RubyMotion versus Swift for iOS Development

However, the biggest issue I saw from the beginning is that to use the various APIs for each operating system, the developer still had to read and understand the APIs (written in the respective languages of Objective-C, Swift, or Java). So while you could write most of your code in Ruby, you’re not insulated from learning and understanding the APIs in their native language. Thus I’ve never been convinced of the actual overall savings at that point for RubyMotion other than a technological curiosity.

Also, if you do a Google search for RubyMotion, you’re not going to find many recent results returned. So while this may look like it’s an opportunity to create tutorials and other content, I think the more significant reason is that RubyMotion was built when only Objective-C was an option for iOS development. Now that that Swift is becoming the primary iOS development language, the need for alternatives is significantly diminished.

Unless there are some significant changes to RubyMotion (it did come under new ownership relatively recently), I’m not optimistic about its gaining any popularity among Ruby developers.

I hope I’m wrong as I enjoy programming in Ruby, but I’ll be looking more to React Native for cross-platform mobile development.

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