Xamarin VS other Cross Application Platform

Joshua Josh
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

Making a decision on what Framework you would be using to make your next Mobile Application especially when it comes to Multi or cross-platform is a difficult task for an organisation or Developer. Then the choice of making hybrid HTML App( Frameworks that uses HTML/Javascript/CSS and interprets the webpage to the device native view)or a Platform Generated App ( Using a Programming Language to make an App that compiles straight into the intermediate Language) comes in Mind.

I wish to talk about Xamarin which is a Cross Platform Framework for making Applications that work on Windows, IOS and Android devices respectively.

PRICE:

Xamarin was Paid formerly but as of now Xamarin is FREE and yes i said it, its FREE and NO there is no Catch, its automatically included in Visual Studio from the 2015 version to the 2017 version. Microsoft gives Visual Studio free to the Community the Licence version for thee community is called Visual Studio Community Edition( get a copy of the Software here )

https://www.visualstudio.com

UX

In making an App for a Platform one major aim is to make the App Native to the Environment for Example when making an Android App the App needs to Perform as Android Apps needs to run as Android Apps are meant to run and also it needs to have the FULL Android Software Development Kit (SDK) and the app is expected to have the User Interface Android App usually or do have. Xamarin makes the App Native irrespective of the platform (Win, IOS or Android). More info (https://www.xamarin.com/platform).

PERFORMANCE

Xamarin.iOS does full Ahead Of Time (AOT) compilation to produce an ARM binary for Apple’s App Store.

Xamarin.Android takes advantage of Just In Time (JIT) compilation on the Android device.

Credits: Microsoft Corporation

CODESHARING

With Xamarin you can use the same language (C#), APIs and data structures to share an average of 75% of app code across all mobile development platforms.

OPEN SOURCE

Tada , Xamarin is Open source and has its xamarin.IOS, Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.forms Libraries open for the community

Xamarin does not let you just make your app it also allows you test yourt app Continuously on over 2,500 real devices in the cloud. (Xamarin Test Cloud https://www.xamarin.com/test-cloud )

Anything you can do in Objective-C , Swift, or Java
can be done in C# with Xamarin.

What Next

Xamarin can be getting a copy of Visual Studio. Download Visual studio 2017 , Whola! all you need to make a cross platform app is already in your installation.

Visual Studio Community Edition is available for free to Windows and Mac Owners. the next question is what about Ubuntu ( for users who use Ubuntu can either use Visual studio code or use a Virtual Machine to install windows 10 then install VS(virtual Studio).).

Important Links

www.Xamarin.com

https://developer.xamarin.com/guides

Introduction to Xamarin: https://goo.gl/vLno8v

Xamarin documentation index: https://goo.gl/yfHVJW

Xamarin recipes: https://goo.gl/tD7Y3B

Disclaimer: I am not an employee of Microsoft nor a member of Xamarin Core Team. I am just an enthusiastic volunteer 😀

Joshua Josh

Written by

Digital Nomad | Currently engaged in Internet Governance Activities ✨📡 🌐

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