At present, Android owns a larger portion of the worldwide mobile
operating system market. But several studies have shown that iOS apps are still
more profitable that Android apps. Many developers nowadays opt for
cross-platform mobile app development to reach out to more users and generate
more revenue. The developers also have option to accelerate cross-platform
mobile app development by using a variety of tools and frameworks. But they
still find it difficult to build cross-platform mobile apps that look, feel,
and function just like native mobile apps.
Despite being a relatively new mobile app development tool,
Xamarin is currently used by over 2.4 million mobile app developers. Like other
cross-platform mobile app development tools, Xamarin also enables developers to
make a mobile app available on iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile platforms with
a unified and shared code base. But Xamarin, unlike other interpreted
solutions, enables developers to make the mobile apps deliver native
performance and user experience on each mobile platform.
Unlike other cross-platform mobile app development tools, Xamarin
allows developers to share business logic, network communication, and database
access across multiple mobile platforms. Hence, it becomes easier for developers
to reuse over 96% of the source code. Also, the developers can make a single
app available on multiple mobile platforms without switching development
environments. The complete development toolset provided by Xamarin helps
developers to maintain and update the app without putting extra time and
effort.
Why Developers Prefer Xamarin to Other Mobile App Development
Tools?
A Modern Programming Language
As mentioned earlier, Xamarin enables users to write native iOS,
Android and Windows apps in a single programming language, i.e., C#. In
addition to being a modern programming language, C# has been evolving
consistently. It keeps the mobile apps responsive by supporting asynchronous
programming. Likewise, it makes it easier for developers to build high-performing
mobile apps by taking advantage of functional programming features like lambda
expression. Hence, many developers find it easier to write apps in C# than Java
or Objective-C.
A Single and Shared Code Base
Xamarin enables programmers to write the application code in C#
only once. But they can share about 75% of the application code, along with
images and media content, across different mobile platforms. Also, they can
share the application code fully across iOS, Android and Windows by creating
user interfaces with Xamarin.Forms. The app developers can further take
advantage of several portable class libraries (PCLs), and reuse the application
logic across multiple platforms by creating it as a PCL.
Deliver Personalized User Experience
A large percentage of modern users love mobile apps that deliver
personalized user experience. Xamarin enables programmers to create mobile app
that can access and accelerate native features of the mobile device and
platform fully. As Xamarin apps are compiled before deployment, they can
accelerate the platform-specific hardware without requiring the code to be
interpreted at runtime. Hence, it becomes easier for programmers to write
cross-platform mobile apps that deliver custom and native user experience
across each mobile platform.
Xamarin.Forms
Xamarin.Forms is designed as an API that enables developers to
reuse the application code fully across a number of platforms. The programmers
can use Xamarin.Forms to write the user interface (UI) code once in C#, and
then share and reuse the application code fully across iOS, Android and
Windows. However, developers have to write each Xamarin.Forms page as a
specific screen of the app. But the API supports several advanced gestures, and
an array of controls and layouts. Each control supported by Xamarin.Forms is
further mapped to the native user interface elements of the underlying mobile
platform.
Xamarin.iOS
Xamarin.iOS enables programmers to build and ship native iOS apps
by taking advantage of the new features and enhancements included in the latest
version of Apple’s mobile operating system. The developers can use Xamarin.iOS
to write native iOS apps in C#, while availing Apple’s iOS SDK fully.
Also, they have option to use the automatic binding generator provided by
Xamarin.iOS to use the existing Objective-C code, frameworks, and custom
controls in the native iOS app. The built-in Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compiler
further compiles the Xamarin.iOS code directly into native ARM assembly code.
Xamarin.Android
Xamarin.Android makes it easier for developers to write native
Android and Android Wear apps in C#, while availing all APIs provided by
Google. They can further enhance the APIs by taking advantages of the features
provided by C# and .NET framework. However, they still have option to use the
existing Java code and custom controls in the app by using the automatic
binding generator provided by Xamarin.Android. The tool further optimized the
performance of Xamarin apps by optimizing the application code at runtime
through just-in-time compilation.
Xamarin Test Cloud
The developers can further test various aspects of the mobile app
across multiple devices and platforms by using Xamarin Test Cloud. The robust
integrated testing environment enables developers to test the app across over two
thousand of real mobile devices simultaneously. The real devices make it easier
for testers to evaluate the mobile apps more efficiently and produce more
reliable test results. Also, they have option to automate the mobile app
testing process by writing custom test scripts in C# or Ruby.
Two Robust IDEs
Based on their operating system, the developers have option to
choose from two distinct IDEs – Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio. As a
full-featured IDE for Mac, Xamarin Studio enables developers to build
cross-platform mobile apps rapidly, while experimenting with varying APIs,
language features, algorithms, and cloud-based backend solutions. Likewise,
Visual Studio also includes Xamarin SDK, and enables developers to build iOS,
Android, Windows, and web apps and cloud services without putting extra time
and effort.
Xamarin Components
The mobile app developers can easily enhance the functionality and performance of the mobile app by downloading a variety of components from the Xamarin Components Store. They can further download the components from the Xamarin Components Store directly through the IDE. There are components that make the Xamarin apps more secure by implementing elaborate authentication and authorization. Likewise, the developers also have option to build and deploy mobile app flexible by using a variety of popular backend solutions - SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft Azure, and Parse.
The effectiveness of Xamarin can also be determined from the fact that it is currently being used by thousands of enterprises including The World Bank, Kimberly-Clark, McKesson, Honeywell and 3M. In February 2016, Microsoft acquired Xamarin, and subsequently made the Xamarin tools open source. Hence, the developers can now reduce cross-platform mobile app development cost significantly by using community edition of Xamarin Studio and Visual Studio. But they have to incur additional expenses to avail the enterprise or professional edition of Visual Studio.
