[moved] future of symbian developers vs andoid developers

[srinivas.symbian]

HI...frdz..
This question may be in mind for lot mobile apps of developers through out the world.As I am working on Symbian since last 2years I love symbian OS. But when I come to think of its future.. little bit worried As Iphone and Android are promissing great carreers.Could any body let me know about the future of these three legend (symbian , android, nd IOs) developers ..for better carreer developement.

[symbianyucca]

I would start learning Qt. Then you could still Do Symbian when also doing other paltforms same time. As well as you can mix Symbian with Qt. Anyway as it can be seen that symbian devices are moving to cheaper category, I would expect the volumes to grow, thus actually giving better possibilities for developers.

[danhicksbyron]

There's enough similarity between Qt and Java that Qt skills carry over to Java (and, in fact a little better than the other way, since Java folks haven't a clue about heap management).

Of the three platforms, Symbian/Qt is the least restrictive and the least inclined to behave oddly or impose arbitrary restrictions on your programming "style". Android, oddly, is probably the most restrictive platform -- your code has to strictly adhere to their conception of a "proper" application or it simply won't work. iPhone is somewhere in the middle -- not as free-ranging as Symbian/Qt, but still with a fair number of rules, written and unwritten. Plus of course, Objective-C is nearly as arcane as Symbian C++.

I suspect the future is more determined by the companies driving them than the architectures. Unfortunately, Symbian/Nokia comes up short here -- too many different phones, too many programming languages/paradigms, too many architectural variations, somewhat directionless overall. But the other architectures are bumping up against their limits, technically, probably more than Symbian/Qt.

[symbianyucca]

too many different phones, too many programming languages/paradigms, too many architectural variations, somewhat directionless overall. But the other architectures are bumping up against their limits, technically, probably more than Symbian/Qt.

Excellent reply indeed, though want to add to the last part that indeed, after the change on the main strategy, we now have focus on Qt & Web apps, thus the "too many programming languages/paradigms," is bit old dated. "too many different phones" I could almost agree, but only partially. For example it is great to have one device that has best camera, GPS, Wifi etc., and then make different versions that are no having GPS/Wifi and with not the best camera, but still having the device with good specs still, but half of the price of the best one..

[danhicksbyron]

Focus on Qt and web apps now, but even in Qt, before the base is done the focus shifts to Mobility, then to QML, then to ... And then there's the constant development system churn -- always break it before stability is achieved, so developers spend more time fighting the system than building code.

Still waiting for some decent data input capability on Qt -- no keyboard, no pickers, etc.

There was an article published about this a month or two back -- Nokia should have the upper hand but has been shooting themselves in the foot, right and left. It's easy to think that you now have "focus on Qt", eg, and miss the fact that the whole corporate culture is leading you in the wrong direction.

[lucarocchi]

Hi , as you are looking forward to your future as developer , i suppose in the next you are younger than me (well,almost sure)
here are my hints
First think about yourself as "developer", not Symbian/Android/Iphone , world change fast , and IT world faster so let see what it will be ...
Then keep in your mind that as developer,nothing better than C/C++ background (i will explain you "why?" soon...)
A programming language is just a tool that make it possible to implement your concept as a concrete software, at least a good piece of software ,what you really have to "keep on" is OOP thinking and coding , coding and thinking practice (ok , you can relax too some hours at a day) , never trust someone as software designer or architect if not an experienced programmer first..
Java inherits C++ syntax , Javascript too , PHP also , Objective C is someway different but the name itself tell you C/C++ is the common root... that is the answer to the above "why ?" C++ is "base class" in the languages hierarchy tree , so that you can easily improve your know-how about derived languages.

All that said, learning Qt is an opportunity that, as developer , you should not miss as it is the more well designed oop c++ library around , and it will enforce both your OOP way of thinking and code programming skill

[danhicksbyron]

I'll add: Never get enamored of the latest set of buzzwords. "Object-oriented" is just about the last true innovation to come about in programming, and many other supposed "advanced" concepts are really just ways to sell books and collect consulting fees.

A deep, broad understanding of the basics of programming (and the ability to "pick up" specific technologies quickly) is really all you need to work in any specific technology (though, alas, hiring managers look for the buzzwords in your resume).

[amit.mangal]

I dont see symbian future this is due to worst quality of Nokia products and bad customer relation it is better to move android for coming future cause Nokia wont be in competition in coming years.
I am very unhappy with Nokia and their products and like me all are unhappy.
So better move for android .

(EDIT by wizard_hu_: Amit has warranty problems with his Nokia E5, that is what he is referring to - sorry for the edit, by I saw no use to add this as a reply positioned 2 days and 8 posts later)

[danhicksbyron]

One more "final" word: There's a fair chance that someone will come along with a better paradigm than any the three sometime in the next couple of years. It'll be hard to do, since the technical field is so crowded, but the industry desperately needs a more extensible architecture than iPhone or Android, and Nokia simply isn't up to the task. RIM (Blackberry) would be a candidate to do this if they weren't hovering near death.

[divanov]

Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.

[srinivas.symbian]

Well guys,
First of all thanks for your discussion I reviewed lot of articals on mobile technologies in that 60 percent saying nokia still have lot of chances to get its bearth on the top.. And remaining is saying Android will get its chance.. Because of their new command over the mobile platform and They are going to invent new OS. After that they will merge these two OS(Mobile and Desktop) into single unit and holds its grip against all legend companies(Nokia, MicroSoft).Any way after working with Symbian almost 2years I just want to hold another technology in my hand(android) As a developer I think as many choices u have in your hand that much you will be best in your carreer..

[Sorcery-ltd]

The best career advice is probably to do whatever you're interested in. You'll enjoy it more and do it better. It's all just software and the languages aren't that different. You can learn a new platform in a matter of months and the rest of your general software skills transfer over. Experience of multiple platforms is generally a good thing.

Companies, products and strategies change all the time. I think we should all be ready for a very big shift from Nokia at the end of this week.

With Google's resources behind it, Android is bound to do well but the network operators that buy most of the phones are terrified of Google turning them into dumb pipes, so you can expect any alternatives that work with the operators rather than against them to get quite a bit of support. This is a giant market with multi-billion dollar companies competing in a complex mesh. To call anyone dead this early in the smartphone competition (even RIM) is exceptionally premature.

Technology-wise, the OS layer is basically a comodity, so it's all about the application framework you code for, at least for 99% of developers. If you're looking for a long term career bet, that's tricky. The world is certainly heading in a HTML5 and cross-platform web technology direction, so more and more apps, or just mobile websites, will be built that way but web developers are in plentiful supply, so that's not a route to a great salary.

Mark

[danhicksbyron]

Yeah, but when you look at HTML/CSS/JavaScript/whatever, it's a far bigger, more unmanageable kludge than any of the phone platforms.

[Sorcery-ltd]

Absolutely, but it's basically the same big, unmanageable kludge on all of the platforms.

I'm not a fan of the technology, particularly for mobile, but you can't argue with the ubiquity.

[danhicksbyron]

The point is that many functions are simply impossible (or at least wildly impractical) using HTML/et al. So "native" function will have to always be present.