Microservices with Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Keycloak and Docker (Part I) – Cleverti Talks

Using Ionic, a web developer with little knowledge of mobile can easily deploy their own cross-platform application within just a few hours of coding. We’ll dive into the Ionic framework with an introduction and an overview of the technology, and also explore plugins that allow native interaction with mobile device elements.

Native Apps vs Hybrid Apps

Native Apps:

These are built for a specific platform with the platform SDK. For example, a native iOS application would be written in either Swift or Objective-C. However, any application written for iOS using Swift cannot run on Android, and vice versa.

Hybrid Apps:

Like native apps, run on the device, and are developed using web technologies (HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript), which are then encapsulated within a native application. Hybrid apps join both native and web solutions. Anyone with a modern web developer skill-set can begin building an app using the hybrid approach

Hybrid Apps (Pros and Cons)

Pros:

  • Single code base;
  • Lower implementation cost;
  • Easy development and test;
  • Easier maintenance;
  • Faster delivery time;

Cons:

  • Less performant.

Ionic Framework Overview

Created in 2013 as an open-source SDK for hybrid mobile applications, Ionic now has more than 5 million apps built using it.

“Ionic Framework is an open-source UI toolkit for building performant, high-quality mobile and desktop apps using web technologies — HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — with integrations for popular frameworks like Angular and React.”

Ionic Overview

 

Ionic Framework (Pros and Cons)

Pros:

  • Single code base;
  • Popular technologies and ease of learning;
  • Wide range of plugins and integrations;
  • Easy maintenance;
  • Quick prototyping;
  • Concise documentation;
  • Strong community support.

Cons:

  • Less performant against native approach
  • Plugin-dependent system
  • Application increases size with extra web dependencies

So what is the right choice for your application?

In terms of business, there are no bad or good tools. There are just tools fitted to solve specific tasks. Unless you are creating a highly performant application. A hybrid application development might be the right choice.

In the following video, André Santos explores plugins that allow native interaction with mobile device elements.