As we get started with a new year it’s time to pause and think about how the app development ecosystem has evolved, what technologies continue or are emerging, and look at the decision matrix that will define what technology your next application is developed in. I’m going to treat this post as a bit of an intro to some of the technologies that I think are worth further investigation.
I think the easiest way to do this is to walk the spectrum from web apps through to native platform apps:
Web Apps
When we talk about web apps, there is a natural assumption that these will be responsive web sites that will work across a wide range of devices and browsers. However, they can be divided further into what I would consider traditional web sites and single page applications. Whilst this division can be blurred, for example when you host an Angular application within a .NET core application, the point is that there is a difference in the mindset of the developers building the web app.
Of course, this section includes the obvious ASP.NET Core, React and Angular. Whilst ASP.NET is still a valid choice, I specifically left it out of the list as I think most new projects will favour ASP.NET Core unless there is an impediment that requires full ASP.NET.
Progressive Web Applications allow web developers to extend their applications to leverage more device capabilities. This is a particularly hot area of development for most platforms as this is seen as one of the best long term solution for minimising mobile development fatigue.
Hybrid
Next in the progression are hybrid applications which combine web technologies with a platform specific deployment package – this sounds a bit cryptic but that’s because there are a couple of different models for this.
Firstly there’s the Cordova/PhoneGap model where the application is defined using html, css, javascript, and wrapped in a native platform deployment package. The deployment step is required in order for most stores to accept applications. The important thing here is that the layout and logic for the application is packaged with the application and that the platform web rendering engine is used to display the application.
The second model is much more interesting and is one that’s being used by React Native and Native Script where the logic and layout is defined in javascript, css and a form of HTML. The HTML actually defines native elements that will be rendered in the correct location.
Cross Platform
Before we get to native platform tools and technologies, we’ll stop in on a long time friend, Xamarin. As with the previous sections there are again two options with Xamarin: traditional Xamarin, and Xamarin Forms. With the traditional Xamarin approach the developer is much closer to the metal and has a higher degree of control. However, the Xamarin Forms option allows for user interfaces to be rapidly developed once, and then feedback/issues are resolved on a platform by platform basis.
Native Platform
Lastly, we have the Native platform options for developers:
Android
Java, C++ with Eclipse, Android Studio
iOS
Objective C, Switft, Interface Builder (now part of XCode)
UWP
C#, XAML, Visual Studio (or Visual Studio for Mac)
As this is hopefully one in a sequence of posts on the topic of framework selection, I’d love some feedback on what technology you think will be important to you and those you work with – comments are off but hit me up on twitter @thenickrandolph if you have thoughts on this.