Xamarin Wars - A Mobile New Hope

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

 

Xamarin is out there and it's becoming popular. Every day more and more programmers are using it and you must know about it.

 

I am writing to share my opinion and adventure of working with Xamarin. 

 

Please read my article "Xamarin Forms: One Code to Rule Them All." I explain how Xamarin Forms will help you to create mobile apps. Check it out: Xamarin Forms: One Code to Rule Them All

 

Who is using Xamarin? 

 

 

 

Why use Xamarin?

1. No limitations. Use built in classes, use native APIs and/or customize your own classes.
2. Less programming language to learn. Use just C# period.
3. Xamarin updates when iOS and Android updates.
4. Share the code between all the platforms of iOS and Android.
5. Use Visual Studio to program with Xamarin. 

What are the difficulties?

1. Installation and configuration are still the tricks. For more information, check my article: Visual Studio 2015 Xamarin Forms Setup and Config
2. Some behavior in Xamarin Forms are not clear. You will need to read some documentation.
3. For iOS apps, you will still need a MAC in your network (as a build host) to build and publish for iPhone, iPad, etc. ...

What about performance?

 

Xamarin is closest to native iOS and Android programming. Check it out: Mobile App Performance Redux 

 

Anyway, if you really want to create mobile apps, try Xamarin, test it, and read some examples.

 

Good luck.