Blog about the Xojo programming language and IDE
Since we make a popular cross-platform development tool, I’m often asked “what type of computer should I get for cross-platform development”?
You might think that can be a tricky question to answer because they are so many different types of computers. But there is only one computer that can run the three major operating systems without violating a EULA: a Mac.
Comments closedEric Gibbon has been using Xojo to develop bespoke cross-platform applications for Mac and PC and for the web for 15 years. He lives in Stamford, England, and is an active member of the Xojo UK User Group.
There’s an old programmer’s saying: If it works, leave it alone. But sometimes we have to go back to code that works to make it go faster, because it’s too slow.
Over time I have picked up some tips on how to get better performance from Xojo code. I have used these tips to improve old code running on all platforms and have seen big improvements. They are quick and easy to do.
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Sometimes you need a feature that is not available directly from the Xojo framework. Responding to this need is what Declares are designed for: to get access to system native APIs. On OS X, you typically look at the Cocoa APIs. On Windows, the Win32 APIs. Finally on Linux, the GTK APIs.
Comments closedWe here at Xojo think everyone one should learn to code.
Comments closedEverybody is taking about multi-platform software development these days. From a desktop to a laptop to a tablet to a phone, people and companies want their software to run on whatever device they are using.
Comments closedXojo is the modern alternative to Microsoft Visual Basic. Xojo is a single language to build apps for Mac, Windows and Linux desktop, plus web, mobile and Raspberry Pi. Cross-compile desktop apps and use the same powerful language to develop for web and mobile too.
Comments closedThere was a time when the idea of running the same code on different computers wasn’t even imagined. Programming languages were written specifically for a particular computer. And computers were purchased for very specific purposes so why would you even want to run a particular program on another type of computer?
It was the desktop computer revolution that changed that. By the mid-to-late 1980’s, there were more and more desktop computers and developers wanted to target all of them. Soon, however, Windows became so dominant that many developers chose to focus on that one OS. Some Mac developers, not wanting to miss out on the potentially enormous Windows market, either went to the trouble of writing two versions of their applications or used a tool/language that would allow them to target both Mac and Windows from a single code base. This was the beginning of cross-platform development.
Recently, I was asked by tech blogger Chris Pirillo if cross-platform was really important anymore. Cross-Platform is actually more important than ever. Why? First of all, while the Windows PC market is seeing flat or declining sales, Apple’s Mac marketshare is growing. We are seeing this at Xojo. More and more Windows developers are coming to us because they can no longer ignore the Mac market. Linux is the predominant server OS. If you want to write server software that can run on some combination of Linux, Windows and OS X, you’ll want to be writing cross-platform code.
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