Using C#, XAML + Uno Platform to Build One Codebase, Cross-Platform Apps

Rukesh Shrestha Articles, C#, Development Technologies & Tools, Mobile 1 Comment

For more than a decade, we have been developing applications with C# and XAML. Throughout that time, the pair has really only been known for Desktop (WPF) and UWP applications.

Later came Xamarin, which utilizes C# as a unified language to share between all platforms. Then Xamarin.Forms was introduced, which was different in that it utilized XAML to develop the user interface with a single codebase for cross-platform (iOS, Android, UWP).

This progression has excited all the WPF developers out there. The only remaining platform left was web development. At one time, Silverlight was the option, but it was deprecated because of heavy loading and security concerns of browser plug-in solutions.

Then came the WebAssembly [also known as Web Assembly Modules (WASM)] that web browsers can directly execute without having to parse a source file.

In this post, we will discuss how to create a rich user browser interface using the cross-platform Uno Platform and WebAssembly technology. The example application will walk through building Models, ViewModel and View under a shared project that is common to all different platform-specific projects.

React vs. Angular: A Comparison Between Two Great Options

Robert Rice Angular, Articles, Development Technologies & Tools, JavaScript, Opinion, React 2 Comments

Both React and Angular are very popular front end development frameworks. In this post, I will discuss the similarities and differences between the two, and consider when one should be used instead of the other.

React is an open-source JavaScript library introduced by Facebook to build dynamic user interfaces. It is based on JavaScript and JSX (a PHP extension) and is considered widely for developing reusable HTML elements for front-end development.

Angular is an open-source front-end development framework powered by Google. It is a part of the MEAN stack and is compatible with a large number of code editors and is considered for creating dynamic websites and web apps.

In this post, we will begin by going over the benefits of React and Angular, then break down the differences between the two frameworks using thirteen attributes. By comparing each framework side by side, it can help decide which is the best framework for your specific app project.

August 8th: Streamlined App Development with Xamarin.Essentials

Keyhole Software Articles, Community, Company News, Educational Event, Keyhole, Mobile, Xamarin Leave a Comment

The Keyhole Software team is excited to announce that we are to host and sponsor the upcoming Kansas City Mobile Developers Meetup on Thursday, August 8th. The August meetup of the educational user group will be led by Keyhole’s Mike Cerny with the topic focused on Xamarin.Essentials.

This meetup group discusses…

Elm Language

Lou Mauget Articles, Development Technologies & Tools, JavaScript, Programming, Single-Page Application Leave a Comment

This blog is about my dalliance with Elm; a purely functional, statically typed language that has type inference. It compiles to JavaScript. Functional programming is compelling, but heretofore, Iโ€™d only woven cherry-picked techniques into large object-oriented projects. In FP parlance, Iโ€™m partially applied! The times, they are a-changinโ€™.

In this article, Iโ€™ll:
– touch on the reasoning for giving a nod to functional languages and data immutability;
– move on to Elm; a blazing-fast, statically typed, purely functional browser-side language that compiles to JavaScript and follows the principles of functional reactive programming;
– survey background items and the Elm environment;
– show a simple type-and-click application, followed by a more realistic To-do application;
– end with my impressions from functional-programming semi-outsider point-of-view.

Building a Spring Cloud Native Microservice Application on Azure, Part 1

Zach Gardner Articles, Azure, Cloud, Development Technologies & Tools, Java, Microservices, Spring Leave a Comment

The big three cloud providers (AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, in that order) have their various strengths and areas of expertise. Most large organizations though typically pick one cloud provider for their cloud computing needs. This works well if youโ€™re a Java shop thatโ€™s on AWS, or a Microsoft shop on Azure. But what if youโ€™re on a large Java project in an organization that wants to use Azure? Youโ€™re in luck.

Microsoft Azure has come a long way, and is very supportive of non-Microsoft technologies. The proof though is in the pudding. Which is where this blog post comes in. I take Josh Longโ€™s Bootiful Microservice Services, a great starting point to get a cloud native Spring microservice application up and running, and show how it can be run on Azure.

This first blog post will be all about setting up our basic microservices by walking through the various parts of Joshโ€™s example application, with some best practices and patterns that Iโ€™ve found to be effective. Rather than a simplistic ToDo application, weโ€™ll be basing our application off of my favorite bagel shop in New York, Original Bagel Boss in Hicksville, to manage its orders, inventory, etc. If we can run a bagel shop on a Spring application running on Azure, and keep customers happy and full of carbohydrates, then it proves out for applications of a similar size and complexity.

Weโ€™ll be staying mostly inside the familiar Java confines, then slowly start working our way out to getting our application deployed to Azure. Then weโ€™ll start introducing additional complexity like Spring Batch jobs, a React front end, etc. A setup this complex will show that Azure is ready for prime time when it comes to running applications in production, even if they are built on non-Microsoft technologies…