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I am a developer who has been working with .NET and C# for developing web applications and I am supposed to start developing iOS apps but I am confused about whether I am supposed to use xcode or sencha touch for making the app or I am supposed to use both? I need to know the difference between them. Also I would like to know what's the difference between sencha touch and phonegap.

Thanks in advance.

Yasmine
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    check out this question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4903340/should-i-write-my-app-with-sencha-touch-or-native?rq=1 – John Riselvato Jul 17 '13 at 21:08
  • "I am supposed to"? Is this something you *want* to do? (just wondering) – David Rönnqvist Jul 17 '13 at 21:09
  • David, I don't get what you are pointing to? I mentioned "supposed to" 3 times. Are you pointing to the 3 of them or a specific one? Anyways may be it was just a misuse of the word, my case here is just that I was assigned something completely new to me and that's why I posted my question to get more info about it. So at the end I will make the app after I get the enough knowledge to help me get started. – Yasmine Jul 17 '13 at 23:10

4 Answers4

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Honestly, you should just stick with XCode. Because it is the native iOS way of developing, it will be easier to get around using this (though some people might disagree).

Sencha touch is used for developing app using HTML5 alone, whereas XCode is the actual complete IDE for all iOS ans OSX applications. You will get a lot with the XCode package, which will make developing easier.

XCode also comes with a plethora of tools for you to use, which will help you in more ways than you could think. From the simulator, allowing you to run you app on virtual iOS devices, to the Instruments which will help you find memory leaks, check your app's energy diagnostics and even an activity monitor so you can watch your devices performance as your app runs.

PhoneGap applications are developed using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, while letting you distribute your app to multiple platforms, not just iOS. Here is the visual explanation

From the PhoneGap site:

"PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova. You can think of Apache Cordova as the engine that powers PhoneGap, similar to how WebKit is the engine that powers Chrome or Safari. (Browser geeks, please allow me the affordance of this analogy and I’ll buy you a beer later.)"

From the Apple Developer site:

"The Xcode developer toolset provides everything you need to create great apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It’s tightly integrated with the Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, creating a productive and intuitive development environment that is powerful enough to be used by Apple to produce OS X and iOS."

Here is the link for all of the info on XCode.

My advice, if you are making for Apple, stick with Apple.

Welcome aboard.

CaptJak
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If you are coming with alot of c# experience, maybe give Xamarin a try. You code in c# and makes the UI like you do in xcode or eclipse. Without losing any native functionality, It can be ported to Android, iOS or Windows phone.

Good luck!

BenMorel
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Joakim Serholt
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The only reason you could go with sencha is if you want to do crossplatform apps, but the look , feel and speed will never be as a native ios app.

Cristi Băluță
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It all boils down to if you want to go the Native iOS route or the HTML5/CSS route. With XCode you can develop natively or HTML5/CSS3. With Sencha it is strictly HTML5. There are also a few other alternatives to those as well such as Cordova or MonoTouch.

apollosoftware.org
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