[RubberChicken76]

Here's a question for devs who have made apps on BlackBerry OS and are now doing BlackBerry 10/PlayBook apps:

Has developing on the platform improved for BlackBerry 10/PlayBook compared to what it was like on BlackBerry OS? How do the tools compare? How does the platform compare for developers? What's better? What's worse?

Just curious on your thoughts!

[Morten]

You cannot compare directly at all...

With BB10 there are so much more tools available - and cross-platform possibilities that was never to be found before, supporting Windows, OSX and Linux

With BB10 you can develop in WebWorks/HTML5/Javascript, Cascades/QML/Qt and C/C++

Most of the tools and APIs are now opensource, which again gives a great community assistance if needed.

Many existing frameworks has also been adapted, such as Enjo and jQuery and many many many more....
Tools such as Phonegap also supports BB10, making it a lot easier to reach a broad audience for your apps

So no longer will you be "stuck" in a BlackBerry-Only world, you can re-use your code and reach as many markets as you want - maximizing your earnings.

Even existing Android apps are supported to some extend, and will only require to be re-packed in order to run on BB10.
Of course your apps will benefit from being modified for BB10 device features, but not necessary ...

The differences in BBOS and BB10 cannot be directly compared either, so a list with things you could/could not do does not make to much sense at this time.


If you are a previous BBOS developer, you need to get on with your reading and adopt BB10 - you won't regret it...

http://developer.blackberry.com is a great start for BB10 programming, with links to all you need.
BlackBerry Developer Blog to keep updated with what's new ..
https://github.com/blackberry is the starting point for BlackBerry open source projects

[recompile]

Agreed, you can't compare the two directly. That said, it's about the best mobile platform for developers, bar-none. The tools are brilliant and there many options to choose from, making it easy to take advantage of existing skills and the ability to select the best tool for your apps specific needs. From the incredibly simple html5+js to full-native, no other platform directly offers developers as much choice or variety.

Even entry-level tools like WebWorks are a cut above the rest. RIM's excellent browser and clear commitment to HTML5 would put it ahead, but they take it a step further and have made HTML5 app development even simpler than tools like PhoneGap. (I've been playing quiet a bit with WebGL lately, which RIM happily supports and has continued to improve. It's absolutely astonishing what you can create; you don't feel limited at all.)

Going native, of course, isn't a problem. You'll find tons of your existing tools fit right in. For game developers, popular tools like Unity and ShiVa are available.

It's a developers paradise right now.

[KermEd]

Not to be a negative nelly, but its just another (different) platform. I find it much easier to work with and better document and easier to read the docs than many other platforms. But I would not say it is without its share of issues.

There is a reason we have about 40k apps that are almost identical in purpose to eachother. I have a presentation tomorrow where I compare all the major platforms available and one of the biggest selling points for RIM is that building for PB OS 1&2 and BB10 is a much faster turnaround time than other platforms. And the getting started fee is much smaller

But compared to where RIM was, it is much better. Id like to see them start putting their customers and customer support where their development efforts are though before they lose touch with their customers again. But from a development perspective its great. During my presentation I show people how to repack websites from scratch in about 4-5 minutes for both WebWorks and AS3 BARs complete with signed apps ready for appworld submission

Hard to argue with that from a speed perspective anyway.