Connection Strings

Cross-Platform Dev Approach That Isn't Xamarin

Xamarin this, Xamarin that. But not all cross-platform is Xamarin. Have you heard of one other option, like React Native?

Hand's up if you've used Xamarin to develop mobile apps and ported those apps to iOS and/or Android. Keep those hands up if also tried or used React Native in a project. I'm going to guess that not that many hands are still in the air. Even so, it's an interesting platform, as Facebook takes the "write once, deploy everwhere" approach on its head. The approach is slightly different, but not really. So, with the number of cross-plat tools in VS, why is Microsoft resistant to React Native?

My ADTmag.com colleague David Ramel writes that there's already a few ways to make React Native connections and one by extension, so to speak. He points to a Microsoft piece that demonstrates a new React Native extension available for use with Visual Studio Code (and, and also compares it to Apache Cordova).

With that and "Considering that Xamarin itself recently acquired RoboVM, which uses Java to build cross-platform mobile apps, there seemingly was less incentive for Microsoft to include yet another cross-platform mobile technology in Visual Studio," explains Ramel. What's interesting is that he also points a UserVoice post asking whether users would want React Native support. The low number of responses would seem to indicate "No," yet there were lots of responses for React Web support. Go figure.

Is React Native on your radar or something you've seriously considered using for cross-platform development? LMK in the comments.

Here are ten more links I've run across that might be useful to you, in no particular order and definitely not conforming to any particular theme:

Beginner's Guide to VS Code: Up and Running in Ten Minutes (Channel 9) -- They make it look so easy, I'm convinced I can start coding....

How to learn to code in 2016: everything you need to know to start programming (including apps) right now (site) -- ...but should I start with VS Code, or something else?

fsharpConf (fsharpConf) -- It bears repeating: there's an F# conference starting March 4 at the link

ASP.NET Core 1.0 - Routing - Under the hood (Inversion of Control) -- How routing now works in version 1.0

Developing C++ cross-platform projects with CMake? (Visual C++ Team Blog) -- The team asks you to answer a few questions on its survey to help refine CMake support in C++

Microsoft HoloLens Heads Closer to Reality (Redmondmag.com) -- Software developer's kit is now available with these $3K glasses

Dev Pay: San Francisco Not So Hot After Cost of Living Factored In (ADTmag.com) -- Software engineer salaries in San Francisco are eaten up mainly by the city's high cost of living

Creating a Memory Dump Process in Visual Basic (Code Guru) -- What you can learn from a BSOD

jQuery Datatable With Server Side Data (Code Project) -- Get a grip on grid controls

UWP XAML Behaviors 1.1.0 released (Compiled Experience) -- Nasty unsub bug squashed

Know of an interesting link, or does your company have a new or updated product or service targeted at Visual Studio developers? Tell me about it at [email protected].

About the Author

You Tell 'Em, Readers: If you've read this far, know that Michael Domingo, Visual Studio Magazine Editor in Chief, is here to serve you, dear readers, and wants to get you the information you so richly deserve. What news, content, topics, issues do you want to see covered in Visual Studio Magazine? He's listening at [email protected].

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