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I've heard that android's XML layout is terrible (from an android developer) and that iOS auto layout is borderline magic (from an iOS developer). Personally,

by jekrb 11y ago

I've heard that android's XML layout is terrible (from an android developer) and that iOS auto layout is borderline magic (from an iOS developer). Personally, I don't find css to be that bad at all, but I work in it at least a little everyday so it might just be stockholm syndrome.

21echoes 11y ago
as someone who's done both (and web) -- Android's XML layout is easily the best of Android, iOS, and web, while iOS's AutoLayout is a complete mess that basically only works because there are still so few iOS screen sizes. Android coding in general is a pain compared to iOS, but they definitely got the declarative layout system right.
gurkendoktor 11y ago
iOS developer here. AutoLayout is definitely not borderline magic, and some people hate it. It is inefficient. It is awkward to set up in code, so many people write their own syntactic sugar around it. It crashes hard when it isn't 100% sure what to do with its constraints. Working with multi-line text is still a pain, so you often run into clipped text on iOS if you dare to increase the font size. etc.
- jekrb 11y ago
  Hey thanks for the reply. I don't work on mobile apps at all, so I really wasn't aware. It's definitely interesting to see your point of view,
- gurkendoktor 11y ago
  Anonymous downvoters, AutoLayout may work great for you, but it is definitely controversial among iOS developers (more so than e.g. ARC). Nothing wrong with pointing that out.