Thursday 24 July 2014

Some of the limitations of iPhone development

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With the launch of various versions of iPhone as well as iOS, the enthusiasm displayed by the crowd has left no doubts in the minds of people that it is an extremely popular platform. Many users upgrade to the latest versions to stay in sync with the times. Indeed, the latest version comes packed with some really amazing features which have attracted many people towards it. The immense popularity has led to many developers leaning towards app development on this platform. However, the process is not all rosy as there are several limitations associated with carrying through the decision as well.

Running of only one application at one time- It is a general rule while using iPhones that just one application can be run at one time; when you leave an application it simply quits. Although it might not seem to be a huge deal, essentially it means that you cannot do other things while the app is running. This might be an issue when browsing through websites since leaving the browser will lead to a broken connection. So there is no provision that installed apps would gather as well as send information to the users while running in the background. In fact even when some call comes to their phones, the application that was being used is exited. Some developers will find it to be problematic if they want to have location information from a user’s phone so that a track could be maintained. But unless the user keeps the app open all the time and does not work on anything other than it, it is impossible for the developer to find out.

Internet usage through wifi- These days the utility behind most smartphones is to be in touch with the globe while on the go. However, with iPhones, this is not possible, since it only allows internet access through Wi-Fi. Cell networks are not encouraged which is a huge problem for many people.

Xcode IDE- In this respect it might make sense to discuss about JDT tools of Android which has been described by many developers as excellent as well as standard. The great indexing of Java and rich source code model of IDE make refactoring seamless. This has made android development very easy. However, on the other hand, Xcode IDE of Apple is often remarked at for being too bad. Most people do not find it to be at par. It is not at all easy to use or time-conserving. In fact, Xcode often provides wrong content assist which suggests smaller amounts of actually available subsets.

Limitations in developer agreement- Several limitations have been imposed on developers in the agreement. Only published APIs can be used and that too in the manner as specified by Apple. Another notable limitation is that data cannot be written anywhere by the applications excepting in the particular designated area. This essentially means that data cannot be modified by developers from other applications.

Version compatibility- One problem that is faced by several developers is the version compatibility issue. While creating apps for a particular iOS version, it is really difficult to check whether it works on the previous version or not. With so many versions being out in the market, this problem can be a real issue.

Uploading price- Yet again, the comparison between Android and iOS comes into focus. When a developer wants to upload an app, the App Store checks to see whether all standards are met or not. But the app cannot be sold before a $99 annual fee is paid; after this a digital certificate signature is given to them. However, in case of Android, just one-time fee of $25 has to be paid. Also there are no restrictions on publishing of apps; they can be published in other markets as well.

Just like all other software and development platforms, iPhone is also not without its fair share of pros and cons. It is not perfect, it does include some limitations but they should in no way discourage people from using it or developing on the platform. The excellent performance and great security should instigate people to definitely use it. If you are planning to hire service of iPhone apps development company, you must evaluate them to see if they are sufficiently agile or not!

We provide offshore iPhone application development services. To hire iPhone developers from us, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.

Thursday 3 July 2014

How Will Apple's Swift Benefit Developers?

iPhone application development companies, custom iPhone app development, iPhone software developerSwift can be defined as a multi-paradigm as well as a compiled programming language that has been developed by Apple. Swift is specifically designed for the development of iOS and OS X. The developers have designed the language for replacing Objective-C (O-C), which is an object-oriented language of Apple.

It uses the same LLVM compiler as well as runtime as its older counterpart. That is why, while some say that Swift will quickly replace Objective-C, another school of thought says that both O-C as well as Swift can actually co-exist hand in hand in a particular application. The language also provides a seamless access to all the customary features like Cocoa or Cocoa Touch that the developers are currently using.

When it comes to using, from the developers’ point of view the language should feel identical as well as familiar to O-C. Hence, those who are used to with the previous avatar will also be able to handle this new language with ease.

Now let us discuss why the language has gained so much popularity amongst the developers. Swift frankly speaking, comes up with a string of added benefits, which have made a marked difference, so far as development is concerned, especially when it comes to designing or developing apps for iPads or iPhones. While for all these days, it was Objective-C, Swift is swiftly taking over as the base programming language.

The introduction of this new program has given a shot in the arm to the development ecosystem of Apple. The language is all set to bring in an altogether new generation of various innovative applications that are leaving the developers overjoyed. Swift, at its very core is designed to provide a much faster as well as an easier way to the developers, particularly when it comes to designing programs for devices like Mac, iPad, iPhone and the likes. Swift is strong enough to do all the complicated trappings for Objective-C. It can replace them with much simplified syntax that is much easier to tackle, though the entire stuff feels strikingly similar to Objective-C.

The language comes with other highly powerful features like Playgrounds, which is a system that provides the developers the provision of watching how the changes to their projects have an impact on the end product that they need to add for tweaking their codes. While using O-C, the developers had to wait for the compilation and running of their projects, before they got the chance to test any change of codes. This was, to say the least a cumbersome and a time consuming mechanism.

Another highly interesting feature that the language comes up with is that it rectifies the focus on declaring the variable types that Objective-C comes up with. With the introduction of Swift, the developers do not have the need of specifying in a particular code, whether a variable is a text string or a floating-point number.

Both Swift as well as O-C uses identical compiler. This is why an app can have O-C as well as Swift source code. This brings in a substantial benefit for the developers or programmers.

Though the language is not without any rough edge whatsoever, still in general the developers and programmers are simply overwhelmed by the features as well as the technology roadmap the language comes up with. While Objective-C is challenging as well as an effusive language with a string of syntaxes, it lacked a number of features, and this is where Swift has scored over its older objective version.

Thanks to these new features, Swift has made Mac as well as iOS extremely appealing, especially for the new and young developers who still looking forward to design and develop their first applications for Mac and iPhone. Before we round up, let us look at some of the salient features of Swift from a bird’s eye view.

1. It comes up with Closures that are unified with the function pointers – quite similar to blocks that you find in C or its objective version.
2. Generics.
3. Tuples as well as values of multiple returns.
4 Fast as well as precise iterations over a wide collection or range.
5. Structs that are compatible with supporting methods, protocols as well as extensions.
6. Patterns or Functional programming like filters and maps.

You can hire developers from iPhone application development companies in India who can help you build mobile apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide custom iPhone app development services. To hire iPhone software developer from us, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.