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Appcelerator

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  • 12-11-2010 11:20pm
    #1
    JonJoeDali
    Closed Accounts Posts: 537 ✭✭✭


    Anyone using it? I've just whipped up a couple of Android/iPhone apps here on my Linux box and I have to say it's a breath of fresh air.

    Apparently a Blackberry port is coming soon.


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    #2
    smcelhinney
    Registered Users Posts: 1,127 ✭✭✭smcelhinney


    Was.

    But it has too many limitations. I've decided to go native and am learning Objective-C on iTunesU with the iOS4 Dev Program from Stanford.

    Appcelerator has its uses though. Smaller companies looking for an "app"-presence dont need to invest huge money in dev costs, and generally can do it in house. You will find though that the experience on a fully native app is unbeatable.

    Great introduction to iPhone development though.


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    #3
    The Corinthian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    Appcelerator has two advantages. Firstly it uses JavaScript which means that there will be little or no learning curve for developers. Secondly, and more importantly, it allows for multi-platform development, principally for iOS, Android and soon also for RIM.

    However, as smcelhinney pointed out, it is limited. You can't really use it to build complex applications such as graphics intensive games, for example, and so for that you're better off going native or using a multi-platform alternative such as Unity, which is designed for this purpose (can't comment as to how good it is).

    Also the multi-platform bit is a little misleading, as there are numerous device specific API's that mean that you're unlikely ever to really write once and compile for all.

    But, if your priorities are a maximum device footprint with minimum resources and your application is not too demanding, then it's actually a good solution to go with.


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    #4
    JonJoeDali
    Closed Accounts Posts: 537 ✭✭✭JonJoeDali


    Been developing on appcelerator for the last couple of days now. It's slow going, but I'm getting a lot faster at it. Had terrible trouble managing PHP sessions, but I solved that problem now.

    I don't think appcelerator is as fast as its name makes it out to be. Sure, for simple native apps it's great, but as someone else already pointed out, for graphics-intensive stuff, you have no choice but to go with Objective C/Java.

    I like the way the items are laid out in Appcelerator. It's very easy to position things and get them to behave rationally on varying screen sizes. That said, I'd love an XCode/Visual Studio-style GUI designer.

    Anyway, they've just got $15m from an equity fund, so I think they're worth watching out for. Phonegap are good too. Will be very interesting to see how things pan out over the coming months/years.


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