Exploring Mobile Development Platforms and Software Architecture Patterns
Tags: beginners, mobile
Published: 2024-07-06 14:52:36



Mobile development a peculiar and dynamic landscape, choosing one platform along with its associated software architecture is itself confusing. I have begun my HNG Internship and I believe it is a good time to revisit these basics about mobile development. In this essay, we will discuss many common software architecture patterns and mobile development platforms exploring about their advantages & disadvantages.

Mobile app development platforms are generally of 2 types:
•	**Native app development platforms:** These platforms enable developers to maximize performance, take advantage of platform-specific features and deliver a more consistent user experience across devices by developing apps for a particular mobile operating system (such as iOS or Android). Although it might consume more time and require additional resources than cross-platform development does, it often results into better polished applications which work not just well but greatly on the intended platform. Examples of the platform-specific languages are **swift/objective-C** for **IOS** and **Kotlin/JAVA** for **Android**.

**Pros**: 
	**Performance**: Platform-specific languages and tools are used in building native applications so that they can be optimized for the best possible performance on their respective devices and thus provide the best performance as well as responsiveness.
	**User Experience**: Using the best UI/UX practices for every platform, native apps make it very simple for persons to find their way through them and connect with them which eventually increases users’ contentment.
	**Offline functionality**: Since native apps are loaded on the device itself, they can work even if there’s no internet connection, which can be a huge plus for offline-capable apps.
	**Access to features**: Native apps have full access to device hardware and OS-specific features.


**Cons**: 
	**Cost**: Regardless of whether development is done natively or otherwise, it is never cheap. The cost of developing a mobile app depends on how complex the app is, which includes how many platforms one wants to support and whether one wants to use native or cross-platform technologies. 
	**Development time**: Creating a native app is a much more complex job than developing a hybrid or a cross-platform application. Your goal is to decide what platform or platforms this program should run on and write it from scratch, using programming language and tools peculiar for each specific platform. Separate codes are required for each of them – iOS and Android.

•	**Cross-Platform Development**: These platforms are a used way by developers to give a chance to make apps whose presence will be felt on different mobile operating systems from a single codebase. Companies may find this essence quite important in terms of reaching out to more people without necessarily creating individual apps for each platform. Examples of such languages are **React Native** developed by Facebook that uses React and JavaScript to build apps for both IOS and Android. Another example is **Flutter** which is developed by android it uses the dart programming language and has a rich set of widgets. Other examples are Node.js, Xamarin, Ionic and so on.

**Pros**: 
	**Single codebase**: One and the same code designated for numerous platforms suggests that the developer will only be required to write it once but run on IOS and Android at the same time. In place of building separate platform-specific apps, developers will find that it allows them faster development by removing repetitive coding chores.
	**Cost-effective**: The team uses the same tools in cross-platform framework, which makes it cheaper and easier to build two apps at the same time. In addition, the development costs can be reduced by at least half when one smaller team is needed to create an application that works on all devices owned by users.
	**Community support**: Cross-platform frameworks has a large and active community which is effective for troubleshooting and enhancements.

**Cons**: 
	**UI/UX design quality**: Developers are restricted in the app features they can access through cross-platform app development using a common codebase for both platforms. If unable to use every function on a smartphone or tablet computer then end-users might find the performance less satisfactory.
	**Performance**: Not always as smooth as native apps.
	**Access to Features**: Access to features is sometimes limited compared to native.



**Software Architecture Patterns: Building the Backbone**
Now, onto the software architecture patterns that help structure our apps. Here are a few common ones:
1.	**Model-View-Controller (MVC):** A software design pattern that is commonly used when developing user interfaces to divide the related program logic into three interconnected elements is the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern. It consists of these elements:
o	**Model**: Manages the data and business logic.
o	**View:** Handles the display and user interface.
o	**Controller**: Interacts between the Model and View.
**Pros**:
o	**Separation of Concerns**: Clear division of responsibilities.
o	**Modularity**: Easier to manage and scale.
**Cons**:
o	**Complexity**: Can get complex as the app grows.
o	**Testing**: Tight coupling can make unit testing difficult.
2.	**Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)**: This is an architectural pattern in computer software that allows for the separation of developing a graphical user interface (GUI; View) through a markup language or GUI code from developing business logic or back-end logic (Model) whereby the view does not depend on specific model platform.
o	**Model**: Data and business logic.
o	**View**: UI elements.
o	**ViewModel**: Manages the data for the View and handles user interactions.
**Pros**:
o	**Separation of Concerns**: Better separation than MVC.
o	**Testing**: Easier to test the ViewModel.
**Cons**:
o	**Learning Curve:** Can be difficult to grasp initially.
o	**Boilerplate Code**: Sometimes requires extra code.


**My Journey with HNG Internship**
So, why am I diving into this with the HNG Internship? For me, this internship is a chance to grow both personally and professionally. Though I just started learning mobile development I am quite passionate about it and I would like to gain more experience from like-minded individuals. Through the mentorship from experience developers and hands on experience to tackle real life challenges, I’m sure I’ll make massive improvements by the end of the program.
In conclusion, the world of mobile development is vast and fascinating, with various platforms and architecture patterns to explore. Each has its pros and cons, and the choice often depends on the specific needs of the project. As I embark on this journey with HNG Internship, I’m eager to dive deeper into these topics, learn from the experts, and create amazing mobile applications. Here’s to the exciting road ahead!
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