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I would be thrilled if somebody waved a magic wand and completely replaced Javascript with Ruby. But since that's not going to happen, I instead lean heavily t

I would be thrilled if somebody waved a magic wand and completely replaced Javascript with Ruby. But since that's not going to happen, I instead lean heavily towards the path of least resistance when it comes to languages. I write iOS apps in Obj-C, CRUD apps in Rails, DSP code in C++, and web front end in JS. The cost of context switching is less than the cost of swimming upstream all the time.

dsirijus 14y ago
I couldn't agree with this one more. I only swim upstream if I have absolutely no other choice, courtesy of the Deadline. But here's the thing - there's always Deadline. :)
bad_user 14y ago
I have the same approach, however that's the reason for why I haven't written a single line of code for iOS. Getting started with it is just too much work, and I'm not sure if it's worth it, compared to Android for which I am already familiar with the language and IDE and getting a Hello World on my own phone took only a couple of minutes. I wouldn't recommend iOS apps written in Ruby either, but the learning curve is too great for Obj-C. Not only do you have to learn a complicated API, but you also have to learn a new language, that's C with features from Smalltalk, and then get familiar with a new IDE. For beginners wanting to get shit done, without much time on their hands, that can be death by a thousand cuts.
- cageface 14y ago
  Obj-C is a very simple language. You can pick it up in a week or less if you have any experience with other languages. Cocoa Touch is a different story though. Even an experienced UI programmer will probably need a few solid months of study to get up to speed. In my limited experience it's easier to get going in Android but things get more fiddly as they get more complex. For example, gesture handling is a lot easier on iOS.
- pjmlp 14y ago
  On my line of work, we change languages and tools all the time, depending on customer needs. I really find strange how someone can have a hard time doing this type of context switch.
- hrabago 14y ago
  I often find that the bigger problem with getting into an unfamiliar dev environment isn't syntax, rather it's getting to know the libraries. And if you're writing iOS apps, you'll need to know the libraries anyway. And yes Xcode is horrible, but fortunately AppCode is now out and quite usable, so that's another hurdle out of the way. But to me, the biggest advantage of developing for iOS over Android is the potential revenue. I'd rather sell software and features than try to make revenue with ads, so I stick with iOS.

dsirijus 14y ago

I couldn't agree with this one more. I only swim upstream if I have absolutely no other choice, courtesy of the Deadline. But here's the thing - there's always Deadline. :)

bad_user 14y ago

I have the same approach, however that's the reason for why I haven't written a single line of code for iOS. Getting started with it is just too much work, and I'm not sure if it's worth it, compared to Android for which I am already familiar with the language and IDE and getting a Hello World on my own phone took only a couple of minutes. I wouldn't recommend iOS apps written in Ruby either, but the learning curve is too great for Obj-C. Not only do you have to learn a complicated API, but you also have to learn a new language, that's C with features from Smalltalk, and then get familiar with a new IDE. For beginners wanting to get shit done, without much time on their hands, that can be death by a thousand cuts.

cageface 14y ago
Obj-C is a very simple language. You can pick it up in a week or less if you have any experience with other languages. Cocoa Touch is a different story though. Even an experienced UI programmer will probably need a few solid months of study to get up to speed. In my limited experience it's easier to get going in Android but things get more fiddly as they get more complex. For example, gesture handling is a lot easier on iOS.
pjmlp 14y ago
On my line of work, we change languages and tools all the time, depending on customer needs. I really find strange how someone can have a hard time doing this type of context switch.
hrabago 14y ago
I often find that the bigger problem with getting into an unfamiliar dev environment isn't syntax, rather it's getting to know the libraries. And if you're writing iOS apps, you'll need to know the libraries anyway. And yes Xcode is horrible, but fortunately AppCode is now out and quite usable, so that's another hurdle out of the way. But to me, the biggest advantage of developing for iOS over Android is the potential revenue. I'd rather sell software and features than try to make revenue with ads, so I stick with iOS.