With how technology has continued to advance in leaps and bounds in the past decade alone, it is no wonder that mobile phones, tablets, and even televisions have become “smart” today. React Native launched in 2015 and it's a JavaScript framework for developing mobile applications.

A few operating system software has been developed in the past decade that allows these appliances to function as a miniature computer, causing them to become “smart”.

This software includes Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and a few other similar ones. With the emergence of these operating system software, there is now a need to have app development frameworks too.

This is because these frameworks can help mobile app development companies in Atlanta, and other parts of the world, to build apps that can function within each operating system software.

While this is indeed a great accomplishment, the fact there are a large number of app development frameworks available for mobile app development companies in Atlanta and the world, can lead to some confusion. Such confusion would mainly stem from the fact that app developers may have some difficulty knowing which framework to choose.

With this being the case, we wish to discuss some of these app development frameworks here. In doing so, we hope that this article can help you to choose the best kind of app development framework that suits your needs.

What Is An App Development Framework And How Does It Work?

There are multiple apps that are being built every day and for a number of reasons. These apps are meant to function within one of the operating systems that are available to us. Therefore, they must adhere to the functional properties of each of these operating systems.

Let us take the example of a company that is trying to sell its products on its own mobile app. This app may have been created to function on both Android and iOS software.

While such an app can essentially perform very similar functions, the codes that have to be written to make the apps work with the two software are quite different. This means that e-commerce development companies in Canada and other parts of the world, have to face some challenges.

Firstly, the company will have to know how to code apps for a variety of operating system software, all at the same time. And secondly, they might have to write two completely different sets of codes from scratch for the two different operating systems.

This, as one can imagine, will most likely be time-consuming. However, with the use of app development frameworks, e-commerce development companies in Canada and elsewhere can rely on them to know what sort of codes would be compatible with what operating system.

Further, some of these frameworks allow app developers to reuse their existing codes to build apps for different operating systems and save a lot of time.

Essentially then, an app development framework is simply a stack of codes (also called an Application Programming Interface or API) that helps developers create apps for different operating system software. These app frameworks also come with in-built features that allow any apps created through them to be compatible with other apps that would be found on mobile devices. In this manner, the app development framework becomes the foundation of mobile and web apps.

What Are Some Of The Best App Development Frameworks Available?

As we said before, there are a lot of app development frameworks that are available for developers to use. Of these, here we will be discussing the three best frameworks - React Native, Flutter, and Xamarin - with regards to their features, benefits, disadvantages, etc.

1. React Native

React Native is an open-source app development framework that was released in 2015 by Facebook, Inc. it can be used to write applications for operating systems such as Android, iOS, AndroidTV, macOS, Windows, and so on.

How It Works

React Native is an app framework that works alongside a JavaScript library called React. Using this library, React Native allows app developers to build apps that are compatible with various platforms.

React Native, due to its reliance on React, allows for the use of existing codes for apps across various platforms.

This is because React is smart enough to detect which section of code will need to be re-written for a different operating system, allowing top e-commerce developers in Australia and the world to code apps faster.

Features

While the functioning principle of the React Native app framework is quite similar to that of React itself, React Native does not manipulate the Document-Object-Model (DOM) through a Virtual DOM. This means that when an app developer tells the framework to make changes in specific sections of the app code, unlike React, React Native does not automatically make sure that the actual DOM matches the virtual representation of the app. It would still require the app developer to manually change the real DOM.

React Native runs as a background process that can interpret the JavaScript that is written by the top e-commerce developers in Australia and the world directly on the device that is at the receiving end. This way, it communicates with the native platform of the device on which an app would be run.

In the place of HTML or CSS, React Native uses messages from the JavaScript thread to manipulate the view on the native end. It also allows app developers to write codes in Java, Objective-C, and Swift.

Pros And Cons

It is open-source software, meaning that it is open to all and available for free, and is less likely to have any bugs in the coding. It is cost-effective and flexible as it does not always require code to be written from scratch.

Further, it also a cross-platform framework that will allow developers to write and maintain apps for various operating systems through one software.

On the other hand, it is relatively new and requires some expert skills in mobile app development to use.

2. Flutter

The Flutter app development framework is also open-source, meaning it is freely and openly available for use. It was released in 2017 by Google and supports the development of applications on platforms such as Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, the web, and Google Fuschia.

How It Works

Google’s Flutter app framework uses a programming language called Dart, unlike the other common frameworks that use languages like Java.

The major components of the Flutter framework are the Dart platform, the Flutter engine, the foundation library, and design-specific widgets.

With the help of these components, Flutter allows app and web development companies in New York and other parts of the world to build apps across various platforms with the use of a single codebase.

Features

Flutter uses the Dart language to run its app development framework software and has a feature called ‘just-in-time’. With this feature, app and web development companies in New York and the other parts of the world can make changes to an application while it is running.

It also has a feature called the ‘ahead-of-time’ compilation. This is the act of compiling a programming language such as C++ into machine code that directly controls a device’s functioning so that the resulting file can be executed natively.

Pros And Cons

Google’s app development framework, Flutter, is known for its fast development of apps. It also allows the use of a single codebase for both Android and iOS, which saves time for app developers.

Further, the ‘just-in-time’ feature makes it possible to correct mistakes in an app and see the results immediately.

However, it is still relatively new, having been released just three years ago. Further, the programming language it uses, Dart, is also relatively new. This means that fewer programmers are likely to be familiar with this language.

3. Xamarin

Xamarin is yet another popular app development framework that is used by app and web development companies in Chicago and the world. It was released in 2013 and is owned by Microsoft. It is also open-source software. This framework has been licensed by MIT as well.

How It Works

This platform works by extending the .NET platform by adding more tools and libraries to the existing ones. These libraries and tools can be used to create apps for Android, iOS, macOS, watchOS, and other such operating system software that are available today.

Features

The Xamarin app framework allows app and web development companies in San Francisco and other parts of the world to reuse the same source code for their mobile application. This saves the time that is required to develop apps.

It integrates with Visual Studio, Microsoft’s IDE for the .NET framework, and is also usable through Visual Studio for Mac.

It also has a backend store that allows the integration of backend systems, third-party libraries, Cloud services, and other such features directly into a mobile app that is developed using this framework.

Pros And Cons

The Xamarin framework is quite beneficial in the way that it allows developers to reuse most of its source code for different platforms. This inherently saves a lot of time during the app development process.

Further, the web apps that are produced by web app development companies in San Francisco and elsewhere using this framework are quite close to native applications. This helps improve the experience of users as well.

However, using this framework can often be time-consuming as it requires the linking of codes between the target operating system and the .NET frameworks. This results in an increase in the time that an app takes to startup and download.

Who Should Use These Frameworks?

Now that we know the features and the functioning principles of these frameworks, we can break down who can choose them according to their needs.

React Native

The React Native app framework, as seen above, is cost-effective and flexible, but requires some expert knowledge in order to be used by app developers. Therefore, it can be used by programmers who are fairly confident that they have enough skills to use it and also want a quick and less expensive option to build their apps. Further, developers who wish to create apps for a number of different operating systems at the same time can use this framework as it is compatible with multiple operating system software. It also can save developers the trouble of writing the same code again for different platforms.

Flutter

The Flutter framework has its own benefits. It is quite innovative and new and can be used by developers who are familiar with Dart programming language. Unlike the other frameworks, this enables developers to see the changes that they make in the code in real-time and can be used by app and web development companies in Chicago and elsewhere who would require such a feature. It can also be used by developers who wish to write apps for multiple platforms as it is equipped with a cross-platform feature that allows the use of the same code for different platforms.

Xamarin

Since Xamarin is also a cross-platform framework, it can be used by developers who require apps that can run across many different operating systems. Considering how it can be time-consuming, though, it should only be used if a developer is sure that it is not an urgent requirement to create an app.

Conclusion:

These three development tools, as is evident now, have a lot to offer to those who use them. They have become an essential tool in today’s e-commerce market and this popularity is only bound to rise.

With this being the case, it is important to know which software is suitable for the particular needs of a company, so that they do not get left behind in a competitive market.

Further, it is no secret that the frameworks and the apps that they can create are the way into a technologically advanced future.

Therefore, with how important app development frameworks are today, the descriptions, benefits, and other factors that are detailed in this article about these frameworks, we hope that all app developers from across the globe can now find it easier to choose the framework that is perfect for their needs.