Lots of projects want to simplify the app development process, and there are even more startups working on automating the process. Ultimately it's fine for prototyping, but not much else. Performance becomes an issue and you rapidly hit it wall with anything but native apps.
It's good to get your feet wet and get excited about the platform, regardless of it being Android or iOS, but at some point you need to just bite the bullet and pick up a good book and start working.
I like the first answer from quora, but with one exception.. That being an understanding of business and priorities. Great engineers understand that ultimately, they're responsible for shipping product in a business setting.
In your personal open source project or side projects you can afford to be experimental and push the box, but when you're in a business setting, you need to balance the need to ship with the desire and drive to be experimental and solid. Get from point A to point B balancing risk, reward, and speed.
Really? I think programmers who focus too much on the business side tend to not be the greatest. Or how I should say it? The vast majority of business programmers are in it for the "job", so that automatically makes them not great programmers.
Zynga continues to implement Lean with it's products. They don't develop any new feature in any product without concrete proof of user interest. Put up the "store" sign, make it clickable, if enough users click it, develop the feature.
The coin game introduced chaos into the event. If the desire was to maintain order, providing an open ended game play mechanism where players have to game one another doesn't promote a system of order.
This guy did a great job of gaming the actual game and did what players in real games do all the time. Find the easiest way to competitive advantage through the available mechanics, even if it is through a loophole in the rules.
Maybe they would have been happier if he had traded his credit card for the bag of coins instead.
Correct. Despite popular belief, most devs don't have an infinite number of well-formed ideas in their head. I'd say do your apps on iOS first. Then do the same apps on the other platforms. It's relatively easy, and gives you time as other ideas formulate.
Box2d is amazing, and powers about 90% of physics flash games and now a good portion of iPhone games as well.
It's also a great example of a creator having buyers remorse about the licence used. At somepoint the creator decided to be altruistic and release it in a way that it could be used far and wide in applications across hundreds of platforms. Now people are using it in fabulous projects and very rightly, getting famous and wealthy through those creations.
That said, Angry Birds isn't successfull because of it's physics engine. In fact, there isn't one single element of the game that makes it successful. The Rovio guys studied their audience, listened to feedback, and invested everything in creating a killer app.
Box2d was one bolt in the process, and if the licence had prevented the developers from utilizing it, they would have swapped it out for another model. It wasn't the lynch pin to Angry Birds' success.
Yeah, but how hard it is to give one guy credit for the free fish you got; and why did he had to ask for it?
That's why I've been saying it - a gift economy on the Internet does not work, except in very few instances / narrow niches. In the future, we'll get more DRM and more restrictive licenses, not less ; as most people are just leeches.
I actually just recieved my Sony LiveView in the mail today. Worn like a watch, it's more of a phone accessory than anything else. I can get updates as to phone calls, messages, and twitter, all without pulling out my phone which is usually buried in my pocket or in my jacket pocket.
The wrist is prime real estate for devices now. If apple didn't have a plan for this, I'd be shocked.
It's good to get your feet wet and get excited about the platform, regardless of it being Android or iOS, but at some point you need to just bite the bullet and pick up a good book and start working.