6 Top Programming Languages For Mobile Development
The language you choose for mobile development can be the difference between great success and tremendous frustration. There are options -- but only if you know which path you're on.
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Mobile devices are the fastest-growing enterprise platforms in IT.
Enterprise IT shops and software publishers alike are moving every possible application to run on tablets, smartphones, and even smartwatches. Behind that set of decisions, though, is a huge question: How do you make it happen?
There are two broad paths that can be taken. One path has the Web browser as its destination. The idea is simple: Write once for a Web browser and you don't have to develop a separate application for each platform. Of course, developers know that reality isn't nearly as simple as the idea, but programmers can still write versions of an application for many different platforms using a single language and many pieces of re-usable code.
The question, then becomes which single language to use -- and how to make the various pieces of the Web app puzzle come together.
The other path arrives at a dedicated app for each mobile device. There are obvious costs associated with developing a separate app for each platform, but there are advantages, as well. One of the most important is that performance of a dedicated app will almost certainly be better than the performance of an app that has to run through a browser for everything that happens.
[What are the top programming languages for IoT? Check out our list. ]
Another advantage is that there are simply things that can't be done in a Web browser -- working with other apps, storing and retrieving files from particular locations, and direct control of device hardware among them -- that are possible with a dedicated app.
So the battle rages between those who see a world of apps and those who see the end of apps. Whichever path you choose, business needs will require that the development be done as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Which languages promise both these qualities? Let's take a look at the most popular options available today and see which might work the best for your situation.
When you need to get down and dirty for apps on platforms like Android and Windows, then C++ can be the answer to your object-oriented dreams. At this point, C++ has been used to develop apps for virtually every purpose on pretty much every platform that exists. Programming skills are widely available and the language is a well-known quantity. It's not trendy or ultra-modern -- it's been around much longer than smartphones -- but for low-level programming it's still the go-to language on platforms that aren't fruit-themed.
While most of the world was developing software using C++, Apple went with Objective C as its primary programming language. Like C++, Objective C is a C-language superset. It does many of the same things for C that C++ does, though it has a number of functions that specifically deal with graphics, I/O, and display functions. Objective-C is part of the Apple development framework and is fully integrated into all iOS and MacOS frameworks. It is in the process, though, of being replaced in the Apple ecosystem -- by Swift.
C# plays the role in the Microsoft universe that Objective-C plays in the Apple cosmos: It's an expansion of C that directly addresses many of the unique features of the environment. The Windows Mobile platform hasn't been the market-changer that many had predicted (and hoped), but there's no denying the gravitational pull of Windows across multiple platforms. If your fleet of mobile devices includes Windows then your suite of development languages should include C#.
So which language is the "best" for mobile development? As with so many other topics in the software development world, the best answer is "it depends." If you want to do native development on iOS, your hand is forced. If you want to build an app with a browser front-end, have rich media as part of the experience, and would like to have your app relatively future-proofed, then there's only one real choice. For everything else, you'll have to look at the experience in your staff, the needs of your users, and the budget for the project.
So which language is the "best" for mobile development? As with so many other topics in the software development world, the best answer is "it depends." If you want to do native development on iOS, your hand is forced. If you want to build an app with a browser front-end, have rich media as part of the experience, and would like to have your app relatively future-proofed, then there's only one real choice. For everything else, you'll have to look at the experience in your staff, the needs of your users, and the budget for the project.
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