Kent Nguyen has a great article about how building iOS apps takes a lot of work. And, here at Parse, we agree. Making a well-designed app is not a trivial task. Many non-developers hugely underestimate the amount of sweat and tears that goes into a single app.
The big component that is overlooked and that Kent stresses is the server component. An app is not an island. Users expect their apps to richly interact with the internet.
This means you need to worry about developing code on servers, communicating with servers, APIs, and a whole plethora of network issues.
And this is the exact reason why we built Parse. We have your back when it comes to server-side components.
But let's ask the question: why is building a mobile app with a server component so hard? To answer that, we need to take a step back.
Replatforming is Hard
We are currently going through a huge replatforming. It just so happens that the big endpoints for the internet aren't desktop computers, but rather, mobile devices. This has huge ramifications.
Let's go back to the 90s. Desktop software ruled the roost. Most apps didn't talk to the internet, and, even if they did, it would be a simple phone home operation. App developers could dutifully create an app, test it on their desktops, then deliver it as a download to end users.
As the 00s emerged, apps started shifting onto the web. Suddenly, developers were programming servers to render static content that would be served to browsers. Most of the heavy duty lifting was being done server-side.
Now, let's fast forward to the present. It's clear that mobile will be the dominant platform for the foreseeable future. But, building a mobile app comes with the challenges of both desktop software and web apps. You need complicated client-side logic to provide a great user experience, but, you also need servers to persist data and provide a connected experience for users.
We have entered an age of a hybrid architecture. We now have to deal with fat clients and fat servers.
All of this means that developers have to be client-side and back-end wizards in order to deliver a successful app. On top of all this, the mobile world is still relatively young, and a lot of the tools we've built for the web have not transitioned over to mobile.
Platforms Will Save the Day
We believe that the server component of apps isn't where mobile developers should be spending their time. They should focus on their app's user experience. Platforms will be instrumental for developers to build rich apps and reduce their time to market.
It's an exciting time for developers right now. We have the ability to reach more people on earth with our code than ever before. And, it's only just the beginning.
Source:http://blog.parse.com/2012/01/31/why-building-a-mobile-app-is-hard/
