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> the web is so much faster to prototype. We tried testing that theory, having one team prototype the same app using web technologies and the other prototyping
by randomdata 13y ago
> the web is so much faster to prototype.
We tried testing that theory, having one team prototype the same app using web technologies and the other prototyping it using iOS native technologies. iOS appeared to be the faster of the two.
The vast majority of the work was prototypeable in Storyboards directly, and only required, if I recall correctly, around 20 lines of code for supporting requirements to build out the prototype. I haven't found many tools for the web that can compete with that.
Of course it depends on what you are trying to develop. If your application is document-centric, then it will be difficult to beat HTML. That is, after all, what it is designed for. But for an application-centric design, I'm not sure it is really all that fast as a prototyping platform – unless, I suppose, that is all you know. It does take time to ramp up familiarity with new platforms.
- bennyg 13y agoObjective-C is so beautiful in those regards. So many things are abstracted and optimized for you already, especially compared to Android and their libraries. Rapid prototyping is insanely fast if you can handle yourself in Xcode and around Obj-C.
- enraged_camel 13y agoYep. And people still wonder why most developers prefer developing for iOS first...
- jkn 13y agoYou make me curious. Could you provide some examples of the benefits of Objective-C in this context? (and how it compares to Android and its libraries).
- chc 13y agoI don't see how this has anything to do with Objective-C. He actually said he used very little Objective-C and did it mostly in Xibs.
- randomdata 13y agoI think I see where he is coming from. They are not exactly separable. Interface Builder is more than just an interface builder, it is a serialized data builder. That distinction means that you can instantiate virtually any class in your project without having to write a line of code. It is not limited to just UI elements. That turns out to be pretty powerful. Below that level, the deserializer exploits a number of properties of the Objective-C's dynamic runtime in order to provide that instantiation of random objects and properties. There are certainly other languages that can be exploited in the same way, but it is not something that can be done directly in just any language. Without Objective-C, or at least something like it, there would be no Interface Builder as we know it today.