3 ms·

I think there are no developers that are true experts in both Android and iOS platforms. Every developer I know either leans towards one platform or another. Th

I think there are no developers that are true experts in both Android and iOS platforms. Every developer I know either leans towards one platform or another. There are also developers who know both platforms pretty well, but I won't call them experts in either. I consider myself an expert in Android development. The only point that I agree with is multidex, but there are historical reasons for the limitation and I think Google engineers are trying to fix this problem or make it as simple as possible to use multidex. I occasionally do iOS development and some things in iOS don't make sense to me, but I'm sure they would be obvious for an iOS expert. My advice for mobile developers or future mobile developers is to specialize in a single platform that you like more. For me it's Android. For the author of the article, it seems to be iOS.

tluyben2 10y ago
I am an expert in iOS dev but I use and want to like Android. It is quite annoying... I really do not like the walled garden of Apple and on Android devices, even cheap MTK ones I am quite handy at installing what I want, but for some reason I find Android development a real pain compared to iOS where I find most older things (stuff, as it goes in life, needs to mature) very obvious and easy. I would say what most annoys me about iOS is the GPL thing which is the reason, among others, there are no emulators in the Appstore, at least no relevant ones. As owner of a museum and fan of old machines I cannot do without emulators. On my Android tablet I have around 50. Emulators is a niche but no GPL is hampering a lot for everyone on iOS.
- TheCoreh 10y ago
  The GPL incompatibility issue has nothing to do with Apple not allowing emulators. (After all there are BSD/MIT emulators) They don't want (non-sandboxed) interpreters running unreviewed code. Right now the only interpreter allowed to be used with downloaded code is webkit's JS JIT.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    There are multiple reasons as I said: one is the one you say but some emulators I use are under the GPL and use many GPL libs. But yes the other restriction sucks too. The point was cannot normally use emulators under iOS which stands, whatever the reason may be.
    - tluyben2 10y ago
      For instance [0] which I use by far the most has both problems; however with another license the runtime issues would be fixable. For instance, recompile the runtime with emscripten. Luckily there is webmsx now which looks promising, but that is not there yet. [0] https://github.com/openMSX/openMSX https://github.com/openMSX/openMSX
Humdeee 10y ago
I develop iOS apps professionally. Sometimes upon completion, I am urged to develop an Android app that is similarly functional both in UI and code behind logic. I can get there, but it's never, ever fun. Employers need to wisen up and not expect mobile developers to be masters across these dual platforms. Plumbers don't do electrical work, paramedics don't chase criminals. I like to browse iOS/Android mobile dev job descriptions for fun, and I grit my teeth when it is expected that you be a master at both. Not a chance, everything moves too fast.
on_and_off 10y ago
I develop for Android professionally and I am quite good at it (now senior dev in a team of 15 android devs). I am growing curious about iOS though. I am currently writing an Android app in my spare time with a friend and our next objective is to learn swift in order to make its iOS counterpart. I have also been offered a couple of iOS jobs (from companies wishing to hire me but not currently hiring for Android). Finally out of our 15 android devs, 2 of them are also iOS devs (and work for us on both platforms). They quite proficient with both platforms (well, Android anyway but I heard no complaints from the iOS team). Sure, they are not as proficient as our best Android engineers, but they are still pulling their weight. Maybe the difference is that we are not an agency but a mobile team working on a single app. We can take the time to learn the platform and teach to our colleagues. Maybe that a freelancer does not have this luxury or the adequate structure.

tluyben2 10y ago

I am an expert in iOS dev but I use and want to like Android. It is quite annoying... I really do not like the walled garden of Apple and on Android devices, even cheap MTK ones I am quite handy at installing what I want, but for some reason I find Android development a real pain compared to iOS where I find most older things (stuff, as it goes in life, needs to mature) very obvious and easy. I would say what most annoys me about iOS is the GPL thing which is the reason, among others, there are no emulators in the Appstore, at least no relevant ones. As owner of a museum and fan of old machines I cannot do without emulators. On my Android tablet I have around 50. Emulators is a niche but no GPL is hampering a lot for everyone on iOS.

TheCoreh 10y ago
The GPL incompatibility issue has nothing to do with Apple not allowing emulators. (After all there are BSD/MIT emulators) They don't want (non-sandboxed) interpreters running unreviewed code. Right now the only interpreter allowed to be used with downloaded code is webkit's JS JIT.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  There are multiple reasons as I said: one is the one you say but some emulators I use are under the GPL and use many GPL libs. But yes the other restriction sucks too. The point was cannot normally use emulators under iOS which stands, whatever the reason may be.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    For instance [0] which I use by far the most has both problems; however with another license the runtime issues would be fixable. For instance, recompile the runtime with emscripten. Luckily there is webmsx now which looks promising, but that is not there yet. [0] https://github.com/openMSX/openMSX https://github.com/openMSX/openMSX

Humdeee 10y ago

I develop iOS apps professionally. Sometimes upon completion, I am urged to develop an Android app that is similarly functional both in UI and code behind logic. I can get there, but it's never, ever fun. Employers need to wisen up and not expect mobile developers to be masters across these dual platforms. Plumbers don't do electrical work, paramedics don't chase criminals. I like to browse iOS/Android mobile dev job descriptions for fun, and I grit my teeth when it is expected that you be a master at both. Not a chance, everything moves too fast.

on_and_off 10y ago

I develop for Android professionally and I am quite good at it (now senior dev in a team of 15 android devs). I am growing curious about iOS though. I am currently writing an Android app in my spare time with a friend and our next objective is to learn swift in order to make its iOS counterpart. I have also been offered a couple of iOS jobs (from companies wishing to hire me but not currently hiring for Android). Finally out of our 15 android devs, 2 of them are also iOS devs (and work for us on both platforms). They quite proficient with both platforms (well, Android anyway but I heard no complaints from the iOS team). Sure, they are not as proficient as our best Android engineers, but they are still pulling their weight. Maybe the difference is that we are not an agency but a mobile team working on a single app. We can take the time to learn the platform and teach to our colleagues. Maybe that a freelancer does not have this luxury or the adequate structure.