Is there a big difference between coding for Mobile apps vs Web apps

Question

I am on the cusp of recieving a new project that involves creating a mobile app for android tablets. Is there a large difference in coding for web apps vs mobile apps. And is there any good links I can go to read up on it more? This will be in .Net by the way

Answer 1

Well, obviously both involve coding, so they are quite similar at this level.

But the restrictions that apply to you are quite different.

• on a sever application, the size of the libraries you use don't usually make a difference, while the installation size of a mobile app is a definite issue
• memory and processing power are usually are less of an issue on the server, as compared to a mobile device
• each mobile platform usually has it's own UI framework with quite unique concepts (at least each interesting platform does it its own way)
• the APIs are quite different (it's rare to have the same API for server applications and mobile applications)

So yes, there is quite a difference between writing a web-application and writing a native smartphone application.