Microsoft creates iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool
The increasing number of viable mobile platforms is a good scenario for end users but developers seem to be finding it difficult to target all platforms at once. Each platform bring with its own semantics and paradigms for performing the same tasks, leading to much confusion.
Android for example, supports development in Java, C and C (mostly Java), while iPhone development can be done in C / C / Objective-C (mostly Objective-C). Windows Phone 7 on the other hand only support development using a form of Silverlight, using C#. No C / C code allowed. This immediately creates a barrier for those with existing code in C / C which is entirely disallowed making it difficult to share any code at all.
Microsoft’s new online tool helps those who have written iOS applications, it essentially translates their iOS API calls to the equivalent Windows Phone 7 API calls. It acts like a thesaurus of sorts by asking developers for the iOS API and offers them and API with a similar “meaning” on the Windows Phone 7 platform.
This is not a means to automatically enter code for iOS and get WP7 code in return, it is more of an exploratory aid, that can help developers understand more of Windows Phone 7 development by using their own code as a base. Like going to a foreign land with a dictionary in hand, not a hired translator.
Microsoft offers quite a few incentives to lure developers to its platform, including free versions of its developer tools for mobile. With Nokia embracing Windows Phone 7 as its platform of choice, it is likely that this platform will see more development. Only time will tell if such initiatives will be enough to lure developers from the more established iOS and Android ecosystems.
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