cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/11357795
I’ve been thinking about writing my own workout logger that better fits my use and I’d like to hear some recommendations on what language or framework to use.
I don’t have any prior experience with mobile development nor with Java or Kotlin, and C++ I suspect would be needlessly low level for the features I’d like to include.
Features is like to include in the app is capability of recording video, playing video/audio, creating graphs and opening up in-app tabs. Fancy ui and animations is not of much importance.
Any recommendations on what languages to use and what libraries might be of interest to get going?
In general I’d recommend the modern standard android. So just go by the official docs and guides with Kotlin and Android Studio. Thats is not only the most straightforward option in my opinion, but it is easier to ask for help in a discord or search the web. (contrary to what @aluminium suggested by going with older UI and java)
But tbh. it depends what you’re prior dev exp is like. You said you have no mobile dev exp, but what about desktop or web? If you feel at home with web frameworks, react native might be way easier for you. Heck, if you have experience with c# and windows gui dev, then blazor or microsoft maui etc.
I agree with @aluminium on the point of multiplatform frameworks being way more complex than native android. Only chose those if you get an advantage out of it like if you are either already familiar with the base concepts/languages or if you want to target multiple platforms.
Kotlin certainly was the language I was mostly expecting to get recommended, but is there anything specific about it that makes it more suitable for simple mobile projects?
My web experience is limited to some basic javascript for a documentation tool I’ve made. Other than that my experience is mostly lower level C and python. No direct GUI work.
Multiplatform isn’t much of a concern as it will be a cold day in hell before I ever consider buying an apple product.
If you’re already really comfortable with C, you could consider Java instead of Kotlin. The syntax is more similar, but Java doesn’t have as many features built into the language (and I imagine it’ll eventually be phased out anyways). You could try a sample project in each and see which one you prefer.