... but that said, Xamarin is pretty heavy weight, it's s big learning curve.. if you want something lightweight and 'pretty' good you should try out Ionic...
On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 3:19 PM, Michael Ridland <[email protected]> wrote: > > Go Xamarin it's the best! (Opinion may be bias www.michaelridland.com) > > Traditional Xamarin (Native API) as the platform is awesome and solid and > fast, the IDE and some of the tools around it can be a bit buggy. > Xamarin.Forms is pretty early, and can be frustrating but I have build some > XPlat app pretty rapidly with it. > > Actually I'm doing a 'Introduction to Xamarin' at SydMobile in a few > weeks, you should come along I'd love to answer any questions you have. > http://www.meetup.com/SydMobile/ > > Below is a unpublished blog post on why you should use Xamarin... > > *Should I use Xamarin for Mobile Development? YES you should!* > > In my opinion you'd be insane if you didn't use Xamarin for mobile > development. Many people don't know what they're missing out on by not > using Xamarin so I'm going to highlight some reasons I think people should be > using Xamarin. > 1) It's Native but with 80%+ code share? > > So for those that aren't aware of Xamarin or how it works, Xamarin allows > you to develop apps for iOS, Android and Mac from a single code base. When > I say this I don't mean in a webview or customised API, it actually usesthe > Native APIs. So when developing you use UITableView which is the same API > that a native developer would be using. > 2) C# and F# are Modern languages > > C# might not be the hipster language of the year it is a continually > evolving language with solid features like type interference, dynamic > types, language integrated query (LINQ), async/await and first class > functions. C# is designed for developing large robust applications. > > And for the functional types there's F#, which from what I've been told > it's like scala but faster and better thought out. > > I'd argue they're better languages than java, javascript and > objective-c... and seeing that they're currently the only languages with > built in async you could say their even better than swift... > 3) async/await > > .. 'wait but javascript is all async' i hear you say... C#/F# async/await > is different to what people normally think async is. C#/F# async/await > tackles the callback hell problems in rich clients, anyone who works with > rich clients will know of these problems. This is a problem that's > attempted to be solved with promises and generators but neither are at the > level of async/await. > > Here's a little before/after sample: > > *Before:* > > doAsync1(function () { > > doAsync2(function () { > > doAsync3(function () { > > doAsync4(function () { > }) > }) > }) > }) > > *After:* > > await doAsync1() > await doAsync2() > await doAsync3() > await doAsync4() > 4) Watches, Google Glass wearables and the future of devices. > > In case you haven't noticed the future isn't just mobiles it's wearables, > devices and IOT. Xamarin has same day support for all these platforms > including android wear, google glass, Amazon TV and more. As I've said > beforeXamarin uses the Native APIs and compiles down to native so using > Xamarin you're in the perfect position develop all modern platforms. > 5) It's ready now! > > All the time I hear people say 'html is a fast moving target' or 'it will > get there eventually'. Xamarin is here now, it's Native and it's cross > platform. Why wait to have a great app when you can have it now and as a > bonus know that your application is future proof for future devices. > 6) It's fast and stable > > From personal experience the Xamarin traditional (Xamarin.iOS and > Xamarin.Android) > platform is solid, fast and stable. You'd be hard pressed to find a problem > with the core parts of the platform, any app bugs will probably be your own > bugs. > 7) Documentation > > The documentation for Xamarin is solid, it's generally better than the > Apple and Android documentation. > 8) Xamarin.Forms > > So how about 100% codeshare and still be Native? Xamarin.Forms allows you > to program against a single API and have that single API mapped to native > controls on each platform. Hanselman describes it well, 'Write Once Run > Everywhere AND Be Native'. > > It's still early days for the product but the top component developers > like Telerik and DevExpress are already developing components for Xamarin > .Forms. > 9) It's the best of all worlds (Hybrid and Native) > > If you've taken a look at my Xamarin mashup blog > <http://www.michaelridland.com/mobile/asp-net-mvc-xamarin-mashups/> you'd > already know that the possibilities with Xamarin are vast, you can > essential create your own Cordova and you can completely integrate it with > your C# Mvvm/c# Native Code. So you have the full power of the .net > framework to build your client application architecture which becomes very > useful when you have complex requirements like Offline. > 10) Large Community > > Xamarin uses the .net framework and because of this it's inherited the > pre-existing community, this means that even though it's a fairly new > platform we already have support for Awesome projects like Json.net, Fody > and ReactiveExtensions/ReactiveUI. > 11) Profitable Innovative Company > > Xamarin as a company has a passion for enabling mobile developers to > deliver leading experiences. Their products cost money Yes but it's good > for us, I see many people complain about the pricing but Xamarin charging > money for products allows them to put money back into building amazing > products for us. This year at EvolveXamarin released some great new > products, a Analytics Cloud Service, a faster Android emulator and a > performance profiler. In the future Xamarin is on the rise and this means > our tools are only going to get better and better. > > This is why I choose Xamarin and I think you should too.... > > If you have any questions regarding Xamarin or need any help please > contact me I'm always happy to help. > > Thanks > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 2:58 PM, Stuart Kinnear <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> I've got a bit of free time so I'm starting to play around with mobile >> development and getting somewhat bewildered with the options offered. >> >> The dream is to knock up a business style app that will allow persistence >> of data to the local database eg. sqlite then a transfer to a base server. >> >> Looked at Android dev kit, and that is OK but of course that strikes out >> Ios & Windows. >> >> Looked at PhoneGap/Cordova and got infuriated by the simple task of >> posting data (jsonp is a bit of a security risk in my books) >> >> Early last year I did play with Xamarin and found it unstable, crashing >> at a whim. Is it worth giving it another go, or should I just suck it up >> and work on platform specific development tools. >> >> -- >> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Stuart Kinnear >> Mobile: 040 704 5686. Office: 03 9589 6502 >> >> SK Pro-Active! Pty Ltd >> acn. 81 072 778 262 >> PO Box 6082 Cromer, Vic 3193. Australia >> >> Business software developers. >> SQL Server, Visual Basic, C# , Asp.Net, Microsoft Office. >> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> > >
