Writing the least amount of different source codes for a mobile app + web site

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Hi all,

I want to create an application which will need a website as well.
What I’m looking for is how to make as few different source codes as possible. My definition for a “source code” is a code for a single platform/service.
What needs to be done is as follows:

  1. Mobile app - there’s a need for: iOS version, Android version, Windows phone version, web service, database.
  2. Website - client and server side, database.

My priorities are from highest to lowest:

  1. As few source codes as possible.
  2. Fastest learning curve as possible for my knowledge (will be described next)
  3. Cheapest.

My knowledge: C#, Java, Native Android, a bit of Spring, a bit of PHP, a bit of MySQL.

If there’s a need to learn some technologies - for example ASP.NET, HTML, CSS, Javascript - I’ll do it. I heard you can somehow create a web site and then turn it into a cross platform mobile application like PhoneGap or Ionic, which means you might be able to get a single source code for everything - is it true?

What do you think is the best option in my case?

#2

Corona is based on Lua and is not a web-based technology. We started working on having Corona run in HTML5, but that project is on hold while we work on more pressing matters. Corona can do all you want except build the website. We won’t have a fully functional HTML5 version for some time.

Phonegap lets you build a mobile app using web technologies like HTML5, JavaScript and CSS and it makes that code into a native mobile app. I don’t know what all platforms it supports. I don’t know much more than that.

Cheap: Corona SDK is free. Can’t get much cheaper!

For me, when I’ve done this, I’ll build the website in PHP/HTML5/Javascript/CSS on a MySQL database. Then I will use PHP and MySQL to create API calls that my Corona built app can call to interact with the MySQL database.

I do have to have two code sets, but they are pretty diverse platforms. I think you would find that even with Phonegap you are likely going to have two code sets, just sharing one set of language tools. So it’s not really cutting down on the amount of code you need.

Rob

#3

I’ve decided to build the website first as for what I want to do, a website is better suited than an application which will come later. So what I’m searching for is a way to easily create a website which will later can be easily converted to an application. Since I don’t come from the web developing world, I want to first get recommendations of the best technologies for my purpose and just learn them alone.

Things I was already suggested and wanted to get your opinion:

  1. Using something called MobileUi

  2. Using wordpress for building the website and then convert it to an app using phonegap.

  3. Using BootStrap.

I was told that with either case, the server side language doesn’t really matter (I prefer Java Spring or ASP.NET) and that they could be used as a web service for the application later.

Got an opinion?

#4

Corona is based on Lua and is not a web-based technology. We started working on having Corona run in HTML5, but that project is on hold while we work on more pressing matters. Corona can do all you want except build the website. We won’t have a fully functional HTML5 version for some time.

Phonegap lets you build a mobile app using web technologies like HTML5, JavaScript and CSS and it makes that code into a native mobile app. I don’t know what all platforms it supports. I don’t know much more than that.

Cheap: Corona SDK is free. Can’t get much cheaper!

For me, when I’ve done this, I’ll build the website in PHP/HTML5/Javascript/CSS on a MySQL database. Then I will use PHP and MySQL to create API calls that my Corona built app can call to interact with the MySQL database.

I do have to have two code sets, but they are pretty diverse platforms. I think you would find that even with Phonegap you are likely going to have two code sets, just sharing one set of language tools. So it’s not really cutting down on the amount of code you need.

Rob

#5

I’ve decided to build the website first as for what I want to do, a website is better suited than an application which will come later. So what I’m searching for is a way to easily create a website which will later can be easily converted to an application. Since I don’t come from the web developing world, I want to first get recommendations of the best technologies for my purpose and just learn them alone.

Things I was already suggested and wanted to get your opinion:

  1. Using something called MobileUi

  2. Using wordpress for building the website and then convert it to an app using phonegap.

  3. Using BootStrap.

I was told that with either case, the server side language doesn’t really matter (I prefer Java Spring or ASP.NET) and that they could be used as a web service for the application later.

Got an opinion?