Second #thesis12 presentation.

1. Comparative study of tools
for cross-platform mobile
application development
Bert Outtier
Begeleider: Gonzalo Para
Promotor: Erik Duval 1
i.s.m. Capgemini Belgium
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2. Contents
• Context
- Problem
- Comparison criteria
- Methods
• Appcelerator Titanium
• Xamarin.iOS & Xamarin.Android
• Conclusion
2
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3. Problem
• Fragmentation
• Time-to-market
• Costs
• Code reuse
• Skill reuse
➔ Cross-Platform tools
3
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4. Comparison criteria
1. Costs
2. Platform Support
3. Access to hardware and device API’s
4. Performance
5. Learning curve
6. Productivity
7. UI
8. Tools, debugging and testing
9. (Future) Support
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5. Methods
• Native frameworks only
• Enterprise context
• Proof-Of-Concept application
• Develop POC in each tool
+ native
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6. Cross-Platform native
Frameworks
Xamarin.iOS
Appcelerator Titanium
Xamarin.Android
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7. Appcelerator Titanium
• JavaScript
• Interpreter
• UI : uses native elements
• iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry, HTML5
• Titanium Studio IDE
7
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8. Xamarin.iOS &
Xamarin.Android
• C#
• Mono
• UI : uses native elements
• iOS, Android (Windows Phone)
• Xamarin Studio IDE,Visual Studio
8
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9. 1. Costs
✓Free - $299 - $999 - $1899
✓Payed support - per developer, per
platform, per year
✓Component store
✓Component store
9
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10. 2. Platform support
• iOS • iOS
• Android • Android
• Web (HTML5) • Mac
• Windows • (Windows Phone)
• Blackberry
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11. 3. Access to native API’s
✓Very good support
✓Quick updates after OS updates
✓Good documentation
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12. 4. Performance
- Common problems: Slow ✓difference with native
No performance
animations, lagged code
scrolling, slow resuming
‣ iOS : AOT compiler
• Due to interpreter? ‣ Android : JIT compiler
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13. Flexibility vs Performance
Flexibility
•Language
•API
•Cross platform
Performance 1 (native)
•Speed
•Native UX
•Native capabilities
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14. Measure performance
• What? (FPS, time, ...)
• Case: scrolling long lists?
• Are there accurate tools?
• Where is my original (JS)
code? (Instruments, DDMS)
14
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15. 5. Learning curve
✓JavaScript • C#
✓(Eclipse based) IDE • Stand-alone IDE
✓and tutorials
Good documentation ✓Good tutorials,
documentation and design
guidelines
➡Good Learning curve
15
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16. 6. Productivity
- Complexity ↑,
productivity ↓ ✓Autocompletion
- Runtime errors ✓Strong typing
- Runs on iOS ≠ Runs on ✓Builtin UI designer
Android ✓≈ native code
- Maintainability
16
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17. 6. Productivity
Smartphone Tablet Time
Appcelerator
Titanium 60% 0% 120h
Xamarin.iOS
Xamarin.Android 90% 90% 104h
iOS 50% 50% 27h
Android 60% 60% 22h
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18. 7. UI
Write once, run anywhere Embrace platform differences
- UI in JavaScript ✓native UI tools
✓Cross-platform UI API’s - Platform specific UI API’s
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19. Problems
- Slow animations
- UI glitches (demo)
- UI Code mixed with functional code
- Workarounds for API limitations
19
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20. Solutions
• Alloy (MVC)
• Make UI platform specific
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21. Problems
- UI is platform specific
- More work
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22. 8. Tools
✓Titanium Studio IDE ✓Studio Studio,Visual
Xamarin
- Poor autocompletion ✓Strong autocompletion
✓Builtin debugger ✓Builtin debugger
- Runtime errors ✓Xcode IB / UI designer
✓Unit testing
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23. 9. (Future) support
✓> $50 million investments ✓Several investments
✓> 425 000 active users ✓000000 customers, 230
12
active developers
✓employees
Private company, 135
✓62 employees
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24. Conclusion
1. Costs
2. Platform Support
3. Access to native API’s
4. Performance wip wip
Learning curve !
6. Productiviy
7. UI ! !
8. Tools, debugging and testing !
9. (Future) support
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25. Planning
april - 17 mei : thesistekst
1 april - 15 april : afwerking POC
15 april - 30 april : (performantie) testing
Algemeen: customization?
25
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26. Statistics
• Twitter: 62
• Blog posts: 12
• Blog comments: 6
• Uren: 426u
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27. Statistics
Implementatie
Lezen
Meetings
Presentatie
Reflectie
Schrijven
Social
0 15 30 45 60
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28. Zelfevaluatie
14
28
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29. Thank you!
29
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