iOS Question Going forward - Swift, iOS 9, Java, Phonegap, etc?

[Mark Turney]

Just a general question - looking for fellow coder input and advice:

I have a few months free-time available soon due to an impending layoff. I've been racking my brain over some options in going forward with development work and self-training. I'll set up my options as a poll, asking, knowing what you know now, what you anticipate for the future of mobile development, what jobs/employers expect (usually native language skills from what I have seen), and given certain learning curves of various native vs cross-platform tools such as B4x ....

If you don't want to answer via the poll, of course please feel free to reply the usual way. I just wanted to make this easy for everyone to put in their 2c.

Thanks in advance!

 

[EnriqueGonzalez]

B4x is more than a Cross platform, b4x is a RAD, that means that even if you know Swift, Java, Objective-C, you should write faster code than the original tools like Eclipe or Xcode.

if i had the time i would learn Java for building libraries, creating apps to get experience and focus in other this like IoT.

 

[Mark Turney]

Very good points Enrique and thanks for replying. I have also been looking into the IoT technologies and BLE....hmmmmm ....

 

[EnriqueGonzalez]

Iot is the future! and with B4J we could be more than prepared!

 

[Mark Turney]

Thanks to some personal reflection, goal creation and discussions with other developers, I have decided to continue the B4x path. My rationale is as follows:

• Learning any platform-specific language would be a step backwards regarding what services I could offer to clients or projects that I can develop. Why should I be limited to Apple, Android, Windows or Mac when I can develop for all of them utilizing the same basic skills and code?
• Undertaking the learning curve to come up to speed on Swift, Java, or other language is really unnecessary. If I need to extend the features of B4i for example, I will work my way through just enough Objective-C to create either a new library or perhaps just utilize inline native coding. Same with Android, although that is an extremely mature product with tons of extended libraries already.
• The community and support on the B4x site can't be beat in my experience.
• I have already had 6 iOS and 2 Android Apps published on their respective Stores, so why go back to the beginning?
• Most of all, I enjoy using the B4x products. The IDE's are great & Erel constantly improves them and adds features/functionality.

Hope my sharing helps someone else.