Cross-platform frameworks

Let's look at a few alternative frameworks. There are quite a few options, but many are based around three core approaches: React Native, Cordova, and Xamarin.

React Native

The most common cross-platform framework before Flutter was released was React Native. Like Flutter, React Native is open source, and like Flutter, it is backed by a big software development company in the form of Facebook:

Figure 3.2 – React Native logo

It is a popular framework mainly because it reuses the technologies and methodologies of the React web framework. There is a very healthy React Native community that takes the framework forward and produces plugins for the different platforms. Also, given the greater maturity of the framework, there is likely to be a greater wealth of plugin support and documentation available.

Technology wise, React Native uses JavaScript for the general app look and feel, and then Java or Swift to write native...