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Embarcadero Technologies, a maker of tools for application and database development, announced the release of C++Builder XE5, a C++ application development suite to target both desktop and mobile devices.
C++Builder XE5 enables the millions of C++ developers worldwide to now create natively compiled Windows, Mac and mobile apps in C++ from a single source project. Unlike other solutions, C++Builder XE5 enables developers to compile true native apps for multiple devices and form factors—code that runs directly on the CPU, taking advantage of the underlying operating systems, APIs and hardware.
Embarcadero officials said the new solution represents a major breakthrough for developers and enterprises targeting both desktop and mobile devices. Organizations can now leverage their C++ skills, code and libraries across all key devices—Windows, Mac and iOS, all with the same source-code base. This helps enterprises streamline their development efforts, as a single team of coders can now target these major platforms without requiring separate teams for each, delivering significant time and cost savings.
“C++ is one of the most popular languages in use due to its power, flexibility and promise of native portability,” Michael Swindell, senior vice president of products at Embarcadero Technologies, said in a statement. “By targeting Windows, Mac and iOS native app development from a single source, C++Builder XE5 is the first development solution to deliver the full potential of the powerful C++ language. With XE5’s multi-device capabilities, our customers are gaining up to 10X improvements in schedules and budgets.”
With both C++Builder XE5 and Embarcadero’s RAD Studio XE5, launched earlier this year, developers can produce true native applications for Windows, Mac and mobile, and get them to app stores and enterprises quickly. True native apps are compiled and run directly on the device hardware without scripting or interpretive layers, enabling developers to deliver the best user experience possible.
A recent survey, sponsored by Embarcadero and conducted by Dimensional Research, found that while 85 percent of Windows developers are tasked with developing mobile applications and 85 percent prefer native applications, only 17 percent believe they can reasonably deliver native mobile applications for two or more platforms.
Additional information on C++ Builder is available here.
Embarcadero honed its iOS support with RAD Studio XE5 and brought it to C++ developers with C++Builder XE5. At the launch of a key release of RAD Studio earlier this year, Gary Barnett, principal analyst at Ovum, said, “Embarcadero has drawn on a long and impressive history of delivering solid development tools. Developers can create multichannel apps that are truly native for each platform, and do it using one code base in a single development environment.”
Embarcadero developer evangelist David Intersimone spoke with eWEEK about the future of developing for devices and what Embarcadero is doing to enable developers in this video.
Embarcadero C++Builder XE5 Delivers New iOS Support
Meanwhile, as Embarcadero is enabling C++ developers to create native apps for multiple platforms, Xamarin has been doing the same for C# developers. Xamarin enables developers to build fully native apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac from a single shared code base. Moreover, it unifies native iOS, Android and Windows app development in Visual Studio—bridging one of the largest developer bases in the world to the most successful mobile device platforms.
At its launch of Visual Studio 2013 and Visual Studio Online last month in New York, Microsoft announced a partnership with Xamarin that covered three areas:
1. A technical collaboration to better integrate Xamarin technology with Microsoft developer tools and services. Aligned with this goal, Xamarin was a SimShip partner for Visual Studio 2013, releasing same-day support for Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2013 release. In addition, Xamarin released full integration for Microsoft’s Portable Library projects in iOS and Android apps, making it easier for developers to share code across devices.
2. Xamarin’s recently launched Xamarin University is now free to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers. The training course helps developers become successful with native iOS and Android development over the course of 30 days. Classes for the $1,995 program kick off in January 2014, with a limited number of seats available at no cost for MSDN subscribers.
3. MSDN subscribers have exclusive trial and pricing options to Xamarin subscriptions for individuals and teams.
“The broad collaboration between Microsoft and Xamarin which we announced is targeted at supporting developers interested in extending their applications across multiple devices,” said S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Developer Division. “With Xamarin, developers combine all of the productivity benefits of C#, Visual Studio 2013 and Windows Azure with the flexibility to quickly build for multiple device targets.”
By standardizing mobile app development with Xamarin and C#, developers are able to share, on average, 75 percent of their source code across device platforms, while still delivering fully native apps, Xamarin officials said. Xamarin supports 100 percent of both iOS and Android APIs, in that anything that can be done in Objective-C or Java can be done in C# with Xamarin, the company said.
“We live in a multi-platform world, and by embracing Xamarin, Microsoft is enabling its developer community to thrive as mobile developers,” said Nat Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Xamarin. Our collaboration with Microsoft will accelerate enterprise mobility for millions of developers.