1 min read

Cocoa, Cappuccino and the Palm Pre

Palm's Andrew Shebanow discusses the differences between developing for webOS and iPhone, emphasizing that many developers will engage with both platforms. The Cappuccino Web Framework offers a solution for easing transitions, allowing developers to leverage their HTML/CSS/JavaScript skills. Shebanow suggests integrating Palm Pre JavaScript extensions into Cappuccino to attract iPhone developers.

Cocoa, Cappuccino and the Palm Pre

Palm’s Andrew Shebanow (former Adobe) on Cocoa on iPhone versus JS on the Palm Pre and it’s effect on application quality and developer interest:

That’s a complex question to answer. But the thing to keep in mind is that is not a zero-sum game: I expect many developers will work with both webOS and iPhone, and that is perfectly fine. But I also believe that we will be able to attract additional developers who want to leverage their HTML/CSS/JavaScript knowledge but can’t or won’t deal with the strictures of iPhone development.
I do think he's right in that many developers will want to target both plattforms. In this case the Cappuccino Web Framework seems to be godsend. It doesn't feature everything that Objective-C 2.0 and Cocoa on the iPhone offer, but it should seriously ease transitions. Actually, if I was 280 North, I'd try to add the Palm Pre Javascript extensions to Cappuccino as quickly as possible in order to attract that horde of iPhone developers on their gold rush.

I for one am happy that I can target Mac OS X, the iPhone and Web Applications with one framework (more or less) and one language (more or less). Sometimes it drives me crazy to jump between PHP/Symfony, Python/Django, JS/Prototype/Ext and Objective-C/Cocoa.