JavaScript's Popularity in Mobile Development Continues to Rise
Continuing its growth in the mobile app development world, JavaScript can now be used to update native iOS and Android apps thanks to a new hybrid model on the market.
Salesforce, who claims on their website to be the world’s number one sales and CRM app, offers platform as a service for custom apps built in the cloud. Its Developer Mobile Pack now supports frameworks including JQuery Mobile, AngularJS, and Backbone.js, intended to attract JavaScript developers. The mobile SDK has new frameworks for HTML 5, iOS, and Android apps.
According to a TechCrunch story about the new hybrid model:
The bridge is in the database that pulls customer data from the JavaScript frameworks that sits on top of the application. It allows developers to then use the SDK to take advantage of the camera, swipe and the other features that come native to iOS and Android devices. Customer data gets integrated and made available immediately in the app as the updates happen in the JavaScript environment.
It’s no secret why Salesforce, which recently surpassed one million developers in its platform, is making this push. During the past year JavaScript has been increasing in popularity, for mobile apps especially, due to its easy manipulation in development. JavaScript is prized for its ability to integrate with customer data, for its real-time updates, as well as for cutting down the time and complexity in development due to all the code needed to create an app.
In fact, according to an analysis by Craig Butler on SitePoint, the demand for JavaScript increased more than for any other language in programmer jobs during 2012. Appropriately, iOS and Android have increased at an identical rate.
Analyst Stephen O’Grady, whose industry firm RedMonk posts quarterly data about programming language trends, agrees about the language's demand. JavaScript heads up the list of Top 20 Programming Languages for the first quarter of 2013. The rankings are derived from a correlation of programming traction from GitHub (analyzing language usage) and Stack Overflow (language discussion), and JavaScript has topped the list for the last several quarters.
Agile Institute founder Rob Myers recently said he thinks JavaScript is an ideal language for enterprise development.
