Corona SDK or Java

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hi All,

Hey any suggestions would be appreciated here. I am a very newbee and any suggestions/guidance is a help.

I had just purchased a Corona SDK license ($199) for Android. Thinking that I could learn how to create simple business apps for Android (not too concern about iPhones for now).

What I found with Corona SDK (bear with me I am new to LUA and Java for that matter) is that Corona SDK is oriented to gaming. It does not even have simple UI for Android like a date picker (the CoronaUI look more for iPhone). It appears simple date validation, I would need to program myself.

The SDK itself don’t seem like an SDK. I am used to the more user interfaced SDK where you could drop properties like buttons onto a screen and the simulator/debugger works pretty much seamless from the screen you created. On Corona SDK, the the simulator don’t support text input field, so it cannot simulate basic items. The debugger is line command.

My questions are:
(1) Am I on the right track here? I am not putting Corona SDK down as I know many folks out there had created great gaming apps. But have I missed something in terms of building simple business apps?
(2) Should I better off learn Java and forget about Corona SDK?
(3) Which is simpler Java or Corona SDK? The way I see it, if I need to program basic functions like date validations, I may as well learn to us Java.
(4) Can I program in java and have those code inbuild into Corona? Not sure why I would want to do that, but I don’t want to waste my $199.
(5) Lastly, can I get my $199 back if I am not happy from Corona? Probably a question for Corona Staff.

Kind Regards. [import]uid: 93204 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 318945[/import]

#2

question is: why you purchased corona if you not sure you need it? why not just use trial free version? [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 72968[/import]

#3

It was the split moment decision. It was a gift for our anniversary. My wife said getting something I like for myself and I was starting to look at Corona SDK.

The Android UI seems to be in the roadmap as was the calendar app integration. But as I got deeper and learn to program a date converter app, it became apparent that I had to code most of my date validation myself.

Hey, how about my questions on Corona vs Java. I think this is more important.

Regards. [import]uid: 93204 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 72972[/import]

#4

I can’t answer the list of questions, but for #2 and #3 I’d say Corona wins over Java. Not only for ease-of-use (shorter learning curve), but if you ever decide to create iOS as well as Android apps you’re already good to go if you’re a Corona developer.

The strengths of Corona SDK are in creating games, but there are folks here who use it for business apps. Go to the Showcase (link at the top of the page) and choose one of the non-game categories. Then scroll down the list that comes up and look for the Android logo to the right. For example, here’s one:

http://developer.anscamobile.com/showcase/collegetracker

That might give you an idea of what kind of biz apps people are doing with Corona on Android. It also might give you a list of people to email and ask questions of. :slight_smile:

Jay [import]uid: 9440 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 72980[/import]

#5

(1) Am I on the right track here? I am not putting Corona SDK down as I know many folks out there had created great gaming apps. But have I missed something in terms of building simple business apps?

Answer: Corona SDK is not for building business apps, it was made for games. And it will never be able to compete with a system geared towards making business apps. You would have to recode/redesign ALL of the Apple and Android UI functionality from get go. As there is currently very little if any iOS/Android UI components integrated with the current Corona SDK

(2) Should I better off learn Java and forget about Corona SDK?

Answer: That’s up to you… learning Java is not a I want to learn Java, 2 days later you know Java kind of thing. Learning Java is very very time consuming and hard to grasp. But there is a very large group of people to help you.
Learning Lua is a lot easier, but there is a much smaller group of people to help you.

(3) Which is simpler Java or Corona SDK? The way I see it, if I need to program basic functions like date validations, I may as well learn to us Java.

Answer: If you already know Java then Java is, if you don’t Lua is the easiest for sure.

(4) Can I program in java and have those code inbuild into Corona? Not sure why I would want to do that, but I don’t want to waste my $199.

Answer: Nope

(5) Lastly, can I get my $199 back if I am not happy from Corona? Probably a question for Corona Staff.

Answer: No they have a no refund policy [import]uid: 46343 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 72987[/import]

#6

(1) Am I on the right track here? I am not putting Corona SDK down as I know many folks out there had created great gaming apps. But have I missed something in terms of building simple business apps?

Corona’s history is with making games. It excels at putting images on the screen and moving them around. UI based things even for the iOS world is beta code at best. I built an RSS reader using Corona SDK to see if I could, but being a basic tableView app, I probably could have done it in Objective C (I’m an iOS developer). For business apps, I would say Java is the better (not easier) choice.

(2) Should I better off learn Java and forget about Corona SDK?
One of Corona’s other great benefits is to be able to develop for both Android and iOS at the same time. So if you’re only going to focus on Android and games are not in your future, then consider Java. It will also be more of a marketable skill if you want to get development jobs in the future.

(3) Which is simpler Java or Corona SDK? The way I see it, if I need to program basic functions like date validations, I may as well learn to us Java.
Lua is by far the simpler language to learn if you’re not coming from a programmer background. Java is based on the language “C” and C isn’t for non-programmer types. Java is more powerful and able to do more low level actions. Lua and Corona SDK have plenty of power, but Java is more powerful but way more cryptic.
(4) Can I program in java and have those code inbuild into Corona? Not sure why I would want to do that, but I don’t want to waste my $199.

No, currently Corona based programs cannot include external libraries of code developed in other languages. Its Corona or not at all.

(5) Lastly, can I get my $199 back if I am not happy from Corona? Probably a question for Corona Staff.

Corona Sales will have to answer that one.
[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 72996[/import]

#7

You all are fantastic. Great suggestions and tips. Thank you!

I am an ‘old’ programmer so to speak in that I programmed in Pascal in Uni (25 years ago) and in PL1/Cobol on the mainframe at work (20 years ago). So, I am an old hand. A few years back (OK 10 years ago) I programmed in VB6. In summary… I am sure with a bit of hard work, I can learn Java.

But I must admit, I like the porting capability of Corona SDK to iOS and Android and as such I will stick with it and at free times play around with Java.

I may end up writing games for old hand like myself… so Corona SDK will come in handy.

Thanks folks!

Regards. [import]uid: 93204 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 73017[/import]

#8

Well you are lucky Lua is from about 20 years ago :wink: it was before Python was really popular and around the same area as LISP, Tcl, Scheme. So you most likely will be able to start coding without any research on it as it is pretty similar to what you are used to

But if you know VB6, Java should be a snap to pick up. [import]uid: 46343 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 73023[/import]

#9

Hey dhw,

It seems as though most of your questions have been answered.

I’d like to stress what others have said regarding Corona NOT being just for games. We’re working at making it better and better for other kinds of applications as well. (There have been quite a few high ranking Corona apps in the store that are not games.)

For your last question, you’d want to contact support about that which you can do via this form; http://developer.anscamobile.com/forms/support

Peach :slight_smile: [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 18945 reply_id: 73026[/import]