Forem: Carl Conton

Don’t Get Your Wires Crossed, Xamarin vs Ionic vs React Native, a Cross-platform Mobile Frameworks Comparison

Carl Conton — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 14:52:04 +0000

Utilizing cross-platform development, especially in the case of products such as mobile applications, isn’t exactly new. Obviously, the cross-platform app market is growing considerably each year. This means that, to engineers, the ability to develop across platforms simultaneously is not only useful but also financially savvy.

Of course, cross-platform development does not come without its own downsides. For example, the cross-platform code is often spottier than code natively developed for a specific platform. This is why cross-platform development aids such as Xamarin, React Native, and Ionic have become so popular. Today we’ll be looking at these three frameworks in terms of performance, efficacy, and user-friendliness so that you can choose the right framework to build your cross-platform app in.

Microsoft’s Red Headed Development Child: Xamarin

Xamarin works in two formats: Forms and.Android/iOS. The .Forms format is less specific and allows you to automatically develop cross-platform. The downside for this improved flexibility is a less efficient translation of code. On the other hand, the.Android/iOS format features close to native performance when cross-developing. Needless to say, the.Android/iOS format is better if you’re willing to put more time into your development cycle. Overall, Xamarin is decently efficient, and if you learn how to use it, it can be quite a powerful tool for making cross-platform apps feel natively developed.

Although Xamarin is less popular than Ionic or React Native, Microsoft has been pushing this platform for a while and has dedicated quite a lot of resources towards its success. This means that it has good user-friendliness, both in the form of manuals, as well as in the form of excellent customer support. Although it is the priciest option of the three (by far), as well as the least used, Xamarin has the potential to really become something in the next few years if Microsoft plays their cards right.

Quantity over Quality: Ionic

Ionic is interesting because it uses web technologies to help develop apps cross-platform while using JavaScript. This is both a pro and a con. Because of its use of web technologies, Ionic isn’t as good at creating a natively developed look or feel as Xamarin or React Native are. However, because it runs testing incredibly quickly if all you need is a basically proficient app, Ionic can help speed up your process by a large margin and is used in projects Reltio, ITAdviser and SAP.

Ionic is the second most popular, as well as second priciest, the framework on this list. Although it can be useful for developing simple apps or developing basic helper apps for other development cycles, Ionic lacks in power when it comes to Xamarin’s or Reacts Native’s ability to develop apps cross-platform that feel natively developed.

The Opensource Workhorse: React Native

React Native is an opensource, JavaScript-based cross-development framework. Of these three apps, React Native is the most popular, and it’s not hard to see why. React Native is incredibly powerful and is fully capable of making cross-platform apps feel as though they were developed natively. It’s not necessarily as fast as Ionic or Xamarin. Forms, but what you lose in efficiency you more than makeup for in quality.

Additionally, React Native provides the best user experience, boasting a huge community of users more than willing to give advice and a helping hand to new users. It’s also the only framework on the list that is completely free, being a true opensource development tool. Without a doubt, React Native is a great option for those who aren’t afraid of tackling a project head-on in order to get the best possible results.

Conclusion

Personally, I’d recommend React Native. Of the three, it has the biggest user community and is the most well understood. This means whether you need to make the app yourself, or you’re outsourcing, it’s a good choice. It’s also free. However, if you have a .NET team and are familiar with Microsoft, it may be a good idea to jump on the Xamarin train while it’s taking off – if the platform expands like I think it will, that early experience could become very marketable in the near future. Finally, if you just need efficacy, don’t shy away from Ionic. If you’re just looking to develop a smaller, less public, more corporate app, Ionic can really pack a punch in how much it can expedite the development process for you.

Have you used one of these frameworks? If so, what was your experience? Which do you prefer? We’d love to hear from you!

Xamarin, React Native, Ionic: Cross-platform Mobile Frameworks Simple Comparison

Carl Conton — Sat, 11 Aug 2018 14:19:42 +0000

Cross-platform development involves the use of special utilities (frameworks) to create an application based on the JavaScript family of languages. The whole structure and logic of the application is created with the help of such tools in JavaScript, and then turns into a native trigger element.

Xamarin

This platform was purchased by Microsoft in 2016.

Features:

Developers are invited to C # as a programming language. Xamarin is based on the application of the Mono platform.

All platform APIs are provided through C # layer classes.
It can re-use UI components on Android and iOS - Xamarin.Forms.

This solution can be a good idea if you have a ready-made C # -programmers team that needs to be switched to Mobile-development. It's also worth noting that due to the fact that Mono is used, performance does not suffer as much as when using JavaScript frameworks. Perhaps, one of the best frameworks for implementation of projects loaded with functional. However, it should be noted that there may be discomfort in the development of mobile applications in terms of tools, Android Studio and Xcode offer more rich functionality.

React Native

The framework is:

It is a logical continuation of React only in mobile development.
JavaScript is used as the programming language.
UI is native for each platform; UI as a function of the current state.
The basis for the FLUX pattern.

UI is allocated to separate components to provide state rendering. It is very important to properly organize the data-flow, as well as to establish interaction between the components. This is necessary for a good organization of the structure of the cod. Once you learn how to write for the web, you can easily start using the same approach only for mobile devices. Since the UI is isolated, you can achieve a large re-use of the code between the Mobile and the web solution.

Ionic

Features:

Angular based framework; rendering is carried out in WebView. Orientation to mobile devices with a large number of controls, targeting mobile devices. If necessary, use the platform API, you need to use additional plugins. Obviously, lower speed of work in comparison with ReactNative and NativeScript.

As practice shows, in most cases in cross-platform mobile development JS-solutions are most effectively used as part of the dedicated application functionality working with native components; implementation of testing hypotheses associated with mobile applications. Complex cross-platform solutions are used in the "long", for the implementation of components like SIP-drain, mathematical calculations, graphics libraries.

Conclusion

The future of hybrid solutions, sometimes from the native Ul-components cannot be discarded, then it can to put business logic into cross-platform C / C ee libraries. Or it is important to make some pop-up window, or the settings screen, which can be easily implemented in JavaScript. Fortunately, there are no super universal solutions, why, fortunately? Thanks to the diversity of the world that it is possible to feel new technologies and find the most suitable solutions, and also to bring elegant approaches from neighboring technologies to the solutions being developed.

The Difference Between Backing Up & Archiving

Carl Conton — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 00:20:45 +0000

By examining the subtle differences between the two we can make a coherent decision on which one your company needs best.

What Are The Differences Between Backups & Archives

A backup is a solution which is used to store and restore files which are ordinarily needed in short periods of times and quite often, while on the other hand archiving is used for data which needs to be there only for historical reasons most of the time and does not need to be actively retrieved. This type of storage is used mostly for long term retention periods.

Which Is the Best Option For Your Situation

Depending on the type of Data that you are harboring and the intentions behind what you should do with it, you can meet your needs with either solution if properly examined. Basically it boils down to the type of retention policy your company is dealing with for your Data and how often you restore from backups. If you are generally dealing with documentation which does not need to resurface every day and is mostly kept for historical reasons, choose File Archiving Software, otherwise go with general backup solutions. Another thing to keep an eye on is cost. Generally quick backup restores and the software solutions that go along with it are a lot more costly than archival solutions. This is due to the optimized availability that they have to offer compared to something which is mainly historical and not as demanding.

Consider Security For Your Backup/Archive Solutions

There are a few things to consider before purchasing any type of solution. Currently the big focus falls on Security and all of its contingencies to build a solid foundation for your enterprise.

This means making sure that the following segments are met:

Vulnerability Scanning
Regular Patching & Updates
Log Central

Vulnerability Scanning has become a defacto for most enterprises harboring sensitive data. The reasoning behind this is that breach costs today are not measured only by financial loss but reputational as well. Doing everything in your power to prevent any unwanted infiltrations is a great start.

In order to accomplish such things, your systems need to be regularly updated and patched up so that all of the known vulnerabilities can’t be used against you. All the while logging all action going through your infrastructure is a good way to keep evidence of any dealings going on in your systems, just in case you find some malicious traces, you can act quickly and dispose of anything that can corrupt or modify your Data.

Conclusion

Depending on what you currently need, a good amount of deliberation needs to take place before deciding between the two. Usually enterprises engage with general backups, but if in your case you don’t need to have everything restored in a very frequent basis but you still want it to be stored, then archiving is probably what you are looking for. This entirely depends on your situation.

We decided to implement CRM into our pipeline, and that's how we were looking for a proper one.

Carl Conton — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 04:19:40 +0000

The more any type of company grows the more customer relationships becomes more important. At first, this might not seem like that much of an issue, since you have a few certain customers and don’t worry too much, but once everything starts to expand and you need not only capture new clientele but also hold them with your company, it becomes apparent why all of this is important.

The reasons what caused a decision to look for CRM in our team

It’s simple, CRM Software was designed to help companies retain customer relationships and develop them into something unique. Ever since, it has evolved into something much more, adding more tools under its belt. Tools which help your company manage Marketing Pitches, Sales, Accounting and even Point Of Sales as well as many other things.

While the number of benefits you would get from such software are astonishing, usually this does not mean that you have to cash out a lot, most of the more decent types of CRM Software is relatively affordable. This means that since it’s solid you don’t need to change it often and once you buy it should do well for a prolonged period of time.

What CRM Software does best is Automation. This, in turn, saves you much valued time and money. It frees employees from doing something that actually requires manual work instead of becoming repetitive and not as valuable as they could be.

CRM Software also has tools that enable you to do Mass EMailing which can be personalized emails that could lead to a boost in Marketing. It also provides reports which could help you at the end of it all discern just how successful your campaign was.

The most important thing is to track your progress and performance. CRM Software helps you do this by evaluating and noting critical sales dates, deal evaluations and calculating commissions for you. In turn, all of this data can land you a detailed ending report with an overview of how you did.

Here are the things that you should consider at first

As with anything, a certain amount of planning and research needs to be done before picking a key component of your business. But what is customer management process and how to choose the proper one? Well, there are a couple of things to be wary of in such a situation, such as:

Responsiveness
Pick User-Friendliness
Better if it is SaaS Based
Try Before You Buy!

It should not be a hassle choosing your first CRM Solution, but that does not mean you should take it lightly. Please review what your company actually needs before making any decision, beforehand.

By staying vigilant and picking the proper solution for you and your company, you make sure that maximum productivity is in place. This means that both you and your customers will be thankful for being stable, organized and most importantly, effective.