Johnny12345

Is anyone here doing iPhone and/or Android development?

I'm curious about both. Which is easier? Which is quicker to develop? (Note: I'm NOT talking about iPhone "Web Apps" -- those aren't real programs.)

I guess the iPhone has a larger base, but how long will that last? Android seems to be gaining speed -- especially since it supports Flash.

Also... I wonder what the best beginners books are for each platform?

I have some VB.NET experience, so that will help flatten my learning curve a little bit. To a certain extent, programming is programming.

Your thoughts?

-John

QuickSurf

The one main problem with the Android platform is now they have so many different friggen phones with different specs that not all app's work on every phone just b/c it's a Droid. Especially with games, sometimes what works on one Droid is glitchy on another etc.

With Apple you have one platform really (ok still have the 3G's and other phones with updated iOS... I still have my jailbroken custom 3GS.). However that "app gold rush" is over, as the top guys in early are the ones that are majority of the time making a killing b/c their app's are known. Very hard for newer developers now against that type of competition... but if you have something unique and can market it well you can still do good. A lot of people think you just put it on the app store and leave it be, the smart ones that make $$ know how to market their app's to the right demographics.

Web Tempest

I just made a basic iphone app and it was pretty damn hard. I come from a ruby on rails background and Objective C is quite horrible after ruby. However Android is on Java, which probably isn't much better.

Anyway it took me 1-2 months to make a simple rate-my-photo application (from knowing nothing about iPhone apps).

Have you looked into something like PhoneGap ?

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riveram269

iPhone should have more support in app development. They also have some pretty good point and click development suites with no code needed to get a pretty good looking app made. An example would be, "GameSalad." You might want to give it a look if you're running a mac.

Mel White

Phonegap sounds interesting -- has anyone tried it? What issues did you run into?

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Johnny12345

PhoneGap actually looks interesting. However, it appears to be about making "Web apps" -- not "programmed" apps. I may be mistaken, but I don't think they allow Web apps in the iPhone store.

Yes, but the next one you make will probably go MUCH faster and easier for you.

John

Johnny12345

I'm always a bit hesitant to use "point and click" development environments. I like to directly control the code. However, that said, Android's Inventor looks like it might be fun.

John

unnatural

It really depends on what you're trying to do. Android being open source is a lot more flexible. There's a few different versions of Android still floating around, but if you don't want to mess around with version control you can just target the biggest user group to start.

I also prefer Java (Android) over Objective C (Iphone) but that's just because I have more experience with it.

Like a few others mentioned there's also lots of app and game engines around. Not all of them are bulky and they definitely save a lot of time, especially if you're new to development.

On another note - the Android marketplace is MUCH easier to get into. Just upload your app and you're done, the Apple app store can be a pain in the ass.

babureddy

Though Java is better over Objective C, you should also consider the devices. While iOS hardware is same, except for the versions, still where you can update to the latest OS. In Android, you have so many devices and flavours, and also android is customized by Manufacturers. This sometimes can be tricky.
But any language becomes easy, as you go on working with it.

Tom Albas

both are easier to learn...

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samdepps

Currently in my opinion, I think iPhone is easier than Android. iPhone should have more support in app development.

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Neter85

you should read more this article
greensopinion.blogspot.com/2009/07/android-versus-iphone-development.html

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ngseosept

In my own opinion, I think Iphone is easier to develop than an Android

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LikeDaddy

Google's App Inventor seems to be a visual tool that does not require coding in the traditional sense. The use of logic; of course, is still necessary. Since its simulator is remarkably incapable of an accurate simulation, an Android-based phone is also required when using Google's App Inventor.

At the time of this writing, there appears to be no equivalent to Google's App Inventor for developing apps that will work properly on Apple's iphone.

mozlost

The fact that android runs on any hardware, and ios is locked down to apple makes me think that ultimately it would be better to work on android apps... However, I have been wrong before.

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mahesh2010

Hi,

Iam learning adroid and i think Adroid development is easier when compared to that of i hone . adroid is user friendly GUI enviroinment for designing and coding and mostly we can get the source code and syntax by simple googling

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RonnyRaygun

There are converters from languages like Javascript which compile into native iOS and Android. (Titanium Mobile Application Development | Appcelerator)

lknielsen

I wouldn't say one is easier that the other. However, I have found that writing apps in the Android SDK is much simpler that doing so in Xcode. Writing code in Objective C in tandem with interface builder is a bit more cumbersome, but not more difficult. In today's market, you would do well to learn both if possible.

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jessendisoza

According to me Android is easier then iphone. Android is java base language but iphone is C and C++ base language.

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weaveronline

I dn't have much experience with Android, but we have worked on iphone apps and it is easy

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lisacameron

There is no reasonable way to say that this is technically better than the other. They are both modern development environments. Android is easier then iphone. Android is java base language.

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gelly

i think the android os is better than other os.

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bassmasterfred

Not trying to hijack your thread, wondering if any insight into converting an existing iPhone app into an Android version? Is this easy, hard, same cost as original dev...or is it a fraction of the cost? I heard it was better to start with iPhone...then easier to have it turned into Android version?

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KabanaSoft

I've played around with both iPhone and Android apps (i'm an experienced .NET programmer, so both were new to me)...and i'll say that neither are easy...but if i had to choose which is easier, i would say android just because its based on Java, which IMO is waay easier than Objective-C that iPhone apps are developed in.

If i had to suggest the easiest solution, it would be using Mono with Android or iPhone, that way you can simply use C# .NET and visual studio to develop apps on either phone...of course your app will have some overhead running Mono but the ease of development with mono it well worth the extra overhead.

If you used mono then converting apps to either phone will be much easier as the core code for the app can remain in .NET and you can just change what is needed to support the other phone.

Johnny12345

OK, now I'm confused...

How do you program either Android or iOS with C#, when the SDKs use Java and Obj-C, respectively? How does that work?

-John

ChuckMobile

PhoneGap is the jack of all trades here in my experience. Javascript development is easier by far and you get both the iPhone and Android app after you run it.

KabanaSoft

That's the beauty of Mono...it allows you to run .NET code on either android or iOS devices...Mono is basically a .NET wrapper for the SDK's for each phone (there is a separate mono for each though).

Now each OS has its own caveats as far as it comes to user interaction and doing stuff with the UI...so that part of your code will be different in each app...but your core backend code can remain the same that does work.

Just make sure you separate your code into reusable classes...and make sure all the UI code is done separate from your code that does all the work...this way you can reuse the backend code in each project and only have to change the UI code.

So if you want to say, get recent facebook status, and show to the user, you want this to be two functions on two separate classes:

Data.cs class --> GetFacebookStatus() function

Presentation.cs class --> DisplayFacebookStatus() function. This would call GetFacebookStatus() and then display the data to the user, and you could wire this up to a button_click event handler.

The code in the Presentation.cs class will change for each OS since displaying to the user is different, but the Data.cs can be reused as it knows nothing about the UI and it's job is simply to get data.

What you don't want to do is have a single function that does both of these though as it will be harder to reuse your code in the other OS.

Hope this helps.

-Mark

KabanaSoft

Here i found a good article that goes over this concept of how mono works for both OS's and also talks about splitting your presentation from your backend code:

Mono Android and iPhone Updates - Miguel de Icaza

-Mark

Johnny12345

Wow... after reading that article, web apps and App Inventor are starting to sound very good to me!

If an experienced professional programmer finds iPhone development tricky, what chance do I have of figuring it out?!

I really hate that Obj-C uses pointers. And I agree with the author of the article that the syntax of Obj-C seems difficult to decipher. Coming from VB.NET, I find it VERY confusing.

In my view, powerful and sophisticated programming languages should be clean and simple. Java seems MUCH simpler than Obj-C.

-John

Johnny12345

Thanks, Mark.

Mono sounds like a viable option.

-John

KabanaSoft

I'll be honest, objective c has a steep learning curve...i've meddled around with it and just found it one of the most finicky and difficult languages to use...and i have used pretty much every programming language out there (C, C++, C#, Java, VB.NET, PHP, Perl, LabVIEW, and others).

Even knowing C and C++, which has similar syntax, objective C has its own rules that make it very hard to be productive using it...development time is probably at least 5 times that of C# .NET. I can tear thorough code with C# .NET in comparsion to what i got done when i was fooling around with making an iPhone app using objective c.

Java is for sure easier....but if you already know VB.NET, then i would definitely say that using Mono is your best bet if you are looking to get something useful finished in the shortest engineering time possible.

Speedyapoc

I'm a teenager, and I learned Objective-C with IPhone as my first language. What you need is passion for the system. The language is in no way easy, but it is not impossible either. If you love the iPhone, you will always find a way learn. But if you find programming tiresome, then it is not going to be for you. I find that the demand for iPhone applications is much higher as well, compared to the Android counterpart.

Karen Keyes

I'm going to buy a Mac mini today, to begin my pursuit of iOS development. The biggest downfall of getting into iPhone development is that you need a Mac machine - either that or build a Hackintosh... which I didn't have the patience or luck with over the past four days. Now I'm going to suck it up and just go buy a Mac mini.

I have a strong background in C and Java and after some preliminary studying of Objective-C I don't think it will be a big shock. Objective-C being a superset of C makes it easier, plus my OO background w/ Java etc.

I'm not getting into "iphone development" in hopes of making apps and getting "rich" on my own - I'm doing this as part of my brother's business, in which he has already acquired several large clients that want mobile work done over the next few years. Him and his partner handle android and blackberry but need a mac person. I've been programming for zillions of years so I'm ready to jump on board!

sylarrr

Both have they ups and downs. I'm an android developer myself but definitely going to try out iOS development soon.

testwarrior

Does anyone here design Android & iPhone apps? We are interested in having one developed for our website (blog updated multiple times daily), but I have no idea where to find someone.

stcupp

theres a microsoft mobile developer kit that makes it easy to do all the coding once and then compile it for all the different platforms this speeds **** up alot and is a very awesome tool forget what its called look it up

phillimac

I imagine the iPhone would be easier as it's one platform. The Android market is full of different phones, some I'm sure are easy to code while others need a different code. I'd say go for both if you can though.

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devby043

As for me, it's not a question of programming language, it's a question of platform, and the ecosystem.
I love Android Framework, i love that it's open. Open standards and cooperation between industrial giants is better for Platform, I think. It can bring some chaos, but it also bring much more freedom.
And also, I'm happy that i don't need to buy googleBook or googlePhone to develop Android Apps without a headache.
But iPhone is so... solid. It's also very nice to have everything on one place, to have a powerful company which help you with everything you need. And to have no choice and no freedom sometimes

They are both nice but somewhat different. And as for me, Android is easier.

hitmobi

I'm planning to do something as well. I haven't really looked into it too much but my general understanding is that iPhone is harder. Don't take my word for 100% but i think Android should be easier.

mindinventory

I"ve work with both,but me like iphone development,they are easy to learn.

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alexmobile

I do both native Android and iPhone, and iPhone was a bit more difficult to me. Mostly because certain parts of Objective C syntax are so very different from any other modern language, it was very annoying to get used to that "smalltalk" syntax.

So both platforms have some learning curve, do not expect it to be a beach walk... You would need to put some effort to learn and deal with certain quirks / new concepts etc

Al amin

So, I think andriod is pretty easy..

danilion55

Android development is easier. It is based on Java and i like to code in java

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SC Qbiki

For sure Android development is cheaper than iOS

STG

Android is easier to get, as it is open sourced)

Monny

Hello,

I am currently developing an app for my iPhone. I found a page that gave good information about app development for iOS with code snippets (if interested: voip-sip-sdk.com/p_457-voip-iphone-integration-voip.html). You can also find information regarding app development for Android as well. Hope I could provide useful information.

Rotwic

Both are difficult to develop. It depends on which programming language you like better.

Also, you might want to consider Windows Phone. They are doing quite the work documenting and helping out new developers.

boilingstocks

Android Is Much Easier to program. If you have Experience with OOPs. Reason being Its Open Source, Too much material available online. Easy to debug and test. Works completely on Java.

Huy Phan

What do you mean, iphone has a bigger base?
I saw some market share reports and android takes around 60% of market share and ios just around 30%?

brianthandan

They both similarly complicated, so it depends upon what you are acquainted with.Judging completely depending on what you know, Android operating system growth will feel simpler. The format will be near to what you already identify.