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Ask HN: Appcelerator's pros, cons and alternatives?

6 points by incaseofire ↗ HN
If code reuse between platforms and native user experience are desired, is Appcelerator a good option in 2016?

Most opinions I'm finding are years old, so I'm not sure if they're still relevant.

The official site sells it really well, and both the IDE and the analytics platform seem like good products.

Any thoughts? What are the alternatives?

5 comments

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maxencecornet
I've built several cross-platforms apps, but never used Appcelerator, the fact that it used C# (Does it still ?)was the main reason behind the fact that I didn't try.

I've used Cordova/Phonegap (where you build webViews, not native apps), which is an OK solution. It's pretty good for rapid prototyping, but the user experience isn't as good as a native app.

>What are the alternatives?

For code reuse & native apps, React native would be a good and modern alternative too.

React native : https://facebook.github.io/react-native/ List of examples apps : https://github.com/maxenceC/open-source-react-native-apps

It's doesn't feel mature yet, but it's a way better solution than webviews.

I've tried some IDE specific for React native, and Deco (https://www.decosoftware.com/) was great !

kingofspain
Appcelerator is JS rather than C# (Xamarin does use C#)
kingofspain
I've used it for several years and done a lot with it. Most of the niggles have been ironed out over time, though Android does tend to lag behind with things a little.

Most recently they introduced Hyperloop (not that one!) which allows direct access to native API's, use of cocoapods etc directly from JS. That would be fantastic if it didn't require a team licence of $1200/seat upfront to even use. With React Native taking off and Nativescript also offering native API access, I can only see it withering behind the massive paywall now which is a shame.

Personally, most of my new projects will now be React Native as I'm confident it'll be around and well supported for longer.

ZombiePartie
If you plan on doing any work with BLE, I highly advise against Appcelerator. You will have an uphill battle. Our company has some legacy Appcelerator apps and it has been difficult to maintain them over time. Learn Swift, use Xcode, nothing comes close to 1st party.