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Progress Software today announced the latest release of the NativeScript open-source mobile development framework.
Telerik, a Progress company, launched NativeScript 2.0 at the ng-conf in Salt Lake City, Utah. Telerik’s NativeScript enables developers to use JavaScript to build native apps for all major mobile platforms.
Todd Anglin, chief evangelist and vice president of technology at Telerik, said with the release of NativeScript 2.0, Angular developers can now write native mobile applications for iOS and Android using Google’s Angular 2 JavaScript framework.
Telerik has been working on NativeScript for the last three years to help Web developers with Web skills, primarily JavaScript and CSS, to build native apps for iOS and Android.
“People want native quality, they want native, high-performing apps, but there are a lot of Web developers out there that have Web skills and want to use those skills and reuse as much of their code as they can to build these native mobile apps faster,” Anglin said. “That’s what’s been driving NativeScript.”
Meanwhile, Google’s AngularJS is one of the most popular open source JavaScript frameworks for application development, and its latest version, Angular 2 RC, makes it possible to use Angular outside of a Web browser.
Anglin said the new NativeScript integrations with Angular 2 reduce the cost of building mobile applications by enabling developers to reuse existing skills and code from the Web to build their mobile applications.
“Seeing skill reuse and code reuse between the web and building native mobile apps is really a big step forward for the massive Angular community and it helps validate Google’s message around Angular 2 that you can actually use this framework to do more than just browser based web apps,” Anglin told eWEEK.
Telerik first shipped Angular integration with its Kendo UI library nearly two years ago.
NativeScript produces native apps, using platform-native user interface technology to simplify the sharing of code between the Web and other platforms. Thus, it enables the sharing of code between Web and native apps.
“The NativeScript framework is paving the way for mobile application development.” said Brad Green, engineering director for Angular at Google, in a statement. “For several months, our developers have been working closely with the NativeScript engineering team to make Angular 2 in NativeScript a reality.”
Green said Angular 2 RC and NativeScript make a powerful combination that enables developers to use the same framework and code to build modern apps for the Web and, now, native mobile apps.
Meanwhile, also at the ng-conf, Telerik announced that is working with Rangle.io, a full-stack JavaScript development firm in Toronto, and Google to help Kiva develop better mobile applications for connecting lenders and borrowers around the world.
Founded in 2005, Kiva is a non-profit organization focused on microlending that helped to pioneer the crowdfunding space. Kiva’s community of 1.4 million lenders crowdfund more than $2.5 million in loans per week to borrowers in 80 countries, including the U.S., Anglin said.
“Kiva was born from a simple idea—to connect people through lending–but the technology behind that promise gets complicated quickly,” said Kevin O’Brien, CTO of Kiva, in a statement. “That’s where Telerik and Rangle come in, building mobile apps to spark connections that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. The simpler we make it to connect a lender to a borrower, the more impact we can achieve together.”
Working with Google and Rangle.io, Telerik is helping to build a concept app that enables people in the U.S. to find small businesses in their local area fundraising on Kiva.
The idea is to strengthen the connections created through lending by making it easier for potential funders to visit those businesses, become customers, and ultimately lend to them, Anglin said.
The goal is to use this technology to connect lenders and borrowers around the world. Anglin said the NativeScript framework enables developers to make the choice of what is optimal in the browser and what is optimal on mobile devices. This helps Kiva to make the best use of its limited engineering budget.
The first app that Kiva will publish to the Google Playstore and Apple App store will be based on Telerik’s NativeScript and Google’s Angular 2.
“What we love about the NativeScript solution is native components, the ability to use web development tools and workflows, the native app-like-performance, and the ability to develop simultaneously for both iOS and Android,” said Nick Van Weerdenburg, CEO of Rangle.io, in a statement.
Google’s Green said his team specifically designed Angular 2 to help developers deliver to more platforms than just the desktop Web.
“In this vein, we created its architecture with pluggable template engines and renderers,” he said in a statement. “We worked closely with Telerik’s NativeScript team in building their native iOS and Android support to work with Angular’s core. This opens up whole new classes of applications for developers who already know Angular.”