Barriers To Dev: Apple v Android
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Just, finally successfully ran my first app on my iPad mini 2. Amazing how many hoops there were to jump through -- so many barriers to creating an app and actually deploying to hardware. I'm quite amazed i was finally able to successfully do it. Barriers To Dev 1. Cost - a. had to buy a Mac Mini ($679) -- okay, I'll give them this one since I have to have a computer but for Android I just installed Android Studio on my regular laptop. What if you had to purchase an Android laptop to dev Android apps. Blech! b. Had to purchase a device to test apps on -- developing bluetooth and you can't test in emulator -- okay, again I had to buy an Android device also, but I can literally buy a $10USD phone and deploy to it. I purchased the cheapest device I could find (not including used) and it was $231USD for an iPAd Mini 2 (2 generations back) 2. updates -- I know Windows has too many updates too, but I had to update to macOS Sierra right after I bought my brand new mac Mini with El Capitan installed. I will say it went well. No problems. Plus I had to then update to XCode 8 to be able to deploy to my device. 3. device has to be attached to mac mini otherwise you have to buy Apple Dev account I can generate an APK on Android,copy it to my web site and download it and install and run. It's a bit easier. I can allow anyone anywhere to download it and test it from my site via APK. Not so with Apple. 4. Dev Account Expense -- more than any other dev account at $99 (MS = $19, Android = $25). I know i'm cheap, but I'm also broke after having to buy a new Mac and ipad mini. :laugh: Actually, an Angel Investor bought the Mac Mini for me so... Well, I just thought it is interesting and it has been quite a wrestling match, but it's nice that I finally got an app (sample) deployed to my device and I'm a "real" Apple dev now. We'll see how it goes. Anyone else suffered through this?
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
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Just, finally successfully ran my first app on my iPad mini 2. Amazing how many hoops there were to jump through -- so many barriers to creating an app and actually deploying to hardware. I'm quite amazed i was finally able to successfully do it. Barriers To Dev 1. Cost - a. had to buy a Mac Mini ($679) -- okay, I'll give them this one since I have to have a computer but for Android I just installed Android Studio on my regular laptop. What if you had to purchase an Android laptop to dev Android apps. Blech! b. Had to purchase a device to test apps on -- developing bluetooth and you can't test in emulator -- okay, again I had to buy an Android device also, but I can literally buy a $10USD phone and deploy to it. I purchased the cheapest device I could find (not including used) and it was $231USD for an iPAd Mini 2 (2 generations back) 2. updates -- I know Windows has too many updates too, but I had to update to macOS Sierra right after I bought my brand new mac Mini with El Capitan installed. I will say it went well. No problems. Plus I had to then update to XCode 8 to be able to deploy to my device. 3. device has to be attached to mac mini otherwise you have to buy Apple Dev account I can generate an APK on Android,copy it to my web site and download it and install and run. It's a bit easier. I can allow anyone anywhere to download it and test it from my site via APK. Not so with Apple. 4. Dev Account Expense -- more than any other dev account at $99 (MS = $19, Android = $25). I know i'm cheap, but I'm also broke after having to buy a new Mac and ipad mini. :laugh: Actually, an Angel Investor bought the Mac Mini for me so... Well, I just thought it is interesting and it has been quite a wrestling match, but it's nice that I finally got an app (sample) deployed to my device and I'm a "real" Apple dev now. We'll see how it goes. Anyone else suffered through this?
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
Congratulations on plowing through the path to becoming an iOS developer! I think a rewarding iOS future awaits you. :thumbsup: I chose the easier path (Android) and have greatly enjoyed the low barrier to entry. To be honest, what initially steered me to Android was its software architecture. Still, I shied away from developing anything meaningful because I was put off the quality of the development environments (Eclipse and to some extent, Android Studio). Microsoft's acquisition of Xamarin brought me back to Android in a big way (it's now my primary focus) because I now use a single IDE (Visual Studio) and language (C#) for all my development. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Congratulations on plowing through the path to becoming an iOS developer! I think a rewarding iOS future awaits you. :thumbsup: I chose the easier path (Android) and have greatly enjoyed the low barrier to entry. To be honest, what initially steered me to Android was its software architecture. Still, I shied away from developing anything meaningful because I was put off the quality of the development environments (Eclipse and to some extent, Android Studio). Microsoft's acquisition of Xamarin brought me back to Android in a big way (it's now my primary focus) because I now use a single IDE (Visual Studio) and language (C#) for all my development. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Thanks and that is an interesting perspective. Also, I agree about the quality of dev environments, especially in relation to Eclipse. Eclipse dev under Android was so difficult to open projects / transfer them to other systems. I never could get it quite right. Android Studio is quite a bit better. I'm spoiled from Visual Studio though, of course. Even back in the days of MFC programming I could easily build a project and move it to another build machine and work on it there. Wow, now that I've used all these dev environments (XCode, Visual Studio, Eclipse, Android Studio) and because of your comments, I guess it is making me think about IDEs like I have never before. I've used QuickC (MS) and TurboC++ and TurboPascal (with Borland IDE) in the distant past too. QuickBasic IDE wasn't bad. :)
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
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Just, finally successfully ran my first app on my iPad mini 2. Amazing how many hoops there were to jump through -- so many barriers to creating an app and actually deploying to hardware. I'm quite amazed i was finally able to successfully do it. Barriers To Dev 1. Cost - a. had to buy a Mac Mini ($679) -- okay, I'll give them this one since I have to have a computer but for Android I just installed Android Studio on my regular laptop. What if you had to purchase an Android laptop to dev Android apps. Blech! b. Had to purchase a device to test apps on -- developing bluetooth and you can't test in emulator -- okay, again I had to buy an Android device also, but I can literally buy a $10USD phone and deploy to it. I purchased the cheapest device I could find (not including used) and it was $231USD for an iPAd Mini 2 (2 generations back) 2. updates -- I know Windows has too many updates too, but I had to update to macOS Sierra right after I bought my brand new mac Mini with El Capitan installed. I will say it went well. No problems. Plus I had to then update to XCode 8 to be able to deploy to my device. 3. device has to be attached to mac mini otherwise you have to buy Apple Dev account I can generate an APK on Android,copy it to my web site and download it and install and run. It's a bit easier. I can allow anyone anywhere to download it and test it from my site via APK. Not so with Apple. 4. Dev Account Expense -- more than any other dev account at $99 (MS = $19, Android = $25). I know i'm cheap, but I'm also broke after having to buy a new Mac and ipad mini. :laugh: Actually, an Angel Investor bought the Mac Mini for me so... Well, I just thought it is interesting and it has been quite a wrestling match, but it's nice that I finally got an app (sample) deployed to my device and I'm a "real" Apple dev now. We'll see how it goes. Anyone else suffered through this?
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
Thanks, Raddevus, for this interesting post !
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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Thanks, Raddevus, for this interesting post !
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
Well, sure. Thanks for reading and letting me know you enjoyed it. I really encourage anyone who can to try developing apps on all of the Big 3 (Android, Apple, Microsoft) platforms. It's quite interesting. Especially if you attempt to develop the same app on all three. Let me know if you try it. :thumbsup:
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
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Congratulations on plowing through the path to becoming an iOS developer! I think a rewarding iOS future awaits you. :thumbsup: I chose the easier path (Android) and have greatly enjoyed the low barrier to entry. To be honest, what initially steered me to Android was its software architecture. Still, I shied away from developing anything meaningful because I was put off the quality of the development environments (Eclipse and to some extent, Android Studio). Microsoft's acquisition of Xamarin brought me back to Android in a big way (it's now my primary focus) because I now use a single IDE (Visual Studio) and language (C#) for all my development. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
One of the guys, Superloyd I think, is bitching about have huge deployment problems with Xamarin. Have you had many issues and have you deployed apps successfully using Xamarin.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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One of the guys, Superloyd I think, is bitching about have huge deployment problems with Xamarin. Have you had many issues and have you deployed apps successfully using Xamarin.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
I haven't had any deployment (or other) problems with Xamarin. I use Xamarin Android to develop Android apps using C#. I don't (yet) develop using Xamarin Forms. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Just, finally successfully ran my first app on my iPad mini 2. Amazing how many hoops there were to jump through -- so many barriers to creating an app and actually deploying to hardware. I'm quite amazed i was finally able to successfully do it. Barriers To Dev 1. Cost - a. had to buy a Mac Mini ($679) -- okay, I'll give them this one since I have to have a computer but for Android I just installed Android Studio on my regular laptop. What if you had to purchase an Android laptop to dev Android apps. Blech! b. Had to purchase a device to test apps on -- developing bluetooth and you can't test in emulator -- okay, again I had to buy an Android device also, but I can literally buy a $10USD phone and deploy to it. I purchased the cheapest device I could find (not including used) and it was $231USD for an iPAd Mini 2 (2 generations back) 2. updates -- I know Windows has too many updates too, but I had to update to macOS Sierra right after I bought my brand new mac Mini with El Capitan installed. I will say it went well. No problems. Plus I had to then update to XCode 8 to be able to deploy to my device. 3. device has to be attached to mac mini otherwise you have to buy Apple Dev account I can generate an APK on Android,copy it to my web site and download it and install and run. It's a bit easier. I can allow anyone anywhere to download it and test it from my site via APK. Not so with Apple. 4. Dev Account Expense -- more than any other dev account at $99 (MS = $19, Android = $25). I know i'm cheap, but I'm also broke after having to buy a new Mac and ipad mini. :laugh: Actually, an Angel Investor bought the Mac Mini for me so... Well, I just thought it is interesting and it has been quite a wrestling match, but it's nice that I finally got an app (sample) deployed to my device and I'm a "real" Apple dev now. We'll see how it goes. Anyone else suffered through this?
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
Just wait until you submit you app to the store. If you're lucky, the reviewer will be a reasonable human being. If not, you will learn why so many publishers never update their iOS apps (and wonder why anyone writes iOS apps at all.)
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Just wait until you submit you app to the store. If you're lucky, the reviewer will be a reasonable human being. If not, you will learn why so many publishers never update their iOS apps (and wonder why anyone writes iOS apps at all.)
Joe Woodbury wrote:
Just wait until you submit you app to the store.
Uh oh. I was already worried about that.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
you will learn why so many publishers never update their iOS apps (and wonder why anyone writes iOS apps at all.)
Can you elaborate on that? I'm really curious, because I was considering getting my app out there as quickly as possible and then updating it very quickly. Now, I'm wondering if you want to get your app _perfect_ before ever submitting. It sounds like it. Thanks for commenting. I'm really interested.
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
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Joe Woodbury wrote:
Just wait until you submit you app to the store.
Uh oh. I was already worried about that.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
you will learn why so many publishers never update their iOS apps (and wonder why anyone writes iOS apps at all.)
Can you elaborate on that? I'm really curious, because I was considering getting my app out there as quickly as possible and then updating it very quickly. Now, I'm wondering if you want to get your app _perfect_ before ever submitting. It sounds like it. Thanks for commenting. I'm really interested.
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
raddevus wrote:
Can you elaborate on that
Unless they've changed the rules, every time you do a non-trivial update, you have to resubmit your application for review. This costs money and time and an app that previously passed may be rejected. Then there is the problem that if Apple has added more must-haves (which may not be an issue now, but when I was working on an iOS app--which was eventually cancelled--Apple was rapidly changing the purchase system) in which case a "trivial" update becomes a more complicated one.
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raddevus wrote:
Can you elaborate on that
Unless they've changed the rules, every time you do a non-trivial update, you have to resubmit your application for review. This costs money and time and an app that previously passed may be rejected. Then there is the problem that if Apple has added more must-haves (which may not be an issue now, but when I was working on an iOS app--which was eventually cancelled--Apple was rapidly changing the purchase system) in which case a "trivial" update becomes a more complicated one.
Thanks for taking the time to explain.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
every time you do a non-trivial update, you have to resubmit your application for review. This costs money and time and an app that previously passed may be rejected.
That is all really quite terrible. I don't look forward to it at all. I mean they should obviously vet apps and make sure they're not malicious but there are just so many barriers for a real dev.
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
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Thanks for taking the time to explain.
Joe Woodbury wrote:
every time you do a non-trivial update, you have to resubmit your application for review. This costs money and time and an app that previously passed may be rejected.
That is all really quite terrible. I don't look forward to it at all. I mean they should obviously vet apps and make sure they're not malicious but there are just so many barriers for a real dev.
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
Did some reading. It appears that app submission is included in the price of the developer subscription. However, there are still your own expenses. Do make sure you submit an application with the right account. Sounds obvious, but in a corporate environment with several accounts, this is a mistake which can be made. You also need to maintain the developer subscription for the submission to keep the app available. (The horror story is that a developer submits the app under his/her account and then leaves the company.) Apple also now has a formal Enterprise Program, where you can publish apps for use within an enterprise. (Yeah, it's probably been around for a while, but noticed just now.)
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Did some reading. It appears that app submission is included in the price of the developer subscription. However, there are still your own expenses. Do make sure you submit an application with the right account. Sounds obvious, but in a corporate environment with several accounts, this is a mistake which can be made. You also need to maintain the developer subscription for the submission to keep the app available. (The horror story is that a developer submits the app under his/her account and then leaves the company.) Apple also now has a formal Enterprise Program, where you can publish apps for use within an enterprise. (Yeah, it's probably been around for a while, but noticed just now.)
That's all great information. Thanks very much for sharing. Additionally, I know that getting a dev account set up under a company is a bit of a pain. You have to supply information (DUNS) to Apple proving that the company is valid and then you wait up to 30 days for verification. If you set it up as a private account it doesn't take as long. When I started out, I didn't believe I could even deploy to my iPad -- thought I had to have a dev account set up to "provision" the app. Then I gave it a shot and connected the iPad directly to my Mac Mini and it worked. Too Many Apps Deployed However, I was messing around building a few apps and deploying them to the iPad. All of a sudden I received an error stating,
"maximum number of apps for free development profiles has been reached"
You can see what it looked like at: http://i.stack.imbur.com/BO9X8.png[^] At first I thought I was toast and I was quite annoyed. I did some searching and found out that you just have to delete the other apps and it worked again. I only had 3 apps on the device. So, it's obviously very limited. I'm also a bit worried because other people say the test provisioning only works for 1 week. I'm really hoping that my ability to deploy doesn't go away before the dev account is set up.
My book, Launch Your Android App, is available at Amazon.com.
