My initial thought was that I would obviously use Objective C to program the app. However a work colleague suggested that I look at Appcelerator as he had used it to create his app. (The app is for Irish Leaving Certificate students. It allows them to download past exam papers to their iPhone or iPad. If you're a 5th or 6th year student check it out at http://www.jamessugrue.ie/app.)
The technology basically allows you to use Javascript to create your application. This presumably will hide the lower level implementation details and allow you to create apps faster. Also the apps should be portable across mobile OSes so this would allow for Android ports.
I don't think that this is the right approach for me though. I don't know Javascript or much HTML5 so either way I'd have to learn a new language. My thinking is that Apple use Objective C and intend for it to be the official way to write apps. This means that there will be loads of help out there for writing in Objective C, e.g. Apple articles, books, Stack Overflow questions etc. One of my concerns is that when you start hitting road bumps in Appcelerator, I not sure there will be the same level of support available.
Another problem with these type of frameworks is that if Apple add new features, then you have to wait for your framework provider to update their product, to support the new features. In this case I think you're better off using the standard language and APIs for the platform rather than a third party solution. Also the iPhone libraries seem fairly similar to the Mac libraries, so in future it should be straightforward enough to learn Mac programming after gaining an iOS foundation.
Given my C/C++ experience I think I will pick up Objective C quicker. I have no intention to support Android at this time so the cross platform support is not of any use to me. I'd also assume that, as most apps are developed in Objective C, that this will be more in demand by employers in future. So, Objective C it is then. How hard can it be...
→ posted on January 14, 2012development