Five reasons why mobile app developers will love Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms

As any mobile app developer knows, clients with little programming knowledge tend to expect miracles from our work. Of course, we do pretty neat things but we’re often asked to build apps and develop stunning interfaces by people who have a limited understanding of how this is actually done and just how complex it can be. Used to instantly accessing apps on their devices, they expect these can simply be pulled out of the air and consequently expect apps to be built within short time frames and to limited budgets. This can be irritating (to put it lightly), and it’s important to let people know just what is and isn’t possible. Nonetheless, in a world of on-demand access, finding more efficient routes to building apps can only contribute to enriching your skillset.

Built with the modern, high pressure workplace in mind, Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms let you work more efficiently and boost your productivity by simplifying cross-platform app development. In this post we’ll be looking at what they can offer you and how they help bring projects to closure quicker. Clients might not understand what you do or how you do it, but by using Xamarin you can be sure they’ll be amazed by your output.

 

What is Xamarin?

Xamarin is an API which lets you build apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone in one place, in one language (C#). Rather than having to write code in three different languages for the different operating systems, Xamarin brings all this into one place. From one code base it configures your apps to the particular architecture of the different platforms as if written natively. Put simply, this means you can develop apps in much less time and at a fraction of the cost of alternative cross-platform app development methods. Because the code base for all three systems is written in C# you can also maintain it, iron out bugs and introduce updates far more easily throughout the app’s life cycle.

If Xamarin takes care of the ‘functional’ side of things, Xamarin.Forms takes cross platform development to the next level by allowing you to share design code across devices too. With Xamarin.Forms you can write in either C# or XAML and apply your rich, visually stunning and interactive UI design across platforms. This cuts out the additional work of developing UI on different systems and again makes your job quicker, builds smoother and clients happier.

Why we think you’ll love Xamarin

Here at Infragistics we pride ourselves on creating state of the art UX controls and recognize just how useful Xamarin is for UX designers. We’ve put together five reasons why we love Xamarin and why we reckon you’ll be pretty impressed too:

1. C# - The best language for mobile app development

Xamarin uses C# as the code base from which apps are then configured to different platforms. Why’s that? Simply because C# is the best code for cross-platform app-development. In C# you can do anything you’d do in Java, Objective-C or Swift. It uses type inference to give developers more safety in fewer keystrokes, boasts asynchronous programming and functions such as lambdas are super simple.

2. Use the same code across different platforms

When you develop with Xamarin, on average 75% of your app’s code will be shared across platforms. Of course, each system will need some platform specific C# development, but just take a moment to think about how much time you’ll save when building apps for different platforms.

3. Reach the market sooner

With Xamarin.Forms you’ll be building native User Interfaces for iOS Android and Windows Phone using 100% shared C#, meaning you can release apps simultaneously in all the different stores.

4. User interfaces that look and feel as users expect

The first rule of UX is that when end users interact with your product they should barely notice how smooth and satisfying it is to use. Consumers will be confused and may even reject an app which doesn’t respond as they expect it to. You might think that sharing a code base across different platforms would lead to issues around UI not feeling quite right, yet Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms excel at creating a native experience despite all apps being built in C#. For the business app developer Infragistics have combined our UX expertise with Xamarin to let you incorporate stunning UI controls with your Xamarin.Forms builds.

5. The bottom line

We know that clients expect apps to be designed faster than ever and at a lower cost. Xamarin is a real helping hand here and lets you achieve targets efficiently and effectively.

App development for the 21st century

Developing apps across platforms is a highly complex task and, until now, has been a real headache. Whether it’s writing the code, finding bugs or maintaining apps, Xamarin makes development easier and more efficient. We love Xamarin for its simplicity and scope for improving app development and reckon you will too!