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Microsoft and Xamarin Plan WWDC Afterparty to Discuss Development of iOS Apps

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Microsoft recently announced that it will be holding an afterparty at WWDC this year, taking place next week on Monday, June 13 following Apple's State of the Union keynote (via WinBeta). In partnership with its software-focused company Xamarin, Microsoft's party is centered around "The Future of Apps," and is confirmed to last from 5 PM to 8:30 PM PDT, located in Twitter's headquarters near the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

microsoft-xamarin-wwdc-800x326.jpg

Any iOS and OS X developer is welcome to attend Microsoft's party, even if you aren't directly attending WWDC, and the company is also giving anyone who checks in a chance to win either an Apple Watch Sport or Xbox One every hour. Microsoft hopes to discuss the latest iOS apps and updates created by the company at the event -- everything from Outlook to Excel and SwiftKey apps for iPhone and iPad devices -- including their future on the platform.

Likewise, Xamarin's inclusion in the afterparty will generate some talk surrounding its Test Cloud platform, which lets developers run and test every feature of their apps "on more than a thousand devices," without having to worry about inconsistencies fragmenting data due to different smartphone designs and OS interfaces. The company's tools in the past have helped developers design apps for iOS, Android, and Windows platforms.
Xamarin Test Cloud lets teams test every feature on more than a thousand devices and on every commit. Catching bugs before release shortens development cycles and allows more time for innovation. We'll also be offering exclusive one-on-one time with a Xamarin Test Cloud Engineer to walk you through the best way to automate testing on your apps.
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Any developer interested in attending Microsoft and Xamarin's WWDC afterparty can RSVP to the event here.

Article Link: Microsoft and Xamarin Plan WWDC Afterparty to Discuss Development of iOS Apps
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/07/microsoft-and-xamarin-wwdc-afterparty/
captain cadet said:
Looking at the calander of WWDC, this clashes one of apples parties... I wonder where people would go?
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Are you referencing Beard Bash that Apple has on https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/attending/ ? If so, that has been "sold out" since about 2 hours after it was announced a couple weeks ago. Also, it isn't really an "Apple party", it just is one of those things that happened annually enough to get a bit of extra recognition. The entire week is jam packed with after hour events, things are going to collide. The only night that is typically left open is Thursday for the Bash (which is the only official Apple party), but this year Realm decided it'd be a good idea to throw their launch party that day. That one will likely see very low attendance since the Bash can hold every attendee comfortably, is known to have decent food options, and booze.
 
chrono1081 said:
Oh goodie. Management will be buzzing in my ear about Xamarin again. They forget they hired me to re-write Phonegap and Xamarin apps because just like every other "build once, deploy everywhere" solution they fall short.
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Thanks! I'm supposed to look into Xamarin and QT for our own applications, but with lack of time, have been pushing it off.

Mind you, we did write lots of C++ libraries to leverage logic once and build the UI on top of that.
Well, maybe not the older apps, but our newer apps, yes.

Although, **** you JNI!
 
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chrono1081 said:
Oh goodie. Management will be buzzing in my ear about Xamarin again. They forget they hired me to re-write Phonegap and Xamarin apps because just like every other "build once, deploy everywhere" solution they fall short.
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At least it keeps us busy :D
 
If you're starting fresh, and have generally simple needs, Xamarin works great for cross-platform development. Our apps just tap into RESTful API endpoints and display data dynamically depending on user accesses, and for that kind of thing, it works great. Have around 85% shared code, 15% custom for each platform. Big time saver if you're starting fresh and needs aren't too complex.
 
Jeremy1026 said:
...this year Realm decided it'd be a good idea to throw their launch party that day. That one will likely see very low attendance since the Bash can hold every attendee comfortably, is known to have decent food options, and booze.
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There are enough people in town for this conference without tickets that there are 2 other completely sold out conferences in the same apple world. It's pretty common for folks to fly out and stay in the city even if they don't have a ticket.
 
chrono1081 said:
Oh goodie. Management will be buzzing in my ear about Xamarin again. They forget they hired me to re-write Phonegap and Xamarin apps because just like every other "build once, deploy everywhere" solution they fall short.
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Any multi-platform IDE works to the common denominator of the platforms. Many unique features of each platform is left out of deployments. There is no free lunch.
 
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CFreymarc said:
Any multi-platform IDE works to the common denominator of the platforms. Many unique features of each platform is left out of deployments. There is no free lunch.
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Fortunately they all (the good ones) offer the ability to add custom device level code to each build. So you can have 90% reused code, with 10% platform specific to really draw out the features of each.
 
longofest said:
Xamarin is actually really nice. We have used it to target iOS and Android and have had some great success.
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How is the performance and behavior on Android? I've always worried that having a separate CLR vm running in parallel to the Dalvik one would lead to a performance gap with native apps.
 
Scorder said:
How is the performance and behavior on Android? I've always worried that having a separate CLR vm running in parallel to the Dalvik one would lead to a performance gap with native apps.
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So, here's the million dollar question: what kind of android are you running? Are you running some cheap stuff made for emerging markets or pay as you go phones, or are you running more premium level phones? We've never had problems with premium level phones, but we've had issues with slower performing phones. That being said, we have an app that does some decently sophisticated Bluetooth low energy stuff (https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...018a0a-2429-11e6-9e7f-57890b612299_story.html)
 
Jeremy1026 said:
Fortunately they all (the good ones) offer the ability to add custom device level code to each build. So you can have 90% reused code, with 10% platform specific to really draw out the features of each.
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While you are correct, customization of a platform specific build fragments and compromises the purpose of a multi-target IDE. Many claim the ole 80/20 rule for multi-target code vs. platform specific code is a happy medium. However, you are still forced to work with an operational paradigm that compromises any unique platform features.

Heavy use of multi-touch is a good example. If one of your targets is single touch only, you cannot have multi-touch as the primary interface for your app UX. Multi-touch becomes a "special case" where it you are forced to have single-touch as the main UX as you code along to have that 80% shared code.
 
The problem with Xamarin for Visual Studio is that you can't even do a build without having a Mac hooked up for a build server. So you can't play around with the simulator to see if you can do something that's worth buying a Mac without buying a Mac to use the simulator. That's a bad catch-22.
 
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magicsoft said:
The problem with Xamarin for Visual Studio is that you can't even do a build without having a Mac hooked up for a build server. So you can't play around with the simulator to see if you can do something that's worth buying a Mac without buying a Mac to use the simulator. That's a bad catch-22.
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I was at a Xamarim party a few years ago. Similar arguments were brought up. Their marketing pukes just smiled and nodded without any real points brought up. IMO, if you are looking at a third or greater generation of an established app looking for wide platform distribution, this could be an effective IDE. However, I would never advice multi-target on a first generation app. You are just asking for trouble distancing form a native IDE when situations come up that were not taken into consideration.
 
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MacRumors said:
Microsoft and Xamarin Plan WWDC Afterparty to Discuss Development of iOS Apps
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In my world we discuss first and then party. And get drunk. The only possible discussion during the party is who pays the next round or who becomes the wingman. The afterparty is happening when the first party ends.
 
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magicsoft said:
The problem with Xamarin for Visual Studio is that you can't even do a build without having a Mac hooked up for a build server. So you can't play around with the simulator to see if you can do something that's worth buying a Mac without buying a Mac to use the simulator. That's a bad catch-22.
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That isn't Xamarin's fault. Apple doesn't allow compiling of iOS binaries on anything but a Mac.
 
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