Choosing a Cross-Platform Development Tool: Cordova, Ionic, React Native, Titanium, and Xamarin

2h 51mBeginner2018-05-08

Authors

Tom Duffy

Chair of Computer Science at Norwalk Community College

Course details

There are many cross-platform mobile development tools available. Knowing which to choose is almost harder than learning the platform itself. Each toolset comes with pros and cons. In this course, Tom Duffy reviews five of the most popular options—Cordova, Ionic, React Native, Titanium, and Xamarin—and explains their benefits and tradeoffs. He builds a simple user-input app with each tool, highlighting exceptional features and workflow steps.

Learning objectives
Hybrid vs. native cross-platform apps
Choosing an editor
Building a Cordova app
Building an Ionic app
Buildin an app with the Create React Native App
Building an app with the React Native CLI
Building a Titanium app
Building a Xamarin app

Skills covered

TitaniumAppceleratorPlatform TitleXamarinReact NativeCross-Platform DevelopmentMetaMobile DevelopmentMicrosoft

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - What you should know
03 - Exercise files

1. Intro to Cross-Platform Development

04 - Value proposition
05 - When cross-platform isn't the answer
06 - Hybrid cross-platform apps
07 - Native cross-platform apps
08 - Cross-platform vs. native development
09 - Choosing an editor
10 - Node installation
11 - Course objectives

2. Cordova PhoneGap

12 - Tools and technologies
13 - Where Cordova excels
14 - What you leave behind with Cordova
15 - Build a simple web app
16 - Convert a web app to a Cordova project
17 - Build a Cordova app

3. Ionic

18 - Tools and technologies
19 - Where Ionic excels
20 - What you leave behind with Ionic
21 - Getting started with Ionic and Creator
22 - Build a simple Ionic app
23 - Add an alert to an Ionic app
24 - Add a platform-specific message

4. React Native

25 - Tools and technologies
26 - Where React Native excels
27 - What you leave behind with React Native
28 - Get started with React Native
29 - Use Create React Native App
30 - Use the CLI
31 - Build the UI
32 - Add the event handler
33 - Conditional processing

5. Titanium

34 - Tools and technologies
35 - Where Titanium excels
36 - What you leave behind with Titanium
37 - Install Titanium CLI
38 - Install Appcelerator Studio
39 - Titanium example - Start the UI
40 - Titanium example - Create the app
41 - Titanium example - Building and deploying

6. Xamarin

42 - Tools and technologies
43 - Where Xamarin excels
44 - What you leave behind with Xamarin
45 - Get started with Xamarin
46 - Xamarin example - Create the UI
47 - Xamarin example - Add the event handler
48 - Building Xamarin apps

Conclusion

49 - Other options
50 - Next steps