I've tried a couple cross platform frameworks (mostly Xamarin and PhoneGap/Cordova) and am aware of some challenges there.
To me, Xamarin is like programming for each platform, just in C# and with another layer of bugs (and weirdness, I would say, and don't even mention Xamarin Forms). Of course, you get the possibility to share BL in a common layer, but pay for it in terms of instability and complexity to get stuff working native-like. Good for trivial GUI, BL-heavy apps I guess, but not for complex GUI, little shared BL apps.
PhoneGap/Cordova has some serious complications when it comes to predictable rendering due to the plethora of possible rendering engines you may encounter. Any non-trivial layout/styling can be completely messed up on different platforms, or even different versions of the same platform. Also it can be a challenge to achieve native performance and feel.
How would you say React Native compares?
It seems it could be more able to adapt to the platform compared to PhoneGap/Cordova, and easier (perhaps) to work with than Xamarin.
I'm considering using it in an upcoming project where both Android and iOS are required, and given my lack of iOS-experience, it seems like a good alternative.
I did a React Native iOS project last summer, and you should be aware that you do need to write a lot of native code to do non trivial things. Think of React Native as more of a view layer than a whole framework, and realize that JS is simply too slow to do things involving realtime reactions to sensor data (including touch) or images, sound or video.
To me, Xamarin is like programming for each platform, just in C# and with another layer of bugs (and weirdness, I would say, and don't even mention Xamarin Forms). Of course, you get the possibility to share BL in a common layer, but pay for it in terms of instability and complexity to get stuff working native-like. Good for trivial GUI, BL-heavy apps I guess, but not for complex GUI, little shared BL apps.
PhoneGap/Cordova has some serious complications when it comes to predictable rendering due to the plethora of possible rendering engines you may encounter. Any non-trivial layout/styling can be completely messed up on different platforms, or even different versions of the same platform. Also it can be a challenge to achieve native performance and feel.
How would you say React Native compares?
It seems it could be more able to adapt to the platform compared to PhoneGap/Cordova, and easier (perhaps) to work with than Xamarin.
I'm considering using it in an upcoming project where both Android and iOS are required, and given my lack of iOS-experience, it seems like a good alternative.