Optimized Cross Platform Development
- 1. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. Optimized Cross Platform Development Markku Kero / Job and Esther Technologies June 2014 / Softech.ph
- 3. (DESKTOP)
- 5. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. What does that mean for software developers?
- 6. C++ JS ObjC Swift C/C# JS C Java Java C C++ C# C++ C C++ C# ObjC Swift → You need to have some kind of strategy to deal with this
- 7. Cross platform development tools One codebase; target multiple platforms Many existing tools on the market
- 8. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. Common sentiment: “Cross platform tools do not work. Writing native code is the best (only) way.” (= writing the same application several times, once per platform)
- 9. Commonly encountered issues Large installer size Excessive memory use Low performance Limited API access
- 10. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. Source code targeting a specific platform Tool Source / byte code and interpreter or VM for iOS Source / byte code and interpreter or VM for Android Run in browser Android app iOS app Runtime / Virtual machine (Java, JavaScript, Lua, Ruby, C#, ..) A common cross platform tool
- 11. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. Operating system Language interpreter / runtime APIs and libraries Application code A common cross platform tool Architecture
- 12. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. A common cross platform tool Architecture Operating system Language interpreter / runtime APIs and libraries Application code Makes application installers bigger Increases memory usage Reduces runtime performance Applications can only access selected parts of the native API
- 13. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. Another popular architecture Source Code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript Tool Libraries C code That opens a Browser and Displays the program Java code That opens a Browser and Displays the program Android SDK Android installer iOS SDK iOS installer Run in browser HTML5 / “embed a web browser”
- 14. Commonly encountered issues Large installer size Excessive memory use Low performance Limited API access
- 15. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. The C++ approach C++ application code SDK / compiler Run in browser Android application iOS Objective-C runtimeC++ class library BlackBerry 10 application Windows Phone app iOS Swift runtime
- 16. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. These approaches can produce working applications, but the approach can be improved
- 17. Programming language conversion (Source code) Small Installers Optimal memory use No API access limitationsNative performance
- 18. www.eqela.com
- 20. class Main : LayerWidget { public void initialize() { base.initialize(); add(LabelWidget.instance().set_text(“Hello World”)); } } Main.eq Eqela Compiler LayerWidget, LabelWidget Main.java, LayerWidget.java, LabelWidget.java Android SDK Android application A sample Eqela application
- 21. class Main : LayerWidget { public void initialize() { base.initialize(); add(LabelWidget.instance().set_text(“Hello World”)); } } package mk.test; public class Main extends eq.gui.LayerWidget { @Override public void initialize() { super.initialize(); ((eq.gui.ContainerWidget)this).add(((eq.gui.Widget)eq.widget.LabelWidge t.eq_widget_LabelWidget_instance().set_text(eq.api.StringStatic.eq_api_ StringStatic_for_strptr("Hello world")))); } public Main() { } } (EQELA) (JAVA)
- 22. class AndroidHTTPGet { public static bool execute(String url) { embed “java” {{{ org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpUriRequest hur = new org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet(url.to_strptr()); android.net.http.AndroidHttpClient hc = android.net.http.AndroidHttpClient.newInstance(“testing”); org.apache.http.HttpResponse resp = hc.execute(hur); if(resp == null) { return(false); } }}} return(true); } } → All platform specific features / APIs are accessible Embedding other languages
- 23. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. Comparison: A “hello world” application First approach (virtual machine / interpreter) Tool A: 8MB installer Tool B: 4MB installer The “embed a web browser” approach: ~300KB installer The “source code conversion” approach: 96KB installer
- 24. Copyright (c) 2014 Job and Esther Technologies, Inc. All Rights reserved. Given the right technical architecture, cross platform applications can be optimized markku.kero@jobandesther.com www.eqela.com