Mobile application development is the process by which software is created for handheld devices. This article focuses on tools which help developers create applications for mobile phones. The purpose of application frameworks and libraries is to enable developers to spend their time on the creative and interesting part of development, alleviating the repetitive overhead associated with common development patterns.
A multiple mobile application framework is software that helps developers to create phone applications that are written as embedded dynamic websites and also make use of native phone capabilities.
The leading mobile platforms are Android and iOS. The platforms support application binaries as found on personal computers with code which executes in the native machine format of the processor. With the diversity of mobile platforms, the mobile developer needs help in creating and managing versions for different platforms. Step forward a mobile application framework that supports multiple mobile platforms, allowing developers to apply their skills to create native applications for multiple platforms.
These platforms have an integrated development environment (IDE) which offers tools to help developers write, test and deploy applications. Build beautiful, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 8 high quality open source mobile application development frameworks that offer an excellent way to develop mobile apps.
Let’s explore the 8 development frameworks at hand. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with links to relevant resources.
| Mobile Application Development Frameworks | |
|---|---|
| Ionic Framework | SDK for hybrid mobile app development |
| Flutter | UI toolkit for building natively compiled applications |
| React Native | Mobile application framework |
| Apache Cordova | Mobile application development framework |
| NativeScript | Develop mobile apps on Apple iOS and Android |
| ZK | Ajax Web application framework |
| Appcelerator Titanium | Platform for developing mobile, tablet and desktop applications |
| Solar2D | Cross-platform software development kit |
 Read our complete collection of recommended free and open source software. Our curated compilation covers all categories of software. The software collection forms part of our series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. There are hundreds of in-depth reviews, open source alternatives to proprietary software from large corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. There are also fun things to try, hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. |