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Lisa Vega
5,736 PointsXamarin vs XCode and Android Studio
Hi, at my full time job, I'm about to start working on the iPhone version of an app that we already have for the Android version. The Android version was built using Xamarin and part of the iPhone version was built in Xamarin as well. Aside from not being forced to learn Objective C and cost savings of having to hire multiple mobile developers (one for Android and one for iOS), can someone explain to me why Xamarin would be preferred over using Android Studio and/or XCode? Thanks!
3 Answers
Jason Anders
Treehouse Moderator 145,860 PointsNow I may be wrong, but the way I understand it, it comes down to your programming language of choice. Xamarin by default codes in C# ... Android Studio in Java ... Xcode in Swift / Objective-C.
Xamarin is cross-platform and can easily be used to develop both platforms using C#.
Android Studio, while it can be used for iOS, it is usually only for Android Development (hence the name).
Xcode is designed by Apple for Apple Development. And, while it is possible to use Java to code for Android, it will also involve using the command line for an emulator and really is just unnecessarily complicated to do anything other than iOS.
So, in your situation, I would stay with what seems to be familiar to you / your company. If you've coded in Xamarin and are easily able to do iOS with that as well, then that's what I would stick with.
I hope that helps, and like I said. this is just the I see it and I could be wrong. :)
Michael Hampshire
12,206 PointsI've been debating on choosing which to use. I've been going back and forth on studying Java and C# so I'm trying to decide on which to use. I thought about using Xamarin because I want to develop games in Unity 3D which uses C#. But I know that most Android apps are done in Java, so I'm kind of torn. But I'm leaning towards Android Studio because Java and C# are really close in syntax, so I think that using Unity to develop the game and Android studio to launch the app may not be too bad.
Lisa Vega
5,736 PointsHas anyone in this community tried them all (Xamarin, Android Studio or Eclipse, and XCode)? I guess I am looking for reviews like how Amazon consumers read the good, bad, and ugly of a product before they buy it. Or my question is along the lines of have you driven a Honda, Toyota, and a Tesla and what do you like or not like about it.