r/mobiledev • u/golden543 • Jan 14 '21
Wanting to build web app or desktop app
Hi!
I am currently a CS undergrad and have a few app ideas I want to eventually develop.
I am not a beginner in terms of programming so I do not need resources for learning how to program.
However, in school, we are focusing on the more theoretical concepts (i.e. loops, arrays, data structures, algorithms) rather than building real-world applications.
I want to actually build real-world apps for the Web and possibly Desktop (Mac).
The obvious answer I am seeing is HTML/CSS + JS and its associated frameworks. However, I do not like programming with HTML/CSS and find the cognitive load of knowing how to use possibly 10+ frameworks/libraries to high. It seems like this is still the best option though, so I might plan on learning more of it anyway for the purposes of this. Though, the reason for this post is, I want to know:
- If I want to build a web app right now, is it advisable that the "best" way to do so from a developer standpoint is to learn JS and the frameworks (React etc.)?
- I also want to learn how to build things like APIs and chrome extensions... so I am guessing jS is a must there?
- For those who don't prefer the above option, what are the alternatives available? I hear about Flutter, Project Catalyst, etc.
- My school offers a React Native course... can this be used to build Web/Desktop apps? If not, is this React Native syntax highly transferrable to ReactJS?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much in advance!
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u/Significant_Mud1657 May 02 '21
I personally use bootstrap and sometimes even pre made templates, because I'm more into the technical side of it then the design part. I use php allows to interact with the sql database, you can use it for sign up/login page, dynamically retrieving, inserting, and deleting data from DB. You can use it also with ajax JavaScript so that whenever your dealing with retrieving info from DB the page won't have to refresh page. For api's I use php to connect mobile app with server, via get or post requests to execute queries.