Code Better Apps On Android & iOS
The hardest part about coding is finding the perfect cross platform integrated development environment. Of course for Android there is Android Studio which is cross platform. For iOS however, your main platform for coding is Xcode which is not cross platform. I mean “who cares” is what most aspiring and novice developers would say. But most experienced professionals are working on or with more than one platform, making it important to have a coding environment that is cross platform. Thankfully, there is Xamarin Studio which is an integrated development environment for building both Android and iOS apps. (whats better than 2 in 1?!?!?)
Xamarin At A Glance
Now before we get into specs and what Xamarin Studio has to offer, we have to talk about the three models it comes in. The options are: Community, Professional and Enterprise. Community edition is restricted to use by students, OSS (Open Source Software) and independent developers. Both Professional and Enterprise editions are for team based developers (small to large). These two editions are subscription based and allow for more support and extra tool sets.
The Development Environment
Now lets talk about the development environment itself. Xamarin Studio is an extension built for Microsoft Visual Studio. The photo at the top of the page is visual studio at a glance. Visual Studio itself is has a wonderful looking user interface, but back on track here! The Xamarin Studio extension allows developers the ability to build apps for both Android and iOS. The editor comes built with code completion and debugging (as you can see above). It also has smart syntax highlighting as well. It also, of course, can package and distribute your apps to either app store.
But enough about the code editor! Much like Xcode and Android studio, Xamarin has a designer mode for both Android and iOS. The Designer allows for drag and drop screen creation. This allows developers to design the layout of the app and directly change text without the use of extra code. And yes, you can launch the apps to see how they would run on different versions of iOS and Android.
Xamarin is available for both Mac and Windows.
Originally published at The Rantula.
