Jumping from Java to Objective-C, How easy could it be for software developers?

Nowadays, technology is being updated with more frequency, so as software developers we are forced to learn every day.

In my case, I would like to talk about my recent experience with working on Java programming language and having the chance to learn a new programming language: Objective-C for IOS, I’ll be sharing with you important information I learned during this wonderful journey.

First of all, we are not just talking about two programming languages. It is related to two big concepts: Web programming versus Mobile programming. We are talking about two different platforms. I think this is the first thing we need to discuss due to the important features that contrast between the two. Software developers, I recommend before you start writing your first Objective-C code, figure out the answers to the following mobile app development questions:

• Which resources are used when you build an IOS mobile app?
• Which are the UI/UX design standards for IOS mobile app?
• Which are the restrictions involved around the Apple IOS app?

Having in mind what is required for Mobile app development, will guide you through the switch from Java to Objective-C.

While web programming allows software developers to think on the strongest server, UI/UX design responsive and memory use, Mobile programming needs a harder focus on how we use the mobile resources. As an example, small size images, save images on cache, minimum requests against servers, use of Core Data persistence allow for greater performance of a mobile application.

Also, It is important the use of a good standard for Object-Oriented Programming. This is something that we could apply coding in any language like Java and Objective-C. Bases as:

• Clean code
• Code fully commented
• A minimum of lines per method declaration (each method has one responsibility at the time),
  group methods in classes according to common concepts (for example, put together all date treatment methods in a DateHelper class), and so on.

Are things which facilitates the way you understand what are you doing, how easy others could read and understand your code, and how efficient your code can be. Just having these programming bases settled, learning a new language can be easier.

Besides that, I cannot lie: in my opinion, the Objective-C syntax is not as pretty as Java in terms of methods declarations, neither intuitive as Java. This is something that makes harder the learning but not impossible with time and practice. In the end, perseverance, research, and practices take you to the finish line.

After this summarized introduction around jumping into Objective-C, It is noteworthy that there are a lot of things I can expand upon, maybe in the next article, but I hope my experience can help everyone else.

From my perspective, there are no gaps when it is time to learn and go through a new world of technology. It is a step forward. So, why not be part of that?

Need Mobile App Development, at Teravision we can help you.