*Post by Fredrick Odhiambo, Intel East Africa
Over the last couple of months, Intel has been improving the various aspects of the Intel XDK. Intel XDK uses HTML5 to enable the development of cross-platform applications for both Desktop and Mobile.
Intel promotes HTML5 because of the many advantages that HTML5 offers developers globally. Intel believes in the importance of helping experienced developers transition to this Intel XDK cross-platform approach aids new developers to quickly deploy their apps & games on virtually all modern computing platforms.
Intel XDK allows developers to code once with HTML5 and produce applications to many platforms without having to know the various languages that correspond to the specific target platforms. In other words, developers do need not know Java to make Android Apps. Intel XDK gives developers permission to build applications as:
- A mobile application: For iOS Ad Hoc, iOS Production, Android, Crosswalk for Android (new in v0505), Windows 8 Store, Windows Phone 8, Tizen, Nook and Cordova for Android(*new in v0505).
- A web application: A Web app, Chrome App and a Facebook App.
From what was initially a web browser service, the XDK has evolved and become a full software development kit with the following features:
The XDK has a built in environment that enables developers emulate their apps on several virtual devices and get to know how their app will look like on each device (IPhone, Microsoft Surface Pro, and Motorola Droid 2 among others) as they develop their apps
Users can get to test their app on their phones (iOS, Android, Windows and Tizen devices). In addition, the same app can also be run as a desktop application (for users of Windows 8 & 8.1). This feature, which enables developers to deploy their apps on their devices as they are developing, helps in producing quick prototypes. This is achievable from the “Test”, “Debug” and “Profile” tabs on the Intel XDK.
Developers also have the ability to store code in the cloud for free, and are able to retrieve it on any device at any location in the world once they log in to their accounts. Thanks to Intel’s XDK’s cloud storage system, a developer can retrieve their build codes and proceed to work on their projects. This cloud service is free and developers do not have pay for it.
Improved documentation, tutorials and a growing user base has made it easy for XDK users to get quick help to their development problems.
FEATURED ANDROID APP MADE WITH THE XDK DEVELOPED BY A KENYAN DEVELOPER
FoodBei is a mobile app that was made using the Intel XDK. It is intended to assist in getting an easy access to food items from major Kenyan towns, as well as getting to know the prices of the various basic food items - cereals, vegetables, meat, eggs and fruits.
The developer, Juma Owori, took 2 weeks to develop his app, which is a client server mobile application using the Intel XDK.
For making apps using the XDK, developers require:
1. App Idea
2. Intel XDK
3. Intel Developer Zone Account (For access to a wide range of free tools and resources to enable them to optimise their applications)
4. HTML5 & CSS3 skills
Start using Intel’s XDK today. Grab your latest copy for Windows, Linux or Mac from: http://xdk-software.intel.com/