Tools That will Allow you to Write on Android like a Pro

It is known that all mobile operating systems have their own language for developing applications: Objective-C for iOS but now, of course, Swift, Java for Android, C# for Widows Phone. When creating even the most straightforward application, you need to keep in mind the peculiarities of developing in these languages and maintain uniform functionality on all platforms. The problems in this approach are obvious: additional development time, the complexity of supporting the application in the future, and the inability to reuse the code.

But are there other options?

Of course, corporate solutions, highly loaded services, applications with complex business logic can and should be implemented using the platform's basic languages. This will ensure fast operation, fault tolerance, data protection, and the declared functionality's correct operation. However, as practice shows, most tasks can be solved using the so-called cross-platform solutions for mobile devices' fast and inexpensive development of applications. Consider the most popular of them:

1. XAMARIN

With Xamarin, you can create native mobile apps in C#. This means that the core functionality 40-60% of the code can be shared across platforms, while the iOS, Android, and Windows Phone versions need to be specific. Development environment: Xamarin Studio or Microsoft Visual Studio desktop tool plugin.

The Xamarin framework is supported by the Visual Studio development environment, which has many benefits and convenience features, such as accessible library import and IntelliSense auto-completion technology. Therefore, when choosing tools for developing a mobile application, our choice fell on Xamarin.

2. Apache Cordova

It is one of the most excellent mobile application development frameworks best for best cross-platform app development. Apache Cordova has the necessary features to create applications designed for mobile devices. A distinctive part of this solution is that the application is written using CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript. In addition, cross-platform provides the ability to compile the same code for different platforms such as Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.

3. PhoneGap

Perhaps the most popular and simple solution. At their core, Phone

Gap apps are mobile cross-platform websites built using HTML5 and JavaScript. These applications launch a local browser and use additional libraries to access some of the phone's features when executed. As an advantage of this approach, mobile application development does not require unique code for each platform. But, as a result, the speed and limitations of the browser immediately make it clear to the user what he is dealing with.

4. Appcelerator Titanium

Despite the fact that PhoneGap Appcelerator uses Javascript as a language for developing mobile applications, these are fundamentally different tools. Developing with Titanium results in native applications that use operating system services. In addition, Appcelerator has several cloud services that allow you to manage users, track application usage, and perform other analytical functions.

This article looked at the mobile application development tools and gave an example of writing a simple program using Xamarin. In addition to those presented, there are many more solutions, each of which has its advantages. The following articles will analyze other possibilities for developing mobile applications that we are currently testing in our projects.