Common code base for developing an app for different smartphone OS's [closed]

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I'm new to iOS/Android development so I would like to know what is the usual practice of developing an app for different platforms - is the whole code rewritten or the possibilities are used to choose some language, C or C++ for example, and keep most of the work in this language and then cover it with system specific stuff in corresponding language? I know about Android NDK and having C/C++ code in your iOS app, but the question is - is this usually used in practice - maybe later some other platforms might be added? The classical example would be the Angry Birds, of course, which I have even on my "smart" TV. Would be good to hear guys experienced in this area since I might be in the middle of making a decision. Thanks!

Answer 1

You might try Qt framework as it's native to Symbian, officially ported to Android, and unofficially ported to iOS and Blackberry. It's a C++ IDE at http://qt.nokia.com

Better yet, if you're into that kinda thing, try PhoneGap here: http://phonegap.com/ This will allow you to write your "app" code in HTML.... yes, HTML, and port it to just about anything. Things that are normally OS-dependent are basically wrapped in PhoneGap's API including hardware: http://phonegap.com/about/feature/

Answer 2

You should go check out the Xamarin studio. It allows you to write code in C# and reuse up to 80% of your code between the platforms. They have some videos and tutorials for how to best write code that can be reused.

Answer 3

THe classical example would be angry birds? I've either hit a time warp to 20 years in the future, or you're thinking way too small.

But yes, it is quite common to write the majority of logic in C or C++ and just write system specific stuff and/or UI in the native language.

Answer 4

There are several cross-platform solutions on the market. Some of them use Java and C#, they usually are integrated with the common SDKs (such as Visual Studio, Eclipse). Some of them allow to easily develop and distribute web-apps using HTML5, Css3 and jQuery combination.

You can just surf for them on the net. I suppose it's not allowed to mention them here. If I'm wrong I will post the name of some of the most known solutions that I tried.