I have been making applications in objective-c for a while now and feel i have a good understanding of it. I have made many applications and started to make a few basic games.
However now i want to target android as well. I recently saw applications such as Titanium and the Corona SDK that let you create applications in one language and deploy to both platforms.
My question is, for anyone experienced with these, would it be better to just learn how to code android applications and then make android and IOS apps separate, or would it be a much better idea to start using one of the development tools listed above?
I am mostly talking about the creation of standard applications, not games.
Also more importantly, if i was to apply for a job developing apps, what would the company look for? someone experienced in each platforms sdk respectively or someone familiar with the titanium or Corona sdk to code and output the applications simultaneously.
I have looked around but could only find info regarding people who have not started either android or iphone development. I am already very familiar with objective C and iphone development.
If anyone could help that would be great!
Thanks for your time!
I would suggest learning the native Java SDK. If you do anything more than simple apps, you will feel constricted and limited by the "write-once" SDKs, as you will want to exploit the special features of each platform.
In terms of employability, if you know both native iPhone and Android SDKs, I would expect your employability to be much higher than just knowing the cross-platform language. By having a diverse knowledge of "complex" languages (such as Java, and Objective-C), if employers wanted a cross-platform approach, they are likely to recognise your adaptability to the task at hand. Conversely, by only knowing cross-platform development, you are limiting your chance of work - if the client wants to use a more in-depth feature of the platform, which is not available in your cross-platform language.
Do you have any experience with java? If not that is where I'd suggest you start. And unfortunately there is no end all be all for what potential employers may be looking for. It would depend on specifically what they are aiming to have you create(Something that makes more specialized use of one of the platform features would likely require a native app. Where as something mostly based on content could use one of the phoneGap type solutions because it would result in farthest reach). I can tell you though any of the "write once - deploy everywhere" platforms that are currently available will limit the amount of platform APIs you'll get access to. Because of that I would personally suggest that you dig into the native platform some and once you have a decent understanding of how things fit together at a high level maybe start looking at the other solutions.
If you know Java, then my suggestion is to use native SDK for developing in Android. The OO concept is similar, but the design is somehow different from iPhone development.
Platform like Titanium may be good for standard apps. But I think gradually you will want to use and tweak the native libraraies functionality. Then common frameworks are weak.
I have been developing for iPhone, Android, JME, BlackBerry also tried HTML5, my understanding is to use the native platform if possible. But the app is small, e.g. a simple RSS reader, then common platform is okay.
But in most of the cases, developer want to use special features provided by the native SDKs.
If you want to stick to Objective C, checkout out Apportable, which enables you to build and deploy Objective C apps to Android.
Related
Read a number of questions on writing in just one language for both iOS and Android and what I learned is that it depends on the special functions you need. What I want to build is a very simple app that will ask the user what he or she is doing. We need this for billing the customers but my co-workers keep forgetting to update their time-sheet, so I want to write this little app that pops-up every x minutes and asks them what their doing. At the end of the day the list will be sent by e-mail or whatever.
Anyway.... is a pop-up from an app from the background a 'special' function? Can a general language be used on both for this?
Edit: I have searched for crossplatform tools, but all replies talk about specific functions that still require native coding. That is why I was wondering if something as simple as a popup with question and entering / saving a text, would be native or could easily be handled with a crossplatform tool.
You may use Xamarin to create a cross platform applications. I am satisfied with Xamarin platform at the moment. I have been working on native iOS, java for Android also.
Please keep in your mind that, it would be great if you are familar with these platforms because Xamarin is just a wrapper of methods which exist in the native platforms. Since I am familar with native Android and iOS, it makes me comfortable when I work on Xamarin platform.
My personal recommendation is to stick with Native platform. But if you have to work on cross platform, I believe Xamarin is a good option.
Pros:
If you are familiar with C#, it will help you a lot to develop an application for android, ios and windows platforms in Xamarin.
It is demanding platforms, and many big companies are looking Xamarin developers especially after the Microsoft acquisition.
Cons:
You need to buy a license.
There are other platforms as well, but I did not use any of them. Here are some of them
Cordova
HTML5
Unity
PhoneGap
Appcelerator
Corona
Qt
You may find useful the following urls
http://appindex.com/blog/ten-best-cross-platform-development-mobile-enterprises/
http://www.developereconomics.com/pros-cons-top-5-cross-platform-tools/
For sure what you describe can be achieved with using Ionic. Its a free solution and it comes with a lot of good documentation to get you up and running quickly. You'll need to use AngularJS for developing apps with Ionic so that might be a good solution if you know your way around that framework, or if you are familiar with Javascript or have done some web development before.
On regards to your question regarding native functionality (by popups I assume you mean notifications) Ionic sits on top of Cordova so there is a huge amount of native plugins that you can use to implement native functionality. You can take a look at plugins here.
Hope this helps!
I've read about the native feature-support of Phonegap here. Clearly, it makes no mention of Bluetooth support. I've failed in finding or locating any other platform with cross-mobile platform development support. As a result, I'm currently faced with two choices.
Build independently for all the platforms (very painful option)
Find a suitable cross-platform development solution (which I've not found yet).
My question is; for mobile developers out there, which option would you suggest I take, one not listed here? If possible also help with details of pros and cons.
Thank you very much.
Build independently for all the platforms (very painful option)
In my experience, this is by far the least painful option, and not just for Bluetooth. The overhead of dealing with leaky cross-platform abstractions tends to outweigh the benefits by the time you get to a real, production product. Build an excellent iPhone app. Build an excellent Android app. You can share a lot of the UI design (though not all of it). You can share much of the data structure design. You can share some of the internal architecture. You can share any network protocols (particularly if you design them in JSON). But avoid code sharing and avoid shooting for the least-common-denominator. It's pretty far down....
For some kinds of projects it makes sense to share some C++ code between platforms. Trying to develop this stuff in JavaScript is a recipe for frustration the moment you go beyond the most basic of applications. It's easy to hack up something in mobile JavaScript that kind of works. It's very hard to get it to look and work great on all platforms; much harder than just writing them natively in the first place.
Some more discussions on this:
Mobile development - Native VS Cross Platform VS JavaScript
How to code sharing between Android and iOS (Where I discuss how to share large, established C++ code bases. But this isn't applicable for new development.)
You list iOS as one of your desired platform. On iOS, any generic Bluetooth communication (other than Bluetooth LE or communication via Gamekit, headset or keyboard) is available only to Apple MFi program licensees. To get any details about this license, you need to apply to Apple's MFi program first. AFAIK, no 3rd party or cross platform tool chain can help you with this for iOS.
I don't believe the OP is talking about iOS app to device communication but rather peer-to-peer bluetooth communication. Would the requirement for Apple MFi program licensing apply?
If so, are the peer-to-peer Bluetooth APIs (and hardware) on say, Android or Windows Phone 8 be compatible with the one from iOS? And if they were, shouldn't passing data around by JSON be fairly straight-forward for building cross-mobile apps?
IMHO, for simple business apps, building native apps for each platform is the way to go if you want to make full use of available resources on each platform and conform to their differing UI design principles.
I hope this question is specific enough. I have a client for whom I made an iOS native app and an Android native app (same app, different platform). It's a fixed pixel design (I made this work for Android somehow:) and it works on iPad, iPhone and most Android devices (with some letterboxing). Now I am asked to write the same app for the Windows store and they want me to use HTML and JavaScript. My question is, when I use HTML and JavaScript, would it be "easy" for me to use this code into some sort of hybrid solution (PhoneGap, etc)? The app doesn't need much complicated functionality but does need to support push notifications on iOS and it needs to be able to play videos, preferably HLS. Any advice on what the best hybrid solution and do hybrid solutions allow you to build for Windows 8?
I'm a cross-platform developer working on PhoneGap and Titanium Appcelerator. The correct answer is "It depends". Currently the state of cross-platform development is not very recommendable. Yes, you can write plugins for PhoneGap and it does support windows phone but you will have a ridiculously hard time getting them to communicate with each other properly. I learnt this from experience.
If it was a hacking/hobby project to further the cause then I would say go for it but for a time-bound client project like yours, I would recommend against cross-platform solutions and go native instead. Plus native always gives considerably better control, speed and ease of development. You will probably develop it faster in native than cross platform anyway. I've played around with windows SDK and it seems easy to use and well-built with good documentation and you can use C# which is similar to Java since you have already used it on android.
You can also build windows 8 desktop apps using html and javascript natively but this isn't present in windows phone 8 yet.
As I mentioned, If you don't need too many native controls, then you can go cross-platform. For your requirements, it can be done. If you have already developed android and ios apps and only need windows app now, then going native would be easier. But if you have to make all 3 then you can go cross platform if your requirements are restricted to what you mention. Here's a good quora thread that discusses the pro's and cons:
http://www.quora.com/Is-Titanium-good-for-developing-iPhone-apps
Take a look on Xamarin
Main idea - they brings real native code for all platforms.
They have instruments to compile C# code that it can be used at all platforms
For example you should create UI in XCode (for iPhone) and use ModoDevelop to create DAL/BLL, then you can re-use C# code base over all other platforms
They have cross-platform iPhone/Android/WP7/W8 samples on GitHub
Also see Q&A on Stackoverflow tagged Xamaring
We are starting to build multiple apps for multiple clients both in IOS and Android native platforms. The problem is we are going completely native which is taking too much time.
I would like to look at the linked in method (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-linkedins-mobile-engineering/) which is a more hybrid approach using HTML and native code.
The problem is I don't think Phonegap is that good - good for prototyping but maybe not for full versions of apps as it can be a bit slow and a bit buggy.
I would like to look into doing a model where we create like 65% HTML and 35% native to that device (like linked in)
Would anyone have any suggestions for this? Would people say we need a massive development team to pull such an approach off?
I welcome thought:)
Thanks
I'm instructed to develop a project in such a way that it is available for iOS, Android and Blackberry OS platform all at once. A herculean task!! indeed...
I am searching for all the possible development platforms for this assignment. I came across Flex 4.5.1 and the initial thoughts are really positive. Somewhere in SO I read that flex applications suffer from code bloating problem. I dont want such solution; infact memory is an important concern for me.
I want to know which one of the following is the optimum approach:
Developing using OS specific SDK i.e. xCode for iPhone, Andriod SDK for Android.
Developing using Flex builder and ignore code bloating.
Using Flash Builder and developing application in ActionScript.
I would also love to know if there is any other platform / language / API available for me...
Thanks for your time,
Flash Player's ubiquitous delivery makes developing and packaging mobile applications easy; however, HTML5 / JavaScript platforms such as PhoneGap would also enable rapid cross platform delivery.
Flex is heavier than Pure ActionScript. Depending on what you're developing, Flash Professional or a pure ActionScript project in Flash Builder may meet needs in a very lean and performant manner.
few days back I also asked a similar question here on SO and unfortunately so far I have not got the answer I wanted. (question is still open and you can share your findings with me there..)
Regarding your questions about Flex 4.5.1, I would like to say it is very neat and nearly perfect programming platform and learning it is quite simple. The Support & training available from Adobe is just awesome. You can easily get confidence in just few weeks. See an Excellent Downloadable tutorial, I would suggest you follow it for initial weeks.
In Flex, We Program in .mxml files and ActionScripts(.as) ... *.mxml files are converted to ActionScript during compilation. To increase the efficiency you can directly program in ActionScripts once you understand how they actually work. (Which I am trying to learn now.)
I am not sure about C/ C++ but Flex definitely supports some other languages i.e. Java, PHP etc. For Java developers like me another surprisingly good thing is that Flex can be integrated with Spring also.
Share your findings about Flex..
There are a quite a few cross platform mobile development tools
phoneGap
Appcelerator
Rho mobile
Mosync
Sencha
Corona
WidgetPad
Each one has their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, the applications built using phoneGap uses a html view to show the UI while Appcelerator uses native UI components which offers better UI responsiveness. Some are free and some are not. So you need to decide on your requirements and choose a framework.
If you like HTML5/JavaScript and want to extend it with C++ then you should try MoSync, it gives you the flexibility to blend them all if you so like. You can find out more at mosync.com.
I am going to develop an application which will be cross platform and it will be released for IOS and Android.
My App will be using network connectivity and communicate with the server and it has to be fast, reliable and responsive.
So my Question is: If i choose Adobe Flex to build that app for IOS and Android, So will there be any performance issues?
If no then why people use xcode or android sdk?
What are the disadvantages of using Adobe Flex over xCode and Andoid SDK?
Generally speaking, if you use a cross-platform "write it once and build for many platforms" tool you likely will give up the ability to take advantage of some (or all?) device- or platform-specific features. You are, in effect, choosing a lowest common denominator sort of solution. That is to say, you have available to you only the platform features available on ALL the platforms you are targeting.
Building a native app -- that is, using Xcode to build an iOS app and using the Android SDK to build an Android app -- gives you complete access to all of a given platform's specific features and capabilities, thereby ensuring the best user experience on each platform.
This is now my opinion: Native apps are better, simply because they present the user with a native experience -- an experience that will feel familiar to them as a user of the platform. When you choose to use a cross-platform tool you are actively choosing to give your user a less-than-ideal experience on their device, but YOU saved some time (maybe) getting your app to market. Who's the winner?
In my job, my boss and I had a specific conversation about this. We have native iOS and Android apps, on purpose, because we didn't want to give up platform-specific features. We wanted each app to give the best experience it could on its platform. We specifically agreed that a cross-platform solution was not the way we wanted to go.
Depending on what you are building, Air is a great platform for developing cross-platform mobile applications. Despite recent news that the Flash player is no longer being developed for mobile browsers, the native story remains strong. Plus, having seen native IOS, native Android and Flex development, the Flex platform is much better when it comes to the ease of development. With high-level features like data binding, visual state management, a solid component/skinning model, transitioning model, etc, it is a generation or two ahead of iOS and Android (IMO).
If you are using Flex for mobile (iOS/Android/Playbook), you get a common look/feel across all mobile devices. #MarkGranoff suggested that the user experience is downgraded when using an approach, but I'd challenge that.
Although I agree that an out-of-the-box styling of the UI components in Air feels a tad off, I don't recommend that anyone build apps that way anyways. Instead, create an app that looks like your app. There have been many applications that don't conform to the native look/feel of iOS or Android but are still quality from an aesthetic and UX perspective.
There is something to be said for an app that looks/behaves the same across all platforms. I can tell you this much... the user doesn't really care. If it looks good, feels good and does what they want, they are happy.
The Flex Mobile SDK uses a lot of the same UI paradigms (especially in the soon-to-be-released version of the SDK) and it is getting better. I wouldn't discredit it. You can save a lot of money and time using something like Flex Mobile.
You can use Flex to compile to AIR for iOS or android.
The performance of AIR vs Objective C or Java is significantly slower.
The advantage of using AIR is to have one cod base delivered to two platforms.
But if you have the know-how, Objective C and Java are better suited to development on their respective platforms. However many successful apps have been launched on iOS and Android using AIR. If you want to know if it would work for you I would seek out those apps in iTunes and Android Market and see how they perform for you.
If you app is not a game it will likely work fine. And if you app is a simple game it could also work fine.
Also remember there are other multi=platform development tools to choose from, like phone gap, or appcellerator:
http://www.appcelerator.com/
http://phonegap.com/
or even Unity 3D:
http://unity3d.com/
UPDATE:
Since this original answer in Novemer 2011, Adobe has made significant improvements to AIR for iOS and Android. Petformance problems are negligible unless you are doign somethign very instinsive such as large image processing.
Likewise, Unity3D has improved a lot too. It's an excellent choice for games that are 2D or 3D.
if you are using Air to develop cross platform apps, you should notice the following facts:
1) you don't have access to native features (but you can use Air Native Extensions to by pass this problem)
2) performance is slower than native apps (but you can use Starling framework to use GPU power in devices which will increases the performance a lot!)
the bottom line is that building mobile apps using AS3 and Flex/Air SDK is the best solution you can think of and the performance if using starling is much higher than native apps!
I don't think you can use Adobe Flex on iOS. Another cross platform solution to investigate would be HTML5. If you can afford it, the best solution might be to implement it twice, once with xcode for iOS and once with Android for Android.