phonegap and xamarin - what an ios dev learned about hybrid solutions

PHONEGAP AND XAMARINWhat an iOS Dev Learned About Hybrid Solutions

!June 6, 2013

ABOUT ME!

Tony Lenzi !

tony.lenzi@gmail.com !

@tonylenzi !

Technical Lead and iOS Developer

WHY HYBRID SOLUTIONS?

• RE-USE

• resources

• multi-platforms

• CHEAPER

Sounds a bit too good to be true, right?

PHONEGAP (CORDOVA)

CODE BREAKDOWN

JavaScript CSSHTML OBJ-C

• Lots of JavaScript

• iPad only - HTML may go up with reuse

• Objective-C used in framework and plugins

LESSONS LEARNED

• Uncanny Valley

• Design and build an App(not a web app/site)

• UIWebView is not Safari

• Scrolling

• Plugins

• More QA time needed

XAMARINframework formerly known as MonoTouch

HOW IT WORKS

• Write C# in Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio

• Views (xibs) done in Interface Builder

• C# is compiled to ARM assembly language to a library

• Black box to implementor

• MonoTouch libraries map 1:1 to iOS libs

LESSONS LEARNED

• Pure app performance

• Extended QA

• Reuse of business logic, models

• $299 to $1899

SO ABOUT THOSE COST SAVINGS . . .

• First app - little savings to more expensive

• Design influences cost - remember uncanny valley

• Lots of QA with limited tooling

• How similar are apps on other platforms going to look?

• May save on maintenance if tackling more than one platform

CULTURE AND INVESTMENT

• Attitude that Obj-C and native Android are a temporary problem

• iOS and Android are 2 different and important platforms

• Still need to understand designing for and USING those devices

• Removes devs from platform optimization concerns

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU... IT’S ABOUT YOUR USERS

• User’s have to trust your app

• They know when something doesn’t feel quite right

• Good apps are hard no matter how you build them

QUESTIONS?