Xamarin: An Integrated Cross-Platform Development Experience for Developers

In the past few years, a significant increase has been seen in the number of businesses developing multiple versions of the same application for leading mobile platforms like Android, iOS and Windows Phone. That is why businesses require cross-platform mobile development tools for reducing not only the development time but also the cost. Depending on particular requirements, each business has alternatives to select from a vast range of cross-platform mobile development tools including Xamarin, Titanium, Kony, PhoneGap, Appcelerator, and iFactr. However, many reports have highlighted the increasing popularity and growing market share of Xamarin.

 

So, what exactly is Xamarin Platform?

It is a mobile app development tool that provides different development environments and gives developers the flexibility of building native as well as cross-platform mobile applications.

 

 

Why Use Xamarin for Cross-Platform Mobile App Development?

Since the international market share of mobile platforms varying frequently, cross-platform mobile development has turned out to be an indispensable for all businesses. As compared to native mobile applications, it is much easier and faster to develop a cross-platform mobile application and that too in a more cost-efficient way. This platform makes it much easier and flexible for developers to make the same kind of mobile application functional on different platforms with the use of a single programming language, that is, C#.

Xamarin allows the developers to develop the app in C#, and reuse the same code indifferent platforms. Xamarin has even included the tool with Microsoft’s Visual Studio. It has given flexibility to the developers to make useful mobile apps with the use of the popular and vastly used development environment to benefit them. With the same C# code base, developers can create Android, iOs and Windows phone apps. And simultaneously developers can identify the bugs and flaws in the mobile app by testing it using Xamarin Test on different mobile devices in the cloud. Also, developers can provide high-quality app by supervising the exceptions and crashed in real-time with the use of Xamarin Insight.

Creating a cross-platform mobile app is undoubtedly quite challenging because event model, programming language, resource model, UI model – all varies from platform to platform. Earlier there was a demand for such a platform that would give the flexibility to the developers to create mobile apps for different platforms using the same code base, programming language, and class library. And ultimately Xamarin filled up this gap. Xamarin enables developers to share lots of app logic between platforms while building a native user interface for each platform.

Why Xamarin is reaping more popularity than Other Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools?

 

 

High Quality Compiled Code

Xamarin delivers compiled code which is not only dynamic but also high-performing. Simultaneously, it completely accesses all native APIs, making it easier for developers to create apps that give device-particular experiences in several mobile platforms. And the single code base makes it simpler for the organizations to cut down supporting and often update of the mobile app.
100% Code Reusability

Xamarin helps to reduce the coding time significantly by enabling developers to use the same C# code again across different mobile platforms. They can use the C# code once to carry out different programming tasks like network access, database usage, and business logic and the same code can be again used across the different mobile platform. It helps developers in creating platform-specific UI perform similarly to native apps.

 

Allows Testing in Cloud

The developer has to give extra time and efforts to assess mobile app’s overall look, performance and feel on different devices. Xamarin Test Cloud can help them in finding flaws and bugs in the apps in the cloud. Also, they can examine the screenshots, test results, and performance metrics to make a flawless mobile app.

 

Supports both MVC as well as MVVM Patterns

Xamarin supports Model View View Model (MVVM) and Model-View-Controller (MVC)— the 2commonly used software development patterns. The MVC pattern allows developers in keeping the application logic and presentation individual making it easier for corporations to revise and update the mobile application quickly. Whereas, the MVVM pattern makes it simpler for a developer to reuse the same code base for several projects.

 

Multiple Device Supporting

Xamarin is capable of supporting tablets, smartphones, and many wearable devices. Since Xamarin supports all the latest mobile devices, it becomes simpler for developers to make modern and useful mobile apps.

 

No Additional Plug-ins needed

Xamarin allows developers to work on device processing without any need of developing additional plug-ins. Since the Xamarin applications are created with standard and native UI controls, they give richer user experience in several mobile platforms. Moreover, the apps are capable of accessing all functionality of the respective mobile device and platform. The emergence of Xamarin helps businesses to save lots of time, efforts, and resources required for developing additional plug-ins.

 

Meets the Need of Every Projects

Generally, all cross-platform mobile development tools match the necessities of small projects while failing to meet the requirements of complex and bigger projects. Xamarin is helpful in fulfilling the requirements of both small as well as large projects. Since the developers can write down the code in a single programming language (that is, C#), it becomes smoother and convenient for the businesses as well as the developers since they can avail the native Android and iOS Libraries to simply modify and enhance the mobile app.

 

Save Time

Xamarin assists organizations in reducing costs, resources, efforts and times spent on cross-platform mobile application development. The increasing popularity of the platform has motivated several outsourcing companies to go and adopt Xamarin.

 

In a nutshell, Xamarin assists companies in cutting down the cross-platform mobile application development cost time. So the companies can easily outsource the cross-platform mobile application development project to a reliable mobile application development firm, and reduces both development cost and time.