NativeScript - Introduction

Generally, developing a mobile application is a complex and challenging task. There are many frameworks available to develop a mobile application. Android provides a native framework based on Java language and iOS provides a native framework based on Objective-C/Shift language. However, to develop an application that support both operating systems, we need to code in two different languages using two different frameworks.

To overcome this complexity, mobile frameworks supports this feature. The main reason behind to use cross-platform or hybrid framework is easier to maintain a single code base. Some of the popular frameworks are NativeScript, Apache Cordova, Xamarin, etc.

Overview of JavaScript Frameworks

JavaScript is a multi-paradigm language. It supports functional programming, object-oriented and prototype based programming. JavaScript was initially used for the client-side. Nowadays, JavaScript is used as a server-side programming language as well. JavaScript frameworks are a type of tool that makes working with JavaScript easier and smoother.

Using this framework, programmers can easily code the application as a device responsive. Responsiveness is one of the reasons behind why this framework is becoming very popular.

Let us have a look at some of the popular JS frameworks −

Angular

One of the most powerful, efficient, and open-source JavaScript frameworks is Angular. We can build mobile and desktop applications. Google uses this framework. It is used for developing a Single Page Application (SPA).

Vue.js

VueJS is a progressive JavaScript framework used to develop interactive web interfaces. It is one of the famous frameworks used to simplify web development. It can be easily integrated into big projects for front-end development without any issues. It is dual integration mode is one of the most attractive features for the creation of high-end SPA or Single Page Application.

React

ReactJS is JavaScript library used for building reusable UI components. It is developed by Facebook. It is currently one of the most popular JavaScript libraries and has a strong foundation and large community behind it.

Node.js

Node.js is an open source, cross-platform runtime environment for developing server-side and networking applications. It is built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript Engine (V8 Engine). Node.js applications are written in JavaScript, and can be run on OS X, Microsoft Windows,and Linux. It provides a rich library of various JavaScript modules which simplifies the development of web applications.

Overview of NativeScript

NativeScript is an open source framework used for creating native iOS and android mobile applications. It is a JIT compiled framework. NativeScript code runs on JS virtual machine. It uses V8 engine runtime for both Android and iOS platforms. NativeScript uses XML, JS and CSS for development. It has a WebIDE known as PlayGround. This PlayGround supports easy working interface, easy to manage projects, hot reload and debug on devices.

NativeScript allows developers to create native, cross-platform apps quickly and efficiently and save on the costs of development, testing, and training. Hence, Native apps will continue to be rich and strong for years to come to make better and easier to use.

Features

NativeScript has vibrant community support. Some of the salient features of NativeScript listed below −

• Extensible

• Hot Module Replacement

• Easy to setup

• We can build rich animations, graphs, charts and lists

• Developers can use any view as the root of an application

• Lazy coding

Benefits

NativeScript helps small or large scale companies to build cross-platform mobile apps. Some of the key benefits are −

• Developers can reuse existing tools and code

• Easy to modify, troubleshoot and update newer versions

• Development experience is good so we don’t have to spend time to learn new tools

• Platform-specific APIs from JavaScript, eliminating the need to learn Cordova plugins

• Ease authentication with different sign-on providers