Difference Between Gideros and C*SDK?

ljp1203

Hi all!

I am new to GiderosMobile. I am coming from CoronaSDK, which is another LUA engine to develop apps. I've heard a lot about Gideros and I wanted to get in on it!

I need to know if I could transition all my code from CoronaSDK, to Gideros with ease.

I wanted to know if I could develop a somewhat Travel/Social app with this SDK because CoronaSDK is way to difficult to do a simple thing such as getting a date from a Picker Wheel.

Also, I wanted to know if Gideros had native Picker Wheels for iOS because that is what I need.

Thanks in Advance!
-Landon

paul_k_clark

@ljp1203 As far as I know the only way to get a date picker wheel in Gideros is by writing a custom plugin. Gideros is a games/EBook development tool which relies on graphics for most things rather than the standard out of the box widgets.

OZApps

@landon (ljp1203) did you see the posts
http://howto.oz-apps.com/2012/09/get-developing-for-free-enterprise.html
http://howto.oz-apps.com/2012/09/creating-picker-views-gideros-ios-only.html
http://howto.oz-apps.com/2012/09/tweet-tweet-right-from-your-lua-app.html
These take care of your native components requirements while still using Lua but is using a Plug-In that is OpenSource and FREE.

and if you look at
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/36546832/shandy.htm
this is a compatibility layer that wraps Gideros functions in a similar manner as C*SDK, which makes it easy to bring most of your display and groups related code from C*SDK to Gideros.

gorkem

Landon - will you be working on iOS platform only, or go with both iOS & Android?

bowerandy

Landon,

Gideros provides a number of advantages over C*SDK. The things that brought me here were:

1) Corona needs a server connection to build for a device. This is slow and means you end up using a simulator which isn't exactly the same. In Gideros you can compile and test on a real device in 1 second. This has sped up my own work no end.

2) Classes are built-in to the Gideros SDK. You can do classes in Corona using a third party library but, because it is optional, a lot of the code you find scattered around in blogs will not be compatible.

3) Gideros has a plugin system included. I believe in Corona you can get a plugin extension capability but only with an expensive licence. Plugins generally reduce your exposure to risk. Regardless of whether you are programming for iOS or Android, the ability to write a plugin to get yourself out of a hole is very compelling. I believe Android plugins are somewhat trickier to set up but they are still possible (see this tutorial)

4) If you are using iOS only there is a generic plugin that I have been working on based on the Wax library by Corey Johnson. This gives you access to Objective C from Lua and so opens up the ability to get access to most of the Cocoa library with little effort. For example, here is a tutorial I wrote on bringing up a native activity spinner.

5) Gideros has a less expensive license than C*SDK.

I hope this helps you make the right choice.

best regards

ljp1203

Hi all,

Thanks so much for responding. You guys seem like a lot better community and more active then C*SDK. I wouldve probably waited like 3 days before I got any answer, and it wouldn't answer the question properly.

@OZApps I've read your blog post and it's awesome! I'm going to use your code and implement it into my project because I really need native widgets.

@gorkem I will be developing strictly for iOS. My partner and I decided this because eventhough it may give us a bigger audience if we developed for Android, it would be a hasle to get all the widgets we need in order for functionality.

@bowerandy Thanks so much for telling me the huge differences between C*SDK and Gideros. It helps a lot.

I will be going with GiderosMobile when I get my refund from C*SDK. Gideros seems like a much better solution and lot better developer community.

Thanks Again!
-Landon

john26

I have also migrated from Corona to Gideros and one major difference is that Gideros is MUCH more stable. Corona contains numerous bugs which never get fixed. When I worked on Corona, the simulator would crash multiple times each day. I've never seen a crash or bug on Gideros -- a remarkable achievement!

Gideros is also much more feature complete, containing a full implementation of Box2D for example (also, Box2D runs better: Corona Box2D objects sometimes "jerk" after creation causing stacks of blocks to collapse unpredictably, not good for level design!). Vector drawing is much better: on Gideros, you can draw filled polygons which is not possible on Corona, for example (an omission that continues to astonish me!)

Also, there is more flexibility. If you've looked at the Corona forums you know there has been a huge controversy about Android permissions. Every Corona game ships with internet access even if the app doesn't need it. Short of decompiling the APK there's nothing you can do about this and it's lead some games to get 1-star ratings at the hands of people (admittedly trolls) who fear spyware. Devs repeatedly asked for flexibility on this (it was a very serious issue, people were very upset) but various excuses were given and nothing changed. On Gideros your project is exported into an Android project which you can alter (eg the manifest.xml file) giving control over details like this.

In general the staff at Gideros are much more responsive to the needs of users than on Corona.

And I completely agree with the other advantages people have mentioned above!

Mells

Hi Landon,

I'd like to emphasize the fact that, since the day I discovered Gideros, the community has always been very helpful and members are always willing to share whatever progress (libs) they have made around the framework.
I believe this is also one of the great asset of Gideros especially for a starter.

vhraja

Hi Friends

Thanks for your awesome comments, I still have one doubt in my mind, does Gideros allow application to intall on ARMv6 processor as well?

And yes can someone tell me good video tutorials for this plateform, I ahve been working with corona since last 1 year. So can anyone help me out with it?

Regards
Varun

hgvyas123

@vhraja

welcome and yes gideros allows to install on armv6 device on both ios and android

i dont know about video tutorial but you can start with examples shipped with installation , gideros academy, ultimate guide (see at top in ugly yellow color ) and http://appcodingeasy.com/Gideros-Mobile

also this forum is wonderful place

gorkem

Ugly? Hey I chose that color to make it more visible .. :P

OZApps

Ugly? Hey I chose that color to make it more visible .. :P

It's Not a BUG, it's a Feature - Microsoft

hgvyas123

Ugly? Hey I chose that color to make it more visible .. :P

i didn't like yellow color so i told that ugly i always sing this yellow yellow dirty fellow