Are you familiar with Xamarin.iOS? Then I don’t need to tell you that it is a Microsoft propagated tool that allows users to develop iOS applications via C#. The Redmond giant has a slew of similar tools to allow iOS development and testing. However, there were still issues and Microsoft is now addressing one of the most important ones at the Build 2017 event.
Until now, iOS development still required you to use a Mac for building and testing purposes. So, you could use C# to develop your iOS applications but, you needed to use a tool like Xamarin.iOS for Visual Studio on a Mac system. This posed a serious issues to coders who had a Windows system and wanted to code in C, as they did not have any option but to lay hands on a Macbook.
The company has today announced the launch of a new Xamarin Live Player that will allow developers to deploy, run and test their iOS applications straight from a Windows 10 PC. All that is needed is the ability to run Visual Basic, which is pretty basic and is readily available on most laptops. You can also debug your iOS applications from the same place.
Why is Microsoft doing this? Well, as a developer for whom the world is just one big place of opportunities across different ecosystems, would you like to have to carry 3 different laptops all loaded with different operating systems for developing applications for different operating systems? Microsoft is trying to project its OS as the best one for cross platform app and software development.
Meanwhile, using this new service is pretty simple. Simply install the Xamarin Live Player app on your iOS device and then pair it to your PC by scanning a QR code on the screen. You also receive all of the functionality available within an IDE and can do stuff like making live edits to code and seeing how the app on your iPhone responds to the changes. These changes have been made with Apple’s acknowledgement.
Well, Apple and Microsoft have sure been cozying up to each other. Microsoft earlier announced that iTunes was coming to Windows Store as well.
