What is Xamarin?
Xamarin is a tool that helps in building native applications using .NET code for Android, iOS, and macOS platforms. Xamarin provides development environments and designs to help us build mobile applications on PC or Mac.
The two main choices for Xamarin development environments are as follows:
Visual Studio for MacOS
Visual Studio for Windows with Xamarin for Windows plugin
Development approaches
There are two main approaches to developing mobile applications with Xamarin:
Xamarin.Forms is a framework with an open-source cross-platform and is used in building iOS, Android, and Windows applications with .NET from a single shared codebase.
Xamarin.Native consists of two sub-platforms—Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android. Using Xamarin.Native, developers can create high-quality native mobile apps for both iOS and Android using a single, shared codebase.
Forms vs. Native
Forms | Native |
Single UI | Separate UI for each OS |
90-95% of shared code | Less than 30% of code is reused |
Low performance | High performance |
Faster development process | Slower development process |
Features of Xamarin
Code sharing: Xamarin makes it easier to update and maintain apps by allowing developers to share up to 90% of their code across iOS, Android, and Windows.
Access to platform-specific APIs: Xamarin provides access to the full range of platform-specific APIs, enabling developers to create apps that leverage device-specific features such as GPS, camera, and push notifications.
Integrated development environment: Xamarin provides a comprehensive development environment that includes Visual Studio, and a range of tools and plugins to simplify application development.
Advantages of Xamarin development
Single tech stack for faster development: Xamarin's compatibility with the.NET framework is one of the noteworthy benefits of mobile app development. Since everything can be performed in either Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code, as long as the developer is an expert in C#, there is no need to change the environment.
Simplified app maintenance and updating: Using a single programming language makes it simple to update applications because you can upgrade two applications at the same time. As engineers need half the time to update two applications, they can work on several projects simultaneously.
Note: Xamarin.Forms projects should be upgraded to .NET Multi-platform App UI (MAUI) as Xamarin support will end on May 1, 2024 for all Xamarin SDKs. To learn about MAUI, click here.
