Explore Xamarin, the versatile cross-platform framework for building native mobile apps on iOS, Android, and Windows. Find out why it's a smart choice for your app development requirements.
.NET is a developer platform that consists of multiple tools, programming languages, and libraries, which come together to build all types of applications. .NET's core language is C# and there are many editors and other tools available for all major platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS, and Docker).
.NET development services soared as demand exceeded everyone's expectations for the platform. You will find .NET development teams available in almost every onshore, nearshore and offshore company.
However, despite all this popularity, the basic tools may not be enough for some. That's where Xamarin comes into play.
How did Xamarin come about?
In 1999, Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman created a company focused on working with Icaza's GNOME desktop project. Eventually, Icaza decided to create a .NET for Linux. On July 19, 2001, Icaza released Mono, an open source project dedicated to creating .NET for Linux. At that time, the company was called Ximian.
On August 4, 2003, Novell purchased Ximian, but in 2011 Attachmate purchased Novell, which then announced numerous layoffs. At this point, Ximian and his projects were shelved.
Eventually, Novell granted a perpetual license to the newly formed company, Xamarin, for Mono, MonoTouch, and Mono for Android. Soon after, Mono for Android became Xamarin. Android and MonoTouch became Xamarin.iOS. The goal of Xamarin was to create cross-platform implementations of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) and the Common Language Specifications (also known as Microsoft .NET).
After all, Xamarin is a company focused on the continuous development of .NET for Linux, Android and iOS.
Finally, on February 24, 2016, Microsoft purchased Xamarin for between $400 and $500 million. Microsoft released the Xamarin SDK under an open source license (MIT), which was packaged with the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE.
How do you use Xamarin?
Xamarin is based on the .NET Framework. Therefore, you must use Windows or macOS to work with the tools necessary to create apps for Android or iOS. You can work with Xamarin on Linux, but only to create Android applications.
Visual Studio Tools for Xamarin can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Site . The installer will locate any missing components and prompt you to download and install everything you need.
Why use Xamarin?
There are many ways to create apps for Android, iOS and Windows. For Android you can use Java, for iOS you can use Swift and for Windows you can use any number of languages.
The problem with using separate languages for each operating system is that you won't be able to share code across platforms. This is inefficient.
When working with Xamarin, you can start building Android, iOS, and Windows apps that share a single .NET codebase. This is not only a smart development strategy, it is also an efficient one. Additionally, when using Xamarin, your UIs will contain standard native controls, so applications look and behave exactly as the end user expects.
With Xamarin, you use the same language (C#), APIs, and data structures for more than 75% of your app code on both Android and iOS. And because Xamarin is available for macOS and Windows, you can develop with world-class IDEs on the platform of your choice.
Xamarin also uses native API access, so applications have access to the full spectrum of functionality exposed by the platform, device, or service they connect to.
And because applications built with Xamarin are compiled for native performance and are able to take advantage of platform-specific hardware acceleration, end users will not be able to differentiate between applications built with the platform's native language or those built with Xamarin.
Where can I find Xamarin tools?
In addition to the Visual Studio IDE with built-in Xamarin, you can find other tools in the GitHub repositories. These tools are:
You can also find help (and participate in discussions) on the Xamarin GitHub Forums .
Why You Should Outsource Your Xamarin Projects
Ask yourself these two questions:
- Do you need to create a cross-platform application that shares a large .NET codebase?
- Are your current developers capable of working in C#?
If you answered “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second, there is a good chance you will need to turn to a third party. And if you want to hire the best talent possible without breaking the bank, your best chance of success is with a nearshore or offshore development team.
But if you're not sure about the first question, consider this: the world has officially gone mobile. In fact, the most used platform on the planet is Android (at least 74.14% ). Therefore, your company needs to seriously consider adding a mobile app to your offering.
And with iOS currently holding a 25.26% market share, you can't ignore Apple's mobile platform either, especially if your market is in the US, where iOS enjoys a 58.17% market share and Android holds 41.65%. These numbers clearly indicate that if your company intends to develop a mobile application, you need to do it for both platforms.
If your development team isn't capable of delivering applications for both operating systems, it's time for you to add a team that can. Once you can deploy mobile apps for Android and iOS, your business will expand in ways you may have never considered.
If you liked this, check out one of our other articles on .NET.
- How .NET Development Services Can Benefit Your Next Project
- Why use the .NET platform? Key benefits for 5 industries
- The Pros and Cons of .NET Development
- What is .NET Core?
- When to look for .NET development services
Source: BairesDev
