Xamarin Vs Nativescript – Comparison Of Mobile App Frameworks
Tags: xamarinforms, nativescript, apps
Published: 2021-01-06 06:30:52

Mobile apps development is not easy as it seems. These days everybody wants to embrace a mobile-first approach as it smoothens business objectives, agile processes, feedback and implementation among complex functions. Now organizations can deliver great customer experiences with mobile apps because of the evolution of frameworks. As a developer you have to gain proficiency with various development environments and languages if you want to deploy a single app to multiple platforms. Frameworks like Xamarin and Nativescript allows developers to target multiple mobile operating systems while still using a programming language that they already know. As there are various frameworks to choose, a big question is, which one is best?  So, here we’re comparing Xamarin and Nativescript for mobile apps development. Before diving to the comparison Xamarin vs Nativescript , let us, see the What is Xamarin and What is Nativescript?

#What Is Xamarin?
Xamarin is a well-known cross platform development framework to build native-like and performant apps. In 2016, it was acquired by microsoft. Now, the framework is being used by 15,000+ companies of various industries all over the world. Xamarin uses only one programming language, which is C# and .Net framework to develop mobile apps for various platforms. Also, it makes use of XAML- a markup and data binding language for apps. 

Xamarin acts as an abstraction layer that eases the communication of shared code for platforms. One can write apps and then compile it into native app packages(.ipa for iOS and .apk for Android).

This platform can be used to develop efficient cross-platform apps, apps with native like performance, apps with access to native APIs, apps with reusable components etc.  

#What Is NativeScript?
It is an open-source framework to build cross-platform apps for ios and android using JavaScript. It transpiles one programming language to another while building native apps using Angular, Vue JS and TypeScript. Dissimilar to other frameworks that use Cordova for rendering a WebView-driven app UI, NativeScript has a rendering engine that provides native performance and user experience. This framework  is used to build simple gaming apps, apps with massive server connectivity,  real time apps, music or video streaming apps, geolocation apps, apps that can function with default apps of the device.

#Xamarin Vs NativeScript- A Comparison
**1. Architecture-**
*Xamarin-* 
It is not restricted to a single architecture. There are a chosen few patterns that turn out to be more valuable as compared to others. Model-View-Presenter (MVP) is the best approach to design native mobile applications with Xamarin. Also, you’d want to build Xamarin.Forms applications on the Model-View-View-Model (MVVM) pattern to make the most out of Xamarin’s offerings. Singleton, Publish/Subscribe, Command are some of the useful patterns for working in the xamarin ecosystem.

*Nativescript-*
It follows the MVC or MVVM architectural pattern, whereas this framework broadly functions on modules, CLI and Plugins. Structure of nativescript framework is composed with various modules and each of them is responsible to enable certain features. Root module and page module are the most important that make up the architecture. Together, they form an application Module including CSS style code, actual business logic, and XML-based UI codes. Nativescript manages module dialogs because of its MVC friendliness. 

**2. Learning Curve-**
*Xamarin-*
To be proficient in Xamarin, you must have a knowledge of C#, mobile development and architecture. As C# is a popular programming language, most of the developers can easily adapt to this environment. Microsoft offers learning resources for developers to get familiar with multiple components in Xamarin. 

*Nativescript-*
It offers extensive learning because developers can switch between TypeScript, JavaScript or Angular according to their need, feasibility and comfortability. Declarative coding style helps developers to learn nativescript rapidly. A detailed understanding of native performance  comes with development experience in Core Modules and design patterns. Available resources and documents might be overwhelming at the beginning but they prove to be more useful.

**3. User Experience-**
*Xamarin-*
Know more at- [https://solaceinfotech.com/blog/xamarin-vs-nativescript-comparison-of-mobile-app-frameworks/]