Appcelerator Titanium

Presentation by Angelo Altavas

Mobile Application Types

Native Apps Advanced UI interactions, i.e. multi-touch Fastest Performance App store distribution

HTML5 Apps Web developer skills Instant updates Unrestricted distribution

Hybrid Apps Web developer skills Access to native platform App store distribtuion

Downsides to Each

Native Apps More expensive to developer Complex development and maintenance

HTML5 Apps Limited use of APIs Hard to generate revenue

Hybrid Apps Generally slower performance Doesn't use native controls

What is Titanium?

An open source framework that allows the creation of native iOS, Android, hybrid, and mobile web apps from a single JavaScript-based SDK

Comes with an integrated development environment (IDE) that simplifies development process

Also comes with its own MVC framework and mobile backend as a service

Titanium SDK According to the website: Faster development

Develop native apps 20% faster than writing in native language

Code Reuse Reuse 60% to 90% of code when supporting

multiple platform Reduce Cost

Save time and money using JavaScript based SDK for cross-platform development

Able to extend with modules

UI controls, access to 3rd

party services, and leverage any native platform API

Appcelerator Alloy Standard MVC framework built on Node.js with

Backbone.js and Underscore.js support Provides a simple model for separating the UI,

business logic, and data models Can create widgets that can be reused across

multiple apps Improves readability, maintainability, and

reusability of code

Appcelerator Alloy Standard MVC framework built on Node.js with

Backbone.js and Underscore.js support Provides a simple model for separating the UI,

business logic, and data models Can create widgets that can be reused across

multiple apps Improves readability, maintainability, and

reusability of code

Appcelerator Platform Cloud software suite that extend Titanium with the

following features: Mobile backend as a service Test automation Debugging tools Analytics and performance management suite

Open and extensible: build on Node.js

Appcelerator Marketplace Create and reuse modules that extend the

capabilities of cross-platform mobile apps Large and active community (over 626,342

developers) Some modules created by large companies

(AT&T, Amazon, among others)

Differences between Titanium and PhoneGap

PhoneGap is a native wrapper around a web application; HTML5/CSS3 for rendering, Javascript for logic

Titanium compiles native objects into native code. Business logic remains as Javascript

PhoneGap applies the same look and feel across all platforms; slower

Titanium apps have the look, feel, and performance of components that are native to the platform

How Alloy Relates to Backbone Models inherit from the Backbone.model class

Models are specified with JS files, which provide a table schema, adapter configuration and logic to extend the Backbone.model class

Collections are ordered sets of models and inherit from the Backbone.Collection class

Sample Code for a Modelexports.definition = { config : { // table schema and adapter information },

extendModel: function(Model) { _.extend(Model.prototype, { // Extend, override or implement Backbone.Model });

return Model; },

extendCollection: function(Collection) { _.extend(Collection.prototype, { // Extend, override or implement Backbone.Collection });

return Collection; }}