Xojo

What do you like best?

Xojo is a very easy to learn programming language, yet still capable of creating commercial apps for both Windows and Mac from a single set of code. C++ is like building a house from piles of 2x4's, plate glass, nails and other raw materials. Xojo is like building a house from pre-assembled frames, joists, windows, doors, etc.

I was looking for a cross platform development tool to have an app idea developed by another developer. As I looked at Xojo's examples I realized "hey, I think I could do this myself." I'd never done any object-oriented programming before. The last programming I'd done was with Apple Basic in the 1980's. Xojo used to be called Realbasic, so that made it much easier to grasp, but it has a robust set of object-oriented programming tools for developing complicated apps very quickly.

What do you dislike?

While easy to use, the tool set for custom user interfaces is not as flexible as it would be if you created every piece of it yourself. A single set of code complies to Windows, Mac and Linux, but the user-interface is more generic and not what users might expect to see, especially on the Mac.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

Xojo is great if you want to create your own app or work in an environment that allows you to do rapid application development and compile a single set of code to Windows, Mac and Linux.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

I was able to create a commercially viable app that I sell worldwide on Windows and Mac from a single set of code. This was much quicker and cheaper than having it programmed in something like C++, and gives me the opportunity to do my own product enhancements.