A comprehensive guide to web application development in 2021

• Introduction
• What is a Web Application?
• What is Web Application Development?
• Web Apps vs Mobile Apps
• Types of Web Applications
• Technology Stacks for Web Application Development
• Benefits of Web Application Development
• Web Application Development Process
• Web Application Development Validation & Deployment
• Web Application Development Trends
• The Cost of Developing a Web Application
• FAQs About Web Application Development
• Develop Your Web Application with Fingent

A comprehensive guide to developing mobile apps in 2021 and beyond!

• Introduction
• What is Mobile Application Development
• Types of Mobile Applications
• Mobile Application Development Platforms
• Mobile Application Development Process
• Mobile Application Front-end and Back-end
• End-to-end Mobile App Testing
• The Cost to Develop a Mobile App
• Five Reasons Why Mobile Apps Fail and How to Prevent The Let-down
• Tips for Building Successful Mobile Apps
• Develop Your Mobile Application with Fingent

Progressive Web Apps: New Cutting-Edge Trend in Web Development

Speed and convenience have become crucial in keeping online shoppers engaged. Progressive Web Apps development is a solution that allows the shopper to enjoy an app-like experience via a website (using web browsers). Users can install the PWA application from the browser window and access it just like a native app. In addition, progressive web apps improve the quality of your web applications, making them reliable, fast, and engaging.

Are you considering PWA for your business growth? Is it worth exploring this option? This blog will help you take a closer look at why Progressive Web Apps are turning to be the new cutting-edge trend in web development.

What is a Progressive Web App?

Frances Berriman and Alex Russel coined the buzzword “Progressive Web Apps” in 2015. To date, PWA has been a big player in this mobile-first world. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) have caused digital marketers to rethink how they design and deliver sites.

Progressive Web Apps can deliver a blazingly fast and slick app-like shopping experience to the end-user. It combines the best of two worlds: your website and the native application. It can be called a hybrid app as users can now browse your website on their mobile. Besides, PWA promises to solve two vital issues:

1. Performance and usability
2. Mobile-web conversion rates

Read more: Native Apps vs. Web Apps: Choosing the Best for Your Brand

Business Benefits of Progressive Web Apps

Several companies that focused their efforts on PWAs instead of having a separate native app have experienced increased conversions. A best case in point is the world’s largest online B2B trading platform, Alibaba.com. Alibaba.com increased its conversion rate by 76% across browsers after upgrading its website to PWA.

Here’s how your business can benefit from PWA:

1. High-performance rate

Response time is crucial for audience engagement and better conversion rates. PWA responds quickly as the browser uses caching to save the elements of the layout that are repeated in the template. This improves the speed of downloads and reduces page load time. Subsequently, better performance leads to a better user experience, which in turn increases customer retention rates.

2. Ease of use across multiple devices

Progressive Web Apps are built with a responsive layout in mind for an improved user experience. A responsive design will fit into any size of the screen with ease. In other words, PWA will adjust the experience as per the device screen size. You can further improve the user experience with a PWA manifest file that controls the full-screen view.

3. Seamless browsing experience

A traditional website is virtually useless without a stable internet connection, but not a Progressive Web App. PWA can be easily viewed offline as service workers automatically cache important application features and information from the user’s last online access. This way, the user can access it without any network. Plus, you can add a brand logo, product descriptions, and few advanced features to your offline page.

This is an additional incentive for shoppers to choose businesses with a Progressive Web App over those that use native apps. Such a seamless browsing experience rewards you with better engagement rates and customer retention.

4. Resembles native-built applications

PWAs can be designed to look and behave like native apps, or they can be designed to let users know they are browsing the Progressive Web App. Regardless of the developer’s choice, it can contain a complete set of traditional app functionalities with database access. The best part is that you can seamlessly integrate the application into an existing website or an app.

Watch Video: Fingent can help you choose the right mobile app development approach by evaluating your requirements.

5. No installation is needed

Shoppers can download your app directly onto their devices. Once downloaded, it gets its own icon on the screen, just like a traditional mobile application. This will avoid the slow and complex installation process, improve user experience, and reduce user abandonment.

Here is another way it can benefit you: users can easily access the PWA via a URL. In other words, a user can easily share this link with a friend contributing to increased leads.

6. No manual updates are required

Native apps must be updated periodically through mobile internet or a WIFI connection. Such updates can consume large amounts of data, which may be costly for some users. Fortunately, Progressive Web App updates are performed “on-use,” much like how a website is updated.

7. Low development cost

Developing a mobile app can be a costly process, especially for small businesses and startups. Thankfully, PWA development is much cheaper than traditional app development but provides a better option for companies to generate a positive ROI.

Read more: Mobile app development: 4 tips to consider 

8. Wide range of features

The most prominent feature of PWA is push notifications. Publishers and developers can use this feature to implement creative advertising solutions. As the push notifications appear on a shopper’s device screen, it is read more often than emails or updates on social media. This can lead to valuable brand awareness and promote products or services.

9. Improved app and data security

Security has been a concern for both users and developers. According to new standards of web design, all customer information must be moved to HTTPS. So it is highly convenient to launch Progressive Web App within a safe environment. Moreover, it builds customer confidence in the security of their personal information as they enter sensitive data into your PWA.

10. Low data and low storage

Data is costly in some developing nations. That is why it is a bonus that Progressive Web App consumes only a fraction of data usage compared to native apps. Moreover, it does not take up significant storage space on devices, so users are more inclined to use a lighter app on their smartphones. Also, it contributes to better performance.

Read more: Building a Business Mobile App in 2021? Here’s What You Need to Know 

Progress with Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps are the future of web-hosted apps as they can overcome the inherent limitations of web performance and insufficient or unavailable internet connections. Since PWAs can run on any modern platform, soon they will overtake truly native apps. Yes, PWAs have the potential to change the way the web works. However, Progressive Web Apps will not replace websites and mobile apps altogether. It is still in its infancy. To know which option is best for your business, have a chat with the technology experts at Fingent.

Which Is The Right Technology Choice While Developing A Client Mobile App?

In this digital era where mobile applications are omnipresent for every single requirement, and with the wide adoption of smartphones, more than 5.6 million mobile-specific software applications are available for download via the marketplaces, Google’s Play store, Apple’s App store and Microsoft’s store. Knowledge of niche technology is crucial for an enhanced mobile app development capability. Businesses require robust and efficient mobile applications. For this, they prefer cross-platform mobile app development to leverage all essential features.

Industry’s Perception Of Cross-Platform Development

In 2012, Facebook had an issue with their cross-platform mobile application due to its unique complexity, scalability constraints and also not being able to meet user expectations. This made Facebook abandon their Hybrid-based cross-platform mobile application and take up Native cross-platform mobile application development, making the reputation of Hybrid mobile app development a debatable topic altogether.

When it comes to mobile app development frameworks, React Native and Flutter are those that compete with each other at the technological forefront, to prove their worth. React Native was introduced by Facebook and Flutter is Google’s new fledgling.  

Now, to gauge the current pros and cons of both, it is essential to deeply know the important features of the host of cross-platform mobile application development today – Flutter for hybrid application development and React Native for native. To know more about features based on critical factors, adoption, the popularity of these platforms, and other critical aspects, let’s get started!

Related Reading: Read along our Whitepaper to know how to choose the right mobile app development approach for your business. 

1. Programming Language Used

Flutter is a cross-platform framework used for mobile application development. It uses Dart language and is reactive, that is, it solves the problem of responding to incoming asynchronous data. It supports the ‘Hot Reload’ feature where your mobile application can be rerun that accelerates development. Visual Studio Code, Android Studio and IntelliJ Idea are current official supporters of Flutter.

React Native is no newbie in mobile application development and is considered as the king of cross-platform mobile application development. It is built on the React library and uses Javascript data flow is unidirectional and makes the components stateless by managing all incoming data at one single place. This javascript framework works on a single code base for iOS and Android applications. Airbnb, Instagram, and Facebook are key users.

Key Point: React Native adopts Javascript, which is easy to learn and adapt. On the other hand, since Dart has lesser adoption among the developer community, React Native is definitely the winner here.

2. Architecture

Flutter being a newbie makes everyone confused about implementing it for their mobile application development. With more than 1450 packages available on Flutter, it seems to pick up more momentum. The main architecture of Flutter is the Business Logic Component or BLoC. The Dart framework that is adopted by Flutter makes use of Skia C++ engine that includes all protocols, and contents.

React Native is no beginner and the main architecture patterns being Flux, by Facebook and Redux, the option most preferred by the user community.  

Key Point: React Native relies on Javascript bridge to connect with the native modules, whereas on the other hand, Flutter that uses the Dart framework, has most of its components in-built and so does not always require a bridge for communication with its native modules.

3. Development

Flutter has widgets as building blocks which are ready-to-use widgets, but since these are not adaptive in nature, the difficulty lies in the need to make its adaptation manual. These widgets propose a material design, prompting you with the need to make changes manually.

React Native, on the other hand, provides a library of web components for development. Development with React Native is pretty simple as it the create-react-native-package that needs to be installed has a provision for Expo Integration. This means that the code can be run on your device as simple as just having to scan a QR code that appears on the screen.

Key Point: React Native allows you to write code once and components will have to be loaded depending on the OS. So first the decision to be made is whether your requirement is for an app that has to look the same on both operating systems or take the advantage of individual features of each OS.

Related Reading: Check out the top technologies used for mobile app development.

4. Performance

Flutter, being fully compiled by the arm C/C++ library, Flutter has got a good performance though there are many factors involved.

React Native, on the other hand, is not compiled by C/C++. React Native performs much faster and better than other hybrid applications such as Cordova.

Key Point: The major difference is in how Flutter and React Native compile their code. Flutter can be considered less complex as it compiles Dart to C/C++ library, which tends to communicate faster by native code rather than having to bridge with Javascript. However, React Native is a more mature app development framework as it uses Javascript to handle Android, iOS and also web applications, making it a better choice especially for smaller mobile application development.  Though in React Native, developers face problems with hybrid app development, in case of native apps, seamless and reliable performance is offered.

5. Level Of Ease To Start Learning

The documentation of Flutter is pretty good and helpful, but it is difficult to start learning, which is pretty obvious if you are a beginner into development and Google tells you so when you ask it how to Learn Flutter.  

React Native, on the other hand, is much easier to pick up and is a piece of cake for developers, especially for those who have their hands on React or Javascript beforehand.

6. Clientele Support

Flutter clientele support is not as much as that is available for React Native. The team for Flutter is present at the rate of over 30k stars on Github, over 740 users of a Google Group, 4.5k users on subreddit and of course on Stack Overflow.

React Native, on the other hand, is backed by the huge community support of over 9000 users, 68k stars on Github, 14.5k users on subreddit and even has more third-party plug-ins and libraries than Flutter.

Related Reading: Can adding speaking and listening abilities to your mobile app pull in more customers?

Summary – Is React Native Superior To Flutter?

In a nutshell, React Native is more stable for mobile app development than Flutter as it showcases its page of apps that enjoy the support of a very large clientele and Flutter is still new in the technological forefront. Also, considering the aspect of a mobile application that interfaces with banks or large enterprises as such, Native stands in the front row.

Also, Security poses a critical factor as hybrid applications can access all features from the device’s hardware layer such as camera, GPS, microphone, etc.

Native applications are up-to-date in terms of platform changes, whereas hybrid apps have a sense of uncertainty. Also business would consider the resale value as a key factor as it is important that a potential buyer gets the feeling that the platform adopted for his mobile app is future-proof and will not require frequent re-coding.

As for all these reasons, React Native is considered a more viable option and is highly recommended for cross-platform mobile application development than Flutter. To know which mobile app development approach suits your business, get in touch with our tech experts today!

This month we are covering how creating and fostering mobile-driven digital ecosystem help grow your customer base and provide services effectively. We will also be discussing how zero code platforms ease the pain of mobile app development. Lastly, we cover what happens when Machine Learning meets the business world.

Zero-Code Platforms Ease the Pain of Mobile App Development | Business.com

Enterprises find themselves plagued with issues like apps not performing as expected, apps scoring low on user experience and more. But with the benefits of zero-code being obvious to more and more businesses, more platforms are on its way to becoming mainstream.

Where Do You Fit in the Mobile-Core Digital Ecosystem?| Clutch

With the global proliferation of mobile users, enterprises must now focus on mobile-centric solutions. Such a rapid increase in global mobile usage points to a paradigm shift in the future of digital communications.

Mobile devices now act as the medium for facilitating all kinds of communications and services within an ecosystem. In addition, their improved connectivity options and versatility makes them ideal for all kinds of digital ecosystems.

When Machine Learning Meets the Business World| DZone

Let’s discover what happens when Machine Learning meets the business world. Take a look at how it will transform businesses as well as how it will minimize risks.

iOS App Development: Grow Your Business With An iOS App

With smartphones and tablets emerging as the device of choice for most people, apps are in a boom phase. Businesses are joining the bandwagon in a big way, rolling out apps that offer a world of convenience to their customers and employees alike. However, while doing so, they need to be wary of losing focus.

Apps are not just another channel to execute the entire gamut of organizational functions. The most effective apps serve specific purposes, and in the process empower the business.

Businesses also need to take a serious look at iOS application development, considering iOS apps have proven to be very engaging. An average iPhone user spends about 75% of her time on apps, probably owing to iOS applications being able to leverage the advanced features and functionality of Apple devices.

Here are some ways in which you can empower your business, using iOS application.

Roll Out Customer-Facing Apps

Customer facing iOS app is a good idea, considering Apple devices, such as the iPhone, has more than a 15% share of the total smartphone market. Such apps not only promote sales but help in engaging with customer better. Marketers may send out push notifications on key milestones, keep track of customer behavior, issue special offers when a customer is in the vicinity of a store, and do more. Customers may be given several self-service options, from keeping track of loyalty points to access of neutral product reviews, and more.

Empower Internal Teams

Imagine the world of convenience when the salesperson, on meeting with a potential or existing customer, pulls out the iPhone, opens an app that draws on data from the CRM, and gather all details about the customer, right from his purchase history to open inquiries, his preferred channels of communication, and so on. The salesperson also gets highly customized tools and relevant insights, such as market surveys, reports, and more. iOS apps facilitate similar empowerment across all functional area, be it accounts, HR, logistics, and other teams.

Forge Deep Relationship with the Ecosystem

More and more businesses seek to develop apps that help the company forge deeper relationships with their ecosystem partners, such as suppliers, contractors, and others. An app that makes explicit real-time stock levels and issue alerts would prompt suppliers to make timely deliveries, and improve the efficiency of their business as well. Contractors could log into another intuitive iOS application to get a list of open projects, deadlines, billing, and more. Channel partners could also gain from first-hand access to a ton of resources, and all the information they require, without having to make follow-ups, or spend time seeking information.

Facilitate the “Internal” Customer

An iOS app could likewise benefit the “internal customer” of the enterprise. Employees could, for instance, use an internal employee app to make leave requests, access their payroll details, stay updated on everything from upcoming team meetings to office parties, and more. Such apps eliminate complicated and time-consuming paperwork, be it filing trip sheets, expense reports, or appraisal forms. With the bulk of information readily available at their fingertips, employees can focus wholeheartedly on their core tasks, improving their productivity manifold.

Streamline Internal Processes

Many enterprise apps streamline internal workings and deliver big productivity gains. Employees starting a task could hook up to an iOS application that guides them through the specific process flow, helping them complete the task without being bogged down by doing things the wrong way, or seeking instructions. The app could also facilitate electronic submissions of documents and bills associated with the task, and make sure the next in line gets a notification to process the same. The benefits are multifold and include reduced paperwork, better productivity, faster turnaround time, and cost-cutting. Still better, employees are empowered to do the task from anywhere, at any time.

Promote “Smart” Work

Apps can help employees work smarter instead of harder. A case in point: the average employee attends 62 meetings a month, wasting a whopping 31 hours in the process. A collaborative app that enables managers to set targets, notify team members of their targets and deadlines, allow team members to submit their results, and do more can eliminate a good chunk of such meetings, and save considerable time. Such app based internal communications is also a good way to overcome silos, a big stumbling block for the free flow of information.

Transform Organizational Processes

Rolling out iOS applications could even eliminate certain traditional functions altogether. For instance, a training app that delivers instructional videos, handbooks, and other resources to the employee’s iPhone could completely eliminate the need for training sessions. The cost saved in terms of arranging training resources and the trainer’s time alone would repay the investment in the app many times over. Employees could also leverage such apps to unlock training and development opportunities not available before. The impact on employee performance and commitment are worth its weight in gold.

All the possibilities come to pass only when the app development is done right. iOS developers would do well to customize enterprise apps by giving it a distinct look and feel that resonate the brand image, offer appropriate options such as choice of languages, flexibility to enable or disable certain features, location mapping and more. The ability to customize the app and the presence of value-added features make the employee feel more connected and enhance the worth of the app.

Development of iOS apps is a far more straightforward process, compared to developing Android apps, as Apple provides standardized SDKs, APIs, and IDE needed for the application development. However, Apple’s app store discards apps that do not meet its guidelines, and as such iOS app development requires a much more concentrated and focused effort. A partnership with a reputable company to develop the iOS application helps pass the iTunes test and ensure the effort invested in the app development process does not go waste.

Write once, run anywhere – the alluring catchphrase of Java still seems relevant. Since Sun Microsystems unveiled Java, it has remained the most popular programming language in use. Object-oriented and class-based, Java stood its ground even when the development space became saturated with a plethora of new languages. However, with time, programming languages do get phased out once newer and better platforms take over.

And then came Kotlin. The search for a tenable Java alternative reached fruition with Kotlin, a statically-typed programming language running on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Essentially, Kotlin stripped Java of its complexities and came up with a refined alternative that is as versatile as its predecessor.

The Czech software company JetBrains unveiled Project Kotlin in 2011 with the objective of coming up with a better alternative to Java. They looked to Scala, another Java alternative with support for functional programming, but were taken aback by its slow compilation times.

Kotlin Goes Public

In 2016, JetBrains launched Kotlin v1.0, its official stable release to the public. Kotlin immediately gained traction among the Android development community. They lauded its refined framework and faster compilation times, complete with added tool support, as a significant advantage over Java. Things gained momentum when Google announced Kotlin as a first class language for developing Android apps at the I/O 2017.

What followed was an outburst of mainstream apps all written fully or partially with Kotlin. Kotlin had everything that developers couldn’t find in Java or any of its alternatives like, JRuby or Groovy. It is concise and 100 percent interoperable with Java. Added to that, Kotlin came with extensive compatibility with Android Studio in which IntelliJ IDEA, JetBrains’ own Java IDE serve as the backbone.

With interest in Kotlin skyrocketing, global adoption rates point to a widespread disruption.  From freelance developers to software development houses, the adoption of Kotlin has increased manyfold.  In the Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results of 2018, Kotlin is just behind Rust as the most loved programming languages. In the near future, Kotlin could become the de facto standard in Android development.

Kotlin’s Development Philosophy Strikes a Balance

Andrey Breslav, Kotlin’s lead language designer at JetBrains highlighted that the goal of Kotlin is to serve as a general-purpose language, which is concise, adaptable and fully interoperable with Java. By giving these extended set of functionalities, JetBrains intends to push the developer to migrate into Kotlin. Plain old Java has numerous flaws and the developers at JetBrains couldn’t conceive things as they wanted. For them, greater interoperability and productivity in the language is the need of the hour to quickly compile and execute code.

When working with Kotlin, we could easily pinpoint its structural similarities with its parent language, Java. The brains behind Kotlin did not just want to create a new language, but one which is in all ways a “better language” than Java. Platforms like Scala, although they offered extensive feature list and functionality, failed when it comes to build times and tool support. Kotlin managed to tick all the right boxes and struck a balance on how an ideal Java alternative should be.

Kotlin borrows some elements from Scala to bring out a more upgraded version. In fact, one could find that Kotlin does contain certain instances from other programming languages as well. Pascal, an early procedural and imperative programming language remained fairly influential in the development of Kotlin. Certain elements of it, like parameter lists and variable declarations with the data type following the name of the variable could be found in Kotlin too.

Bringing Full-Scale Interoperability with Java

What distinguishes Kotlin from other languages is its full interoperability with Java and the Android runtime. It is easier to call existing Java codes from Kotlin and Kotlin codes from Java. Developers could use all the Java frameworks to build highly responsive and feature-rich apps. Both the platforms, Kotlin and Java, identify each of their classes as their own, which enables seamless interchange and compatibility. This interoperability with Java could be demonstrated with a few lines of Java code as listed below:

MainActivity.kt

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {

    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

    // accessing "getSum"  method from a java class

    val result = SumHelper.getSum(1, 2)

}

}

SumHelper.java

public class SumHelper
{

public static int getSum(int val1, int val2){
       return val1+val2;
}
}

Fig 1. Kotlin – Java Interoperability

This extensive interoperability of Kotlin with Java owes it to the fact that JetBrains worked on all the limitations of Java and sought to bring out something more refined. Together, the team worked on a new version that is different but still has Java as its backbone. Besides, Kotlin fully supports Java 6 and 7, the current versions used by Android developers.

Java Lacks Key Elements that Current Developers Need

Java has been around for more than two decades. Developers still continue to build great apps using its highly versatile and robust framework. Like every language, Java too has its limitations chiefly because it is old. Even though numerous updates were released over the years, they failed to address some essential problems associated with coding using Java.

When it comes to Android development, Java lacks support for key elements like lambdas, streams, method references, etc. Null Pointer Exception continues to be a fundamental flaw of Java, particularly in the way it handles them. Null references in code often referred as the Billion Dollar Mistake is the key reason why several apps written in Java still undergo occasional crashes.

Moreover, Java is verbose and takes a lot of code to get even a simple program up and running. The APIs involved in Java get rather complicated as the developer is forced to go through multiple steps, which take more time. Kotlin, on the other hand, requires lesser coding than Java by reducing both redundant and boilerplate code, making development a whole lot faster.

A Class Declaration in Java

public final class PersonJava {

private final String name;

private final int age;

private final String email;

private final long phone;

public PersonJava(String name, int age, String email, long phone) {

this.name = name;

this.age = age;

this.email = email;

this.phone = phone;

}

public String getName() {
return name;

}

public int getAge() {
return age;

}

public String getEmail() {
return email;

}

public long getPhone() {
return phone;

}

}

In Kotlin

data class PersonJava(val name: String, val age: Int, val email: String, val phone: Long)

Fig 2. Side by Side Comparison of Kotlin and Java Code

Lesser code means developers can write a program in lesser time and the code has greater readability combined with fewer chances of bugs or manual coding errors. Memory leaks are also a frequent problem with Java due to the way it implements anonymous inner classes and nested classes.

Kotlin Edges out over Java in Conciseness

With Google’s official endorsement, Kotlin has become the most commonly used language for Android development. The simplicity and robustness of Kotlin means both proficient and novice developers can write and debug applications with ease. Generally, Kotlin requires fewer steps or ceremonies when writing code, which simplifies the process altogether. Compared to Java, Kotlin has:

• More concise class declarations because of primary constructors and properties
• Robust type interface eliminates the need for repeating the same types again
• Function parameters with default values mostly do away with delegating overloads
• Availability of top-level functions substitute static utility classes

Being more concise than Java, Kotlin edges it out when it comes to ease of coding. It takes a redefined approach to programming to untangle several complicated workflows that developers face when using Java.

Meanwhile, Kotlin’s less verbose coding decreases the time taken to code and enhances the readability while also reducing the chances for any errors or bugs. Writing lesser code means developers can reduce the number of boilerplate codes while improving their productivity and avoiding tediousness.

Kotlin is Nothing but an Improvised Version of Java

A notable benefit of Kotlin over Java is that it does not sway from being completely independent of the latter. In fact, Kotlin is an improvised form of Java, with all its limitations sorted out. Kotlin still relies on Java libraries but refines them all together to improve their functionality.

In the existing Java ecosystem, Kotlin manages to integrate each of its elements like the Java libraries, APIs and frameworks. In fact, Kotlin incorporates Java’s procedural and functional programming aspect at the right balance. Besides, its lightweight framework combined with modern features make it a refined version of Java that is in every way better than the original.

Android Development Gets Swift and Efficient with Kotlin

Kotlin aims at being pragmatic and productive at the same time all the while serving itself as a general purpose language fully compatible with Java. Owing to its compactness, Kotlin has proved itself a workhorse among the Android development community. It steers clear of all the limitations of Java with its full interoperability with the existing ecosystems of libraries and code. Here are a few reasons why Kotlin remains the ideal platform for Android development currently.

Developer Friendly:

Novice developers can easily learn and adapt Kotlin owing to its simplicity. It takes less time to learn to code with Kotlin due to its uncomplicated learning curve. Developers already proficient in Java would appreciate the familiarity of its coding process and streamlined approach to programming. Meanwhile, the availability of existing Java libraries, frameworks and lesser coding, amps up the speed of coding, allowing developers to conceive applications faster than before.

Excellent IDE Support:

IntelliJ IDEA, JetBrains’ own platform serves as the base for Android Studio and thus offers extensive IDE support to Kotlin allowing developers to seamlessly build apps. This ready integration with the IntelliJ IDEA framework enables access to its wide range of productivity tools. Configuring Kotlin plugin could be undertaken within minutes in Android Studio. Besides, every single process of coding in Kotlin from writing, navigation, debugging and unit testing happens effortlessly with the improved support offered through the IDE.

Enhanced Versatility:

Kotlin was designed to address some of the fundamental flaws in Java and it did well. Integrated into its framework is a built-in null checking feature that helps avoid frequent errors. Kotlin’s compiler also includes a feature that automatically corrects mistakes in the code simultaneously while it is being written in the console. These rich features negate several issues in Android development giving developers a clean and versatile platform to work with. Besides, it allows developers to streamline the production process through its features like search and auto-completion of code.

Open source:

JetBrains announced open source status under Apache 2 for Kotlin in 2012. The Java to Kotlin converter tool can seamlessly convert an existing Java project into Kotlin to save on time and work. Besides, it is completely free to use for any developer wishing to expand their skill set or get acquainted with its refined framework.

Summing Up

Every new language introduced into programming has the potential to disrupt it. Developers, when faced with limitations while working on their existing language readily adopt a new language that mitigates these issues. And Kotlin proved to be just that with Java. Its swiftness and concise nature proved instrumental in its widespread adoption among the Android development community.

For them, Kotlin seemed a better Java and its great interoperable support combined with expressive nature meant they could code just like they did with Java but in a fast and efficient manner. That does not mean that it will completely phase out the former. Java will still be around as a versatile language for years.

In times to come, newer versions of Kotlin gets released, which would be more developer friendly and complete with added features and support. More apps will utilize Kotlin to develop Android apps and there will come a point where it will ultimately substitute Java. Moreover, the steep adoption rates signal an increasing prominence of Kotlin for Android development in the near future.

DevOps is a markedly different way of doing things compared to traditional software development, with an overriding focus on high velocity. Enterprises adopting the DevOps approach use tools, techniques and practices in a way to deliver services and applications at a fast pace, without compromising quality.

While DevOps is the flavor of the season owing to its obvious advantages, very few enterprises are actually able to execute it right. For the majority of the enterprises, their efforts fall short of expectations. A recent Ponemon Institute survey reveals 74% of surveyed enterprises believing that Hybrid Cloud and DevOps enablement capabilities as essential, or important for their enterprises, but only one in every three enterprises believing they actually have the ability to execute it. Likewise, a whopping 80% of enterprises believe microservices and container enablement to be essential, very important, or important for their enterprise, but only one in four of them believing they have the capability for it.

Here are the key reasons why enterprises struggle with DevOps and hybrid cloud.

The Trappings of Culture

Legacy systems and entrenched work culture pose a big challenge to the successful implementation of DevOps.

Quali’s 2016 annual survey on DevOps and cloud computing ranks company culture as the biggest barrier to DevOps. For DevOps to succeed, enterprises need to inculcate a collaborative culture where stakeholders have shared goals, and are willing to take the initiative. This includes identifying employees ready to be DevOps champions in the organization and entrusting ownership of DevOps initiatives to them. There is a need to sell the initiative to the rank and file employees, convincing them of what is in it for them, and buying their support. The buy-in should be backed up by robust training programmes on the new methods and initiatives adopted.

The Menace of Shadow IT

Shadow IT is a major reason why cloud implementations, and by extension, DevOps end up more costly and less effective than expected.

Many employees, owing to practical exigencies, deploy ad-hoc tools and create silos, incompatible with the rest of the enterprise systems. Such end users bypass the enterprise level IT and cloud management technologies, and communicate directly AWS, Microsoft Azure or other clouds, using native APIs or their own public cloud accounts. The net result is a patchwork mess.

With shadow IT in vogue, the enterprise cloud becomes complex and opaque, and almost impossible to manage. Several CSOs find themselves unable to implement the required security protocols and watch helplessly as things go out of control. They are unable to identify the location of their machines or worse, even their data. They have little or no control over the network layer and even the application layer. Such lack of visibility and control expose the enterprise to cyber-attacks and other shocks.

In an ideal cyber-world, enterprises have a single integrated user interface through which they can view and control the entire environment. The Ponemon Institute survey reveals 68% of respondents lacking such capability.

The Problem of Legacy System

Quali’s survey on the major impediments to DevOps lists testing automation, legacy systems, complexity, and budget constraints in the pecking order of the major impediments to DevOps, after culture. For a majority of the enterprises, success depends not just on delivering on new innovations but also the extent to which they can modernize or upgrade their incumbent software and systems.

About 44% of enterprises find their traditional IT environments too complex for the cloud. Installing new hardware or software to coexist with older systems is always difficult.  However, the hybrid cloud model, where some applications reside within the traditional data center and other applications are hosted on public cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, offer a viable solution. Such a hybrid-cloud based model co-opts legacy infrastructure and applications in the DevOps plans. 

Hybrid IT usually develops organically, without the involvement of IT or security, as shadow IT sets in.  It requires management with an iron first to end turf wars and demolish silos.

Enterprises which succeed in DevOps display a high level of hybrid cloud maturity. They use an integrated cloud management platform (CMP) for provisioning, capacity rightsizing, automation, cloud governance, workflow orchestration, self-service, single-pane-of-glass visibility, and cost management. Newer CMP 2.0 platforms go a step ahead and reduce the friction and complexity associated with microservices, containers, cloud-native applications, and DevOps.

Challenges of Integration – Hybrid Cloud and DevOps

Developers deploy different tools for their DevOps efforts. The most popular tools in use include Jenkins, Docker, Puppet, and Chef. the favorite tool of the developer may however not be the best to integrate various systems and applications running within the enterprise. The net result is a fragmented toolset adoption, which leads to loss of control, and also adds to the costs.

Lack of central governance and automation are key stumbling blocks towards the smooth implementation of DevOps.

A sound DevOps plan requires:

• A clear and solid architecture based on on-premises, cloud, and containers, early on in the process.
• An action plan co-opting milestones and well-defined deliverables
• Standardized and automated cloud sandboxes and other tools.
• Due attention to test automation

Cost-Benefit Analysis

While DevOps and the cloud offer many benefits, implementation comes at a price. Many DevOps initiatives can be pricey, and failing to factor in the price upfront can lead to the project stalling midway, and a half-baked implementation, which may make things worse than before.

While many open source solutions abound, does not mean free. The enterprise still has to pay development and often support costs as well. Most enterprises also underestimate the cost to integrate the existing enterprise ecosystem and resolving the ensuring operational complexity.

The average DevOps and microservices enablement costs of an enterprise is $34 million per year, which works out to about 23% of the average per-capita annual enterprise cloud management budget.

Related to the budget is top management support. Getting top management buy-in upfront is an important prerequisite for DevOps success. Top management listens to numbers, and as such, the benefits need to be quantified, in terms of dollar spend. Done right, DevOps offer innumerable benefit to the enterprise, but done wrong, the investment and the effort go down the drain!

Experts from Fingent offer insights on various topics ranging from enterprise app development, the compatibility of Odoo for businesses and tips to scaling down enterprise app development cost. We also focus on the significance of the academic research in driving innovation. Let’s dig in!

Enterprise App Design: Does iOS Fare with Android in terms of Security? | ReadWrite

With Apple constituting a major share of the world smartphone market, iOS tend to be the most preferred platform in enterprise app development. But there are stronger competitors in the current market competing directly with iOS. Google-owned Android have fared remarkably well in the mobile market largely due to its swift integration with Google’s extensive services, flexibility, and support.
So, will iOS fare with android in terms of security?

How Academic Research is Driving Innovation and Growth | Emerald Insights

The acceptance of academic research among enterprises has been low, not because of its lack of value, but due to underutilization.  Propelling innovation within an enterprise rests chiefly on relying on information derived from external sources. In this case, academic research from universities seems a valuable cache of information that enterprises can depend on for using in all their crucial processes and operations.

How Compatible is Odoo for Your Business | This Host Rocking

Having an ERP system integrated into your workplace can guarantee efficiency and productivity. So, what can you gain from integrating one into your business? An ERP solution can lift the burden of operations by shifting to a software-based model. It allows you to streamline, organize and integrate your core business processes.

Tips to Scale down on Enterprise App Development Costs| DZone

Enterprise apps are extremely popular now. However, developing apps can turn out to be a costly endeavor. Here are some tips to keep costs in check, while still developing high-quality apps. Developing large scale enterprise apps can be incredibly expensive, so take a look at how you can cut costs with these tips.

What you didn’t know about creating iPhone apps | BEST IN AU

Developing apps for iOS is something you can learn from a certified developer training program or by using tutorials on the web. But mere technical knowledge is inadequate if you fail to comply with the regulations of the App Store. Knowing about these can ensure that your app never gets rejected from the App Store citing compliance issues. Besides, it can provide a certain amount of guarantee about your app’s success and popularity. Here are some crucial things they never say but you should understand when making apps for iPhones.