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Apache Cordova vs Xamarin Forms

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Apache Cordova
705
893
+ 1
218
Xamarin Forms
346
277
+ 1
5
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Apache Cordova vs Xamarin Forms: What are the differences?

Developers describe Apache Cordova as "Platform for building native mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript". Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. On the other hand, Xamarin Forms is detailed as "* A complete cross-platform UI toolkit for .NET developers*". A mobile application framework for building user interfaces.It easily create native user interface layouts that can be shared across Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

Apache Cordova and Xamarin Forms can be categorized as "Cross-Platform Mobile Development" tools.

Apache Cordova is an open source tool with 766 GitHub stars and 327 GitHub forks. Here's a link to Apache Cordova's open source repository on GitHub.

Teleport, Hybrid Heroes, and JustWatch are some of the popular companies that use Apache Cordova, whereas Xamarin Forms is used by BlueChilli, Rumble, and Incipire, Inc.. Apache Cordova has a broader approval, being mentioned in 96 company stacks & 45 developers stacks; compared to Xamarin Forms, which is listed in 6 company stacks and 7 developer stacks.

Decisions about Apache Cordova and Xamarin Forms
Aleksandr Filatov
Contract Software Engineer - Microsoft · | 2 upvotes · 419.9K views
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Apache CordovaApache CordovaProGuardProGuardReact NativeReact Native
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I've done some Hybrid Mobile apps with both technologies Apache Cordova and React Native and described my experience in my blog.

In a few words, I would suggest to use each technology in accordance what what is your current code base and what do you want to achieve.

React Native is a great option if you need that extra edge in performance with multi-threading and native UI rendering. Or you already have a web app based on React which you want to port to mobile.

On the other hand, if you have an existing web application code and you want to reuse some or all, including the ability to use web third-party libraries, then Cordova is the best option.

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Aleksandr Filatov
Contract Software Engineer - Microsoft · | 2 upvotes · 115.7K views
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What is Proguard?

ProGuard is the most popular optimizer for Java bytecode. It makes your Java and Android applications up to 90% smaller and up to 20% faster. ProGuard also provides minimal protection against reverse engineering by obfuscating the names of classes, fields and methods.

How to use it in Cordova app?

I didn't find any plugins for it. So I've implemented it by myself and shared it on GitHub.

Feel free to use!

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Pros of Apache Cordova
Pros of Xamarin Forms
  • 48
    Lots of plugins
  • 35
    JavaScript
  • 26
    Great community
  • 25
    Easy Development
  • 18
    Easy to learn
  • 15
    Cross platform
  • 7
    Open Source
  • 6
    Easy, fast, not buggy in my experience with my code
  • 6
    Lots of descendants; PhoneGap, Ionic, Intel XDA etc
  • 4
    Can use CSS3
  • 4
    Rich HTML 5
  • 4
    Easy debugging
  • 3
    HTML, CSS and JS
  • 3
    Fast and hot reload
  • 3
    Rich css ui
  • 3
    Use what you code in your browser
  • 2
    Need a light system
  • 2
    Native Web Technologies
  • 2
    Without extra tooling needed
  • 2
    One code base everywhere
  • 5
    Native Development SDK with shared C# code-base

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Cons of Apache Cordova
Cons of Xamarin Forms
  • 2
    No native performance
  • 1
    Hard to install
  • 0
    Hard to install
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    144
    188
    20
    162
    950
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    7y
    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is Apache Cordova?

    Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

    What is Xamarin Forms?

    A mobile application framework for building user interfaces.It easily create native user interface layouts that can be shared across Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    What companies use Apache Cordova?
    What companies use Xamarin Forms?
    Manage your open source components, licenses, and vulnerabilities
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    What tools integrate with Apache Cordova?
    What tools integrate with Xamarin Forms?
      No integrations found

      Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

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      What are some alternatives to Apache Cordova and Xamarin Forms?
      Xamarin
      Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
      PhoneGap
      PhoneGap is a web platform that exposes native mobile device apis and data to JavaScript. PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova. PhoneGap allows you to use standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, avoiding each mobile platforms' native development language. Applications execute within wrappers targeted to each platform, and rely on standards-compliant API bindings to access each device's sensors, data, and network status.
      React Native
      React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.
      Electron
      With Electron, creating a desktop application for your company or idea is easy. Initially developed for GitHub's Atom editor, Electron has since been used to create applications by companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Slack, and Docker. The Electron framework lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It is based on io.js and Chromium and is used in the Atom editor.
      Ionic
      Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.
      See all alternatives

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