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And why it could be the best solution for your company
In the last couple of years, we’ve noticed a trend in companies searching for a cross-platform solution for mobile apps. The main reasons are reduced time to market and maintenance costs. We’ve found that Xamarin fits the bill in these areas and has some major advantages for our developers. Here are the top three reasons we love working with Xamarin:
Cross-platform development of native apps saves time and money.
Xamarin allows you to use the same code to develop native apps for both iOS and Android. If your project needs a cross-platform solution, Xamarin is much more efficient and cost-effective than pure iOS or Android development, as the latter requires multiple teams to coordinate while they build the same features for both platforms. Our team often uses Xamarin.Forms, which is especially effective for building visual elements with a native look and feel; developers can code the UI once and use this identical code for both Android and iOS. Over the course of previous Xamarin projects, we’ve collected customized components and ready-to-use elements. Nowadays, they help us streamline the development process.
It’s mature and stable, so moving to a new version is a smooth and efficient process.
The first version of Xamarin was released in 2011 and is currently on its third iteration. Unlike newer frameworks such as React Native, your app won’t become outdated every time there is a better version available. In addition, updating to a new version of Xamarin does not require making significant changes to the existing code. Our team recently migrated an application from Xamarin 2.3 to 3.2 in just a few days and without any headaches or hang-ups. In contrast, migrating to a new version in a different framework can be a long and costly process. This happens because it involves re-writing code that had already been implemented in an earlier version.
There is a lot of support available in the community.
Another advantage of this framework’s maturity is that there is a thriving online community that shares tips, tools, and data with other developers who use this framework. This open-source environment is a real asset. If you’re facing a particular challenge, chances are, someone else has too – and they’ve shared code that can help you tackle it. Our team has not only taken advantage of these great resources, but has taken active part in the community by sharing Xamarin code to GitHub.
While there are certainly other cross-platform solutions, we love working with Xamarin because it creates native apps and it’s a mature and flexible framework. We think this technology will continue to grow in popularity as the demand for cross-platform solutions increases.
What about you, what are your thoughts on this subject? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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