Building Cross Platform Applications | Xamarin

The guide says Xamarin lets teams share a single C# and .NET codebase across iOS, Android, and Windows while still building native user interfaces for each platform. It recommends separating platform-agnostic core code from UI code so business logic, storage, and services can be reused without forcing a generic interface.

Reading notes

#

• Xamarin is presented as a way to keep one modern language and framework across three major mobile platforms while still accessing native SDKs and device capabilities.
• The document focuses on productivity and utility apps, not games.
• “Write-once, run everywhere” is treated as too limiting because it can produce lowest-common-denominator features and generic UI.
• The key architectural idea is to keep the model and shared services in a reusable core and build platform-specific user interfaces on top of it.
• The guide recommends C# for app code.
• It recommends MVC or MVVM with a clear separation between the model and the rest of the app.
• Native UI layers are listed for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 8.
• The document points to shared components such as SQLite-NET for local storage, Xamarin.Mobile for device features, and framework features for networking, web services, and IO.
• Two case studies are named: Tasky Pro and MWC 2012.
• Tasky Pro is described as a simple to-do app for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone using a local SQLite database.
• MWC 2012 is described as a conference schedule app with SQLite support, remote data download, image caching, separate UI for iPad and iPhone, Android and Windows Phone support, and Live Tiles on Windows Phone.
• The summary says the document also briefly covers testing and links to the case studies.