Xamarin is now free & open source.

I would love to hear some thoughts from the community about this, and especially @Erel's.

My opinion:

I came to B4A it because it's similar to Visual Basic and offers a huge range of functions. Works perfect with php/MySQL and so on. For desktop solutions I use the mighty but heavy Visual Studio VB which is a good combination with B4A. I don't like Java, C# and similar languages, so Xamarin will not fit for me.

KMatle said:

For desktop solutions I use the mighty but heavy Visual Studio VB which is a good combination with B4A.

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Why don't you use B4J ?

I don't think / expect that it will have a large impact on B4X tools. B4X tools are very different than Xamarin. There were always free alternatives (Android Studio + Java, Xcode + Objective C / Swift, Phonegap and others).

KMatle said:

For desktop solutions I use the mighty but heavy Visual Studio VB which is a good combination with B4A

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Unless you are creating Windows only UI applications then B4J will be better for solutions that work together with other B4X tools. It will allow you to reuse the code and logic and also to reuse the data with features such as B4XSerializator and B4XEncryptions.
This is especially true for implementing the backend.

Erel said:

I don't think / expect that it will have a large impact on B4X tools. B4X tools are very different than Xamarin. There were always free alternatives (Android Studio + Java, Xcode + Objective C / Swift, Phonegap and others).

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Even before, when Xamarin was not free, developers who looked for cross-platform tool to build mobile apps and knew C# chose Xamarin, who knew Basic chose B4X. Developers who didn't need cross-platform tool to build mobile apps chose Android Studio + Java, Xcode + Objective C / Swift.

When I first saw C#, i related becuase of my experience with Turbo Pascal however, I had not used TP for more than 20 years so i was a little rusty. Then I learned that the creator of C# is the same person who did TP. Made sense. It's true, VB fans always prefer to stay in their comfort zone, thus me choosing B4A over others. Then my joy with B4i and B4j. These guys are geniouses, off course we already know that.

The thing is there is just a lot of flexibility with the b4x tools and a lot of time has been invested in writing libraries and classes that make it work. Easy peasy. Im doing things I never dreamt of here.

I got a Xamarin.Forms books but have not started it as I usually explore these mobile frameworks. Thing is they fall into the category of doing almost the same thing and I still have to see anything like the customlistview in other frameworks thats easy to use like this one here.

b4auser1 said:

Developers who didn't need cross-platform tool to build mobile apps chose Android Studio + Java, Xcode + Objective C / Swift.

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Cross platform is an important point. However between 2011 and 2014, B4i was not available and still B4A (then named Basic4android) was used by many developers. Don't forget the RAD (rapid application development) aspects of B4A and the other tools.

I think B4X has the potential to become the best choice for programmers (mobile, desktop [windows, iOS, Linux!], networks).

Currently some improvements needed (in my opinion, of course):

1) IDE - Designer (many "Wishes" were good suggestions);
2) enhance and improve B4J;
3) DOCUMENTATION.

In addition, the heavier topic is wrapped libraries; they often need to be updated (often due to new versions of Android) and I, as a programmer, do not feel comfortable when I have to use them. If I used Android Studio, I could update all free code found on the Web.