look at Corona and Moai both are Lua-based frameworks for game development targeting multiple platforms.

I would like to say that Multimedia Fusion was capable of doing this, but it isn't quite ready yet. There are currently a number of runtime exporters for the product which allow you to export your game to multiple target platforms which include flash, java and iOS at the moment. XNA and Android exporters are currently in the works. I should probably mention that I am only affiliated with these guys as a happy consumer of their products. It is probably worth checking it out even if they can't do everything you want yet. If it's not suitable for your needs it is still a very good choice if you wish to rapidly prototype your application.
See:
http://www.clickteam.com
On a side note, personally I would recommend against going down the js+html5 route, particularly if you are targeting mobiles. I should probably stress that it's simply an opinion I have and that there are plenty of people here who will disagree with me. In all javascript games I have played, I have felt the garbage collector. The issue is that without control over garbage collection it is free to run when it feels like, causing infrequent but very obvious pauses in the middle of your game. You can work around this but I don't see why it should be that difficult. I can definitely align with the ideals of being able to write the thing once and run it on all platforms, but I can't see it working just yet.
To offer some advice assuming you find no suitable tools for the job, your aim is to maximise reusability. This means all of your games resources and levels should be well defined as independent resources. For non-critical logic you can make use of embeddable scripting languages such as Lua, which will maximise your code reuse. C (or C++) code will also be reusable on a lot of platforms, and might be a good choice if you are familiar and confident with the language.

I'm personally using Phonegap and Zepto.js. But you may have more luck with jQuery mobile. Phonegap is nice because its website will compile the apps for you.

1) If you write your game in C++ you can use it for iPhone & Android (NDK) as well. Preferably, you write your game engine in C++, than you can use a OS specific layer for UI stuff..
2) Implement your game in HTML & Javascript. iPhone/Android users will have to use a webbrowser to play your game. For iPhone, you can even create a launcher, that looks like an app, but actually is a webview with HTML & Javascript

Unity3D should be able to do this for you, if you purchase some extra sprite addins to handle 2D (like Ex2D or SM2 or Toolkit 2D). Also right now until Apr 8, the iOS and Android license is free.

Game Maker Studio. It has a package that let's you deploy on all of the platforms you outlined.
http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/studio

Starting Android Development: Native or cross-platform?

I am an experienced professional programmer who wants to delve into Android programming. I also wish to investigate cross-platform programming using tools like PhoneGap or Titanium.
However, I am a bit in doubt of which learning strategy is best.
One approach is to get a good feeling of the Android environment and later on explore the possibilities of the cross-platform tools.
Another approach is to jump start using say Titanium (which to me looks like the better option of the two mentioned) and then after a while look into the underlying Android building blocks. The reason why this approach seems worth considering is that although I have earned my living on programming for 20 years, I have no experience whatsoever with Java. And the feeling of getting something done has always been encouraging to me.
What do you think? Does option 2 make sense, or would it be more sensible to get an understanding of the Android environment first?
Thanks in advance,
Martin

I think that all depends on what will you develop:
If you want to develop simple interfaces (parsing XML/Json/...) with some forms and nice transitional effects, then Titanium is yours.
However, the most advanced functionalities aim the iOS platform. For example, the augmented reality module or the push notification are not supported for Android.
On the other hand, if you want to develop advanced interfaces (Games for example), then you have no choice: Android SDK is the best way (you can use Flash for Android but it doesn't support very first Android OS versions).
In all cases, you have to understand how the Android platform works.

I had a similar decision to make, although I am not an experienced programmer like you with vast experience , I had no java knowledge and I needed to write an android app for a project in grad school ,and i'd tend to agree with you on which is the better option , although reading the dev guide and grasping the basics will be a must. And like Zakaria says , it also depends on what you plan to develop.
in my case I learnt basic java first , then used the SDK for my project. Its not that big a learning curve actually , I did not find too many problems with the API.

A non-programmers guide to programming

Okay so I am a very low level programmer and happy to admit it. I can write simple programs things like VB and python etc given the basic syntax. I want to write simple programs for android, for instance a calculator that handles feet and inches and a program that simply searches a database of products and tells me the details of them. Is there a simple solution where I can drag and drop some buttons and text boxes and execute code or do I have to learn the whole gui drawing code and start from scratch? If I do have to start from scratch is there a book out there that doesn't assume that I know any of the advanced coding techniques or do I have to learn the whole language and then learn the SDK? I want to be able to write a program quick and dirty, here are the variables here's the formula, do your thing...

Android App Inventor.
The problem with this approach is that you'll learn how to make apps in App Inventor, but not learn how to program Java nor how to program Android. It may be useful as a first stepping stone though, or if you really don't want to get your hands too dirty.

Android App Inventor can do exactly what you want. I've done something similar with it.
One month and a half ago, it took some of my students (and some other random people) about two weeks to get the initial invite (once they had put themselves on the general waiting list). Since the form for the waiting list is still in effect, I assume it will take around the same waiting time in your case, or may be even less.
A couple of caveats thought: You need an Android phone to run your 'Android App Inventor' App (it won't run in the emulator). Android App Inventor doesn't give you access to the generated code (they have no plans to, besides they're not using java for the generated code anyway). App Inventor won't let you publish on the Market (although, they do have plans to add that capability, for now if you want your friends to install your app, it can give you a QRcode for it, or give you the apk file to share with them).
While you're waiting for your invite, I'd suggest you try out Android Scripting
http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/
Scan the QRcode on that page (it's not on the Market yet). Install the SL4A app. Once SL4A is running, press on the menu key > select 'Add' > select Python. Once that's running, I recommend you run the test.py to see what kind of GUI intents can be launched directly from your phone python shell. The SL4A project is still very much alpha quality, but I'd say it's worth playing around with (especially in Python, since Python seems to be currently the most mature scripting environment supported on there, it actually supports a zillion other scripting languages).
Another thing you can do, from the Market this time, is to download the 'AndroidShell Lite' app. run the app, press the 'Local Console' button, and play around with that. I suspect that AndroidShell is using a version of the SL4A, but unlike SLA4, it can not be run in the emulator, the code doesn't seem to be open source, it doesn't support python (only beanshell which is just as easy actually), but it has much better documentation at least. That's why I'm recommending that you try out both 'AndroidShell Lite' and SL4A. Each has different strengths.

I believe App Inventor is what you are looking for. It is not designed for complex apps but can be helpfull for simple apps.
https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=youngandroid&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/ode/Ya.html&followup=http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/ode/Ya.html
regards.

I will suggest you do the following:
1. Improve your JAVA programming skill. Reading material: "Think In Java"
2. Improve basic Android programming skill: any entry level android book
Make sure when you go through the material,
do your best to design and implement some useful projects, and publish to the market if possible.

MoSync experiences

Does anybody have experiences from cross platform mobile app development framework MoSync?
It sounds very good and promises much. But does it deliver?

We have used MoSync for 8 months now and I have a good feeling about it. It is still magic to me that you code in C++ and out comes a jar-file or whatever platform you choose.
It is great for application development but I wouldn't recommend it for gaming with advanced graphics. It seems too slow for that on Symbian.
The APIs are very easy and I learned it very fast. And I have the freedom to do whatever components I want thanks to the MAUI framework and using widgets with skins. You can really make an application look very nice.
It is great for me as a developer that I can support so many phones and platforms. I can also do specific behavior and include/exclude functionality based on the phones capabilities.
When it comes to deployment I end up with hundreds of binaries for every device and I have to take care of them my self. To put them on a web server somewhere and make sure that every user get the correct binary when they try to download the app. I wished that they had some kind of app-store so they could host the apps.
MoSync still have a bit to go until it is working properly. There is no guaranty that an application that is build for a specific device actually works on that device. But I'm sure that they will reach there very soon. And when they do... I simply just need to rebuild my app with the SDK (I think).

Have you seen Mosync 2.6, I think this solves most of the problems you mentioned,
the feature list is at:
http://www.mosync.com/documentation/manualpages/whats-new-mosync-26-pyramid
I personally I'm quite excited about the whole HTML 5 integration, it sort of blurs the line between native and web app.
Hope this Helps
Tony