As you probably know, Swift has been incredibly fun to work with and I am still using it for maintaining and writing some new apps that are for iOS/iPadOS (more info in the future).

However, I have been pushing myself to learn React Native now to enable myself for potential job prospects and also dive into cross-platform app development using modern web technologies. My workplace also uses it, which is why I want to work with React + React Native.

Coming from a low-level programmer background in university (e.g. C/C++, Assembler for Atmega and RISC-V microcontrollers) but also a period of learning Java for Android mobile development, these languages have been a breath of fresh air for me and seeing what is possible is very exciting!

Swift and SwiftUI have been simply joyful to use, I love it.

I have been diving into React Native in the past 1-2 weeks and it has been quite fun too! I never used JavaScript but it is all quick to pick up as most languages borrow a lot of similarities from each other.

Of course, I have started with the cliche to-do list app for testing and getting into grips with styling, CRUD operations in JS/RN and also handling data saved on the server.

I have also been using Expo Go to test-run my applications and I must say, it has been very convenient to debug without a cable! And furthermore, it has allowed me to create a remote code-server on my VPS which means I can work on my React Native projects from wherever!

If you have read my previous posts, you probably know that I love using the iPad as a “do it all” machine. And code-server running in the “cloud”, accessible anywhere, has been joyful for quick tinkering when moving about. Code-server also allows me to continue working on my project from wherever and also keep the Expo server alive to do any demos.

I hope to share more once I have a nice app ready in React Native that works on both Android and iOS — I hope that will happen very soon!