An iOS Developer Takes on Android

[mouser]

This is a little bit old (August) but it's a nice article about porting some software from Apple iPhone to Android.

http://nfarina.com/p...34061/ios-to-android

[Deozaan]

Things like this really make me dislike Apple users:

Apple has made it pretty easy to start writing iOS apps. Of course, Step One is “Buy a Mac.” Easy! Then just download the free Xcode Installer from the Mac App Store, and start writing code when it’s done.

Android is a bit more involved. You can download the SDK easily, but to actually start writing code, you’ll want to setup Eclipse and install Google’s ADT Plugin.

"Apple makes it so easy! Just spend $2,000 on a new computer and you're good to go after you download some free software! But Android is so hard because you have to download three separate free software packages. Boo hoo! Why does it have to be so hard to program for Android?"

[Renegade]

Things like this really make me dislike Apple users:

Apple has made it pretty easy to start writing iOS apps. Of course, Step One is “Buy a Mac.” Easy! Then just download the free Xcode Installer from the Mac App Store, and start writing code when it’s done.

Android is a bit more involved. You can download the SDK easily, but to actually start writing code, you’ll want to setup Eclipse and install Google’s ADT Plugin.

"Apple makes it so easy! Just spend $2,000 on a new computer and you're good to go after you download some free software! But Android is so hard because you have to download three separate free software packages. Boo hoo! Why does it have to be so hard to program for Android?"

-Deozaan (December 16, 2011, 08:06 PM)

Hahahaha~!

+1

I liked this:

Eclipse is a world unto itself. It’s the IDE to end IDEs. Consequently, it has many abstract-sounding concepts you’ll have to learn. There are Workspaces, and Perspectives, and Run Configurations. And Eclipse itself is just an empty shell of sorts; all non-trivial functionality is provided via a complex network of interdependent Plugins, similar to Linux distributions. Come to think of it…

Of course, IDE weirdness isn’t unique to Eclipse; Xcode was pretty damn weird at first too, and it’s getting more meta with each release (Schemes, anyone?).

I'm no Eclipse fan. It's simply clunky to use. But man... I'd rather use Eclipse than Xcode. Weird? That's an understatement. There's 1 way to do things in Xcode and only 1 way. i.e. DO NOT think different.

[zridling]

Hilarious.

[mahesh2k]

lol

It's like two people talking about who looks more gross at naked beach. 

[Ath]

+1

[Paul Keith]

Great thread that reveals a little bit of the history of Android except I don't really understand what Meridian is.

I read the link but the author talks about it being a platform. Wouldn't a port then lead to future compatibility problems much in the same way greasemonkey scripts keeps getting broken everytime a site updates?(Unless the author is also the maker of Meridian in which I take this comment back.)

[Ath]

In the end the article turns out being a big praise for the Android platform and Eclipse, and that if Andoid would have been around a bit earlier, he may have never written an iPhone version of Meridian, though he eventually would have, and moaned in the same way about the Apple 'experience', as all his complaints are those of anyone that hasn't ever before used Java, Eclipse and an Android Phone.

@Paul Keith: Yes, he's directly involved in developing Meridian, he even states in the first paragraph:

Recently, we released the Android version of Meridian, our platform for building location-based apps.

and naming Meridian a 'platform' is just marketing babble.