Hello everyone,
I recently installed the Ubuntu Touch OS on my nexus 5 and actually I like it a lot.
Its a nice toy for someone with an IT background. It opens up many possibilities. I do not have with android or IOS.
However the app support is lacking so far. There are not many quality apps in the store. And some essential stuff which everyone is using these days is missing.
I wondered what it would take me to get into app developoment for ubuntu touch.
I didn't dive to much in the documentation for app development with ubuntu touch, only so far that I know that
development has to be done with QT, QTQuick and some bindings wich work with QT (and probably runs on Ubuntu Touch out of box).
My Background:
I'm a professional software developer and have worked over the years mostly with C# and java. With these two languages and there respective environments I feel very confident.
At times I had to use other languages but never seriously for long, only for minor tasks. So I'm not really familliar with them anymore. Among them I learned some C/C++ during my academic studies years ago, but never really used it beyond that. Occassional I had to use some Java-Script, I'm not a big JS geek but I supose I could work with that.
I just learned kotlin on my own and so I do like to dive deeper with custom projects by using that language. I also had a small peek into android development, but so far did not do any real projects.
I don't really want to learn new languages now, as that takes a toll on the time I have available.
However If I opted into learning new languages I would probably be interested in python or rust (as it seems they can be used for programming apps on ubuntu touch as well)
I like the approach of QML. Writing UI with a simple special purpose language and writing actual logic with a more general purpose language makes sense to me. Just I don't like to work with C++ (but it seems usefull since most apps so far have been written in c++).
Refreshing my C++ knowledge would count as learning a new language. I'm not so keen on learning C++ now.
So the following questions came to my mind:
- Considering my current skill set, whats the fastest way to get me started with App-Development for Ubuntu Touch?
- Is there a way where I could just start immediately programming (head jump) , that means writing real apps?
- Has anyone written apps with mono and QT for ubuntu touch? Does this make any sense at all? Would it run out of box and could I deploy it to the app store or would it require more work for other users to set it up so that they could then run the app as well?
- With which choice in technology could I write the most reliable, most performant software which runs on Ubuntu Touch out of the box (without concern to my current skillset)?
Update: As a suplement I want to add, that I like to develop the same applications on windows and linux at the same time, since I have different systems with different OS running. I hope (and assume) thats possible with QT, QML and ubuntu touch (emulator for mobilephone?). My Windows machine is pretty strong, so I could also setup an emulator and run Ubuntu inside, if that makes more sense regarding the work with the Ubuntu SDK.