Xojo

Xojo is an object-oriented programming tool to create native cross-platform apps for mobile and desktop devices. Xojo boasts to have more than 300.000 users worldwide and to help you to build apps 10x faster than traditional methods, let’s see what’s the truth behind these assessments.

FEATURES

Xojo is the last implementation of a very well-known language formerly known as Real Basic and later Real Studio. Actually, one of the biggest motivations to change the name was that “Basic” wasn’t the right word anymore due to the power this language was gathering within time.

Xojo is a programming language to deploy apps in different platforms with just one piece of code. This is what they claim and many other programming languages or SDKs do as well, but the truth is in 99% of the apps you will have to make some changes or modifications. It supports Windows, OS X, Linux, Web, iOS and Raspberry Pi.

Xojo may not be the right tool to be on everybody’s pocket but it is very convenient for many apps. It is a very easy programming language to learn and actually it is not just a programming language, it is a full development environment. With this environment, you can create apps in a fraction the time you need to create the same with other options.

Xojo is cross-platform but is mostly used to create Mac Apps. Many apps created with Xojo are in the top ranked apps at the Mac App Store. You’d be surprised on the amount of big companies using Xojo as a development solution. Google, Apple, NASA, Intel, Adobe and HP among others are using or used at some point Xojo because they are a player since 1997.

Xojo is quite similar to the ancient VisualBasic and some other object-oriented programming languages like JavaScript. If you are proficient in them, you’ll be using Xojo in no time. It’s even possible you can deploy your first apps in just a few hours after starting because it is a very easy to use language and there is a lot of information and tutorials available. If you had old VB projects you can port them to Xojo with a built-in feature.

Xojo is a modern object-oriented programming language with multiple inheritance methods through the use of interfaces. Xojo is very loose when asking for programming good practices and this is really good because you can prototype very easily, however, if you want to make a full app you’d better implement your good practices or you’ll have problems in the long run. Sojo has a whole lot of classes already in the framework that are useful for most of the apps you want to design. Some classes are purely cross-platform but there are also platform-oriented ones. OS X has much more than the rest, however. These classes easy the process of creating complex apps like data encryption, database front-ends, network apps, sockets, multi-threading and much more. And it’s not just about the framework, Xojo has all the necessary tools in the language to use native libraries on each of the platforms as well as third-party ones. This is great if you want to offer native experience to your users.

The community behind Xojo is big and keeps growing up. You can find a great deal of tutorials, videotutorials and other helping tools around the web and, if you need any help, you can also ask in the very active official forums. There are a lot of plug-ins, retail and free. Some of them are official but the most part of them were created by third-parties. The plugin collection keeps growing because creating plugins for Xojo is also a good business itself. If you are interested in this, all you need to do is to be able to code in C or C++ and the standard IDEs like Xcode or VisualStudio.

It’s important to note there is a drag and drop system in Xojo and this interface has different tabs to develop in one platform or another. This is because many platforms prefer a specific type of interface and in Xojo’s IDE you can find an interface editor to compose windows or formularies just by drag and drop system. If you use this in combination of native libraries you can give a completely native nature to your apps without going through the hassle of using the official SDKs.

So, next thing to talk about is price. Xojo is easy to use for learning purposes, this means you only have to pay when you want to compile apps to the desired platform. The free version is fully functional and not limited by time but, if you want to publish you have to pay at least the minimum version sold per $99 per year/seat. If you want to develop for iOS and Web you have to pay $299 each per year, but you can always purchase the pro version retailed at $699 annually including all the compilers and many more perks.

PROS AND CONS

PROS

• Very easy to learn and many tutorials and resources available online.
• Free version available to learn
• Cross-platform and able to deploy native apps
• Good IDE
• Retail prices for Raspberry, Windows and Mac are reasonable
• Very solid and consolidated language.
• Fast to prototype

CONS

• Web and iOS versions are expensive
• Being so syntactically permissive leads to errors
• Support isn’t good unless you pay the pro version

CONCLUSION

If you are looking for a powerful programming language to deploy apps in different platforms, Xojo may be the answer. The iOS and Web licenses are very expensive but to deploy for desktop computers is cheap and, if you come from a VisualBasic or JavaScript background, it is going to be very easy to learn for you. The native libraries and third-party add-ons make of this language a very powerful one when it comes to create native apps. It is a very good option for those with experience in object-oriented languages who want to learn a very promising language to deploy apps to several platforms, especially for Macs.