Corona SDK vs Xamarin

Overview

Xamarin

Stacks1.3K

Followers1.5K

Votes785

Corona SDK

Stacks17

Followers37

Votes5

Corona SDK vs Xamarin: What are the differences?

Introduction: When considering mobile app development, two popular platforms that often come up for comparison are Corona SDK and Xamarin. Both platforms have their own set of strengths and weaknesses that make them suitable for different types of projects.

1. Cross-platform compatibility: Corona SDK primarily focuses on creating apps for iOS and Android, whereas Xamarin offers cross-platform development for iOS, Android, and Windows. This difference makes Xamarin a more versatile choice for developers who need to target multiple platforms with a single codebase.

2. Programming languages: Corona SDK uses Lua scripting language, which is known for its simplicity and ease of use. On the other hand, Xamarin allows developers to work with C# and .NET, which are more widely used in the industry and offer a larger ecosystem of libraries and resources.

3. Community support: Corona SDK has a dedicated community of developers who actively contribute to forums, tutorials, and plugins. In contrast, Xamarin benefits from the extensive support of Microsoft and its developer community, providing access to a vast network of resources and tools for app development.

4. License and pricing model: Corona SDK offers a free core SDK with optional paid plugins and features that can be purchased as needed. In comparison, Xamarin follows a subscription-based model with different pricing tiers based on the features and support needed, making it more suitable for larger enterprise projects.

5. Performance and speed: Corona SDK is known for its lightweight framework and fast rendering capabilities, making it ideal for simple 2D games and apps. Xamarin, on the other hand, provides native performance by compiling code directly to the target platform, resulting in faster and more efficient apps with complex functionalities.

6. Learning curve: Due to its simplified scripting language and comprehensive documentation, Corona SDK is considered more beginner-friendly and easier to learn for developers with limited experience. In contrast, Xamarin's use of C# and .NET may require a steeper learning curve, especially for developers transitioning from other programming languages.

Summary: In Summary, the key differences between Corona SDK and Xamarin lie in cross-platform compatibility, programming languages, community support, license and pricing models, performance and speed, and learning curve, ultimately determining the suitability of each platform for different app development projects.

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Detailed Comparison

Xamarin	Corona SDK
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.	It is a cross-platform framework ideal for rapidly creating apps and games for mobile devices and desktop systems. It builds rich mobile apps for iOS, Android, Kindle and Nook. Build high quality mobile apps in a fraction of the time.
Cross-platform development- Thinking about supporting iOS, Android, Mac and Windows? Xamarin allows you to write it all in C#.;Reuse existing code- Use your favorite .NET libraries in Xamarin apps. Easily use third-party native libraries and frameworks.; Discover as you type- Explore APIs as you type with code autocompletion.;Visual Studio or Xamarin Studio- Create, build, debug, and deploy apps in Visual Studio. Or use Xamarin Studio, a fully-featured IDE that is built for mobile app development.;Native UI, Native Performance- Xamarin delivers high performance compiled code with full access to all the native APIs so you can create native apps with device-specific experiences.; Point and Click UI Design- Xamarin provides a world class Android UI designer. Use Apple Xcode UI designer to create interfaces and Storyboards that automatically sync with your Xamarin.iOS project.	Call any native library; Cross-platform; Completely free
Statistics
Stacks 1.3K	Stacks 17
Followers 1.5K	Followers 37
Votes 785	Votes 5
Pros & Cons
Pros 121 Power of c# on mobile devices 81 Native performance 79 Native apps with native ui controls 73 No javascript - truely compiled code 67 Sharing more than 90% of code over all platforms Cons 9 Build times 5 Visual Studio 4 Price 3 Complexity 3 Scalability	Pros 3 Also potentially build for OS Apple 2 Lua code better than java code Cons 4 Not Very popular 2 Very Poor System
Integrations
No integrations available	Google AdMob JetBrains Rider PlayFab Lua Vuforia TestFairy Pushwoosh Helpshift

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