Totally Build Apps for Free! (not really)

Totally Build Apps for Free
*not really
Tony Hillerson • Tack Mobile
Mobile+Web DevConf
San Francisco January 2015

Presentation tackmobile.com
slideshare.net/thillerson/totally-
build-apps-for-free-not-really

About Me
• Engineering Director, Tack Mobile
• Denver, CO
• Android (since Beta), then iOS (since ~ iOS 2)
• Various Server-side technologies
• Pragmatic Programmers Author

Goals for Today
• Very Modest Goal:
• Understand what cross-platform solutions get
you
• … and what they don’t
• Offer my experience on which types of cross-
platform solutions make sense

Like It Or Not…
• Cross platform solutions are necessary
• I don’t like it…
• But it’s the world we live in
• Be prepared

FAQ…

If we use solution ‘X’, then we can
build an app for platform A 
and get platform B 
FOR FREE

FOR FREE,
RIGHT?

Solutions
• Cordova/Phonegap Based
• Titanium
• Xamarin
• Fuse Tools *NEW!
• React Native *SUPER BRAND NEW!

http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-20SX3ZK&ct=140903&st=sb

wut

People Want Answers

First, Let’s Talk About Native
• I strongly believe  
Native should be your default preference

Doesn’t HTML Solve Everything?
• Your Mobile Web is important
• A Good Mobile Web Experience is Table Stakes
• Web views replacing native - It’s just not the
world we live in yet.

Mobile UX Considerations
• Android users want Android conventions
• iOS users want iOS conventions
• Unless you have a good reason not to
• … and that reason shouldn’t be that you can’t
do it with your toolchain

What About These
Solutions, Then?

Mobile Development Strategies
• Mobile Web - i.e. no app
• Single Platform - i.e. iOS only
• Multi-platform
• Cross-Platform

What Are You Trying to Accomplish?
• Make a one-size-ﬁts-all app?
• Shield developers from learning a new
language or platform?
• Save money on development effort?
• Share code, but still build a great UX?

Cross Platform Strategies
• Web-view solutions
• Vendor Technology/APIs
• Native Compilation

Cross Platform Web
• PhoneGap/Cordova Based
• Strategy: Hide cross platform differences,
Write with web technologies 
Run in web view
• Hard Questions:
• Does it look like a web app?
• Does it feel like a web app?

Cross Platform Interpreted
• Example: Titanium
• Strategy: Hide cross platform differences
behind a common, vendor API. 
Write everything once with web technologies,
interpreted on native platforms
• Hard questions:
• How hard is it to ﬁt design to the platform?
• Do I get native performance and experience?

Cross Platform Native
• Example: Xamarin, React Native, RubyMotion
• Strategy: Uniﬁed language and platform to
native APIs. 
Runs in native runtime. 
Write in one language, calling native APIs.
• Hard Questions:
• Do you trust the developer?
• Can they keep up?

A Syllogism
• Native applications are preferable to web
• and Native execution is preferable to interpreted
• and platform native APIs are preferable to vendor
APIs
• Cross platform native apps are native, executed,
and access native APIs
• Therefore: Cross native platforms are preferable
• QED

What’s For Free, Then?

React Native Dev Quote
• “We’re not chasing the write once, run
anywhere pipe dream”
• “Learn Once, Write Anywhere”
28:50 - http://youtu.be/KVZ-P-ZI6W4?t=28m50s

First, What’s Not Free?
• Platform speciﬁc design
• Platform speciﬁc expectations
• Technical discovery
• Licensing fees

The Free Part
• Shared code where it makes sense
• Common understanding across team(s)

Cross Platform Native Strategies
• Share http access
• Share local data layer
• Build to MVVM, share model and view model

Cherry-picking Shared Code
API Access Layer
+
Deserialization
iOS UIAndroid UI

Push the Shared Code as Far As You Can
API Access Layer
+
Deserialization
iOS UIAndroid UI
Common Data
Model Layer
Common View
Model Layer

Add Caching and Local Data
API Access Layer
+
Deserialization
iOS UIAndroid UI
Common Data
Model Layer
Common View
Model Layer
Local
Datastore

Abstract Platform Services
API Access Layer
+
Deserialization
iOS UIAndroid UI
Common Data
Model Layer
Common View
Model Layer
Local
Datastore
Location
Manager
CoreLocation
Injected Injected
Abstract Location
Manager

Xamarin as an Example

Xamarin
• Write in C# using .Net libraries
• Access Platform APIs directly
• Core project (shared code)
• Android project
• iOS project

An API Client Interface
public interface CheckvistAPI { 
[Get("/auth/login.json")] 
Task<string> LogIn(string username,
string remote_key); 
 
[Get("/checklists.json")] 
Task<Checklist[]> GetChecklists(string token); 
}

iOS Uses It
public override void ViewDidLoad () { 
base.ViewDidLoad (); 
 
var client = new CheckvistClient(); 
var loginTask = new Task(() => { 
client.LogIn("username", "AP1k3Y"); 
var checklists = client.GetChecklists(); 
foreach (var checklist in checklists) { 
Debug.WriteLine(checklist.Name); 
} 
} ); 
 
loginTask.Start(); 
}

Android Uses It
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle) { 
base.OnCreate(bundle); 
SetContentView(Resource.Layout.Main);
 
var client = new CheckvistClient(); 
var loginTask = new Task(() => { 
client.LogIn("username", "AP1k3Y"); 
var checklists = client.GetChecklists(); 
foreach (var checklist in checklists) { 
Console.WriteLine(checklist.Name); 
} 
} ); 
 
loginTask.Start(); 
 
}

Recap

Recap
• Web technologies are not up to native
standards yet
• Cross platform solutions deserve your
attention
• Don’t give up access to the native APIs
• Build good apps

Thank You!
Questions?
tony@tackmobile.com
jobs@tackmobile.com

Totally Build Apps for Free! (not really)

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