Two Datasets of Questions and Answers for Studying the Development of Cross-Platform Mobile Applications using Xamarin Framework

Abstract

Context:A cross-platform mobile application is an application that runs on multiple mobile platforms (Android, iOS). Several frameworks, have been proposed to simplify the development of cross-platform mobile applications and, therefore, to reduce development and maintenance costs. Between them, the cross-compiler mobile development frameworks, such as Xamarin from Microsoft, transform the application's code written in intermediate (aka nonnative) language to native code for each desired platform. However, to our best knowledge, there is no much research about the advantages and disadvantages of the use of those frameworks during the development and maintenance phases of mobile applications.Objective: The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to present two datasets of questions and answers (Q&A) related to the development of mobile applications using Xamarin. Secondly, to show their usefulness, we present a replication study for discovering the main discussion topics of Xamarin development.Method: We created the two datasets by mining two Q&A sites: Xamarin Forum and Stack Overflow. Then, for discovering the main topics of the questions from both datasets, we replicated a study that applies Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). Finally, we compared the discovered topics with those topics about general mobile development reported by a previous study.Results: Our datasets have 85,908 questions mined from the Xamarin Forum and 44,434 from Stack Overflow. Between the main topics discovered from those questions, we found that some of them are exclusively related to Xamarin and Microsoft technologies such as the design pattern 'MVVM'.Conclusions: Both datasets with Xamarin-related Q&A can be used by the research community for understanding the main concerns about developing cross-platform mobile applications using Xamarin framework. In this paper, we used it for replicating a studying about topic discovering.

Development of Platform Independent Mobile Learning Tool in Saudi Universities

“…Xamarin is a platform-independent software system that facilitates the sharing of code, improved testing, and less effort required for development and maintenance. MVVM is a core function of Xamarin that separates it from other frameworks [33]. The benefit is that code distribution, as well as indigenous user interface and performance, are greatly enhanced [6].…”

“…It is possible to create native Android, iOS, and Windows applications in C# using the "Xamarin.Forms" framework [5]. In contrast to its competitors [33], Xamarin compiles to native code and achieves enhanced results and native UI.…”

“…development and maintenance. MVVM is a core function of Xamarin that separates it from other frameworks [33]. The benefit is that code distribution, as well as indigenous user interface and performance, are greatly enhanced [6].…”

“…It is possible to create native Android, iOS, and Windows applications in C# using the "Xamarin.Forms" framework [5]. In contrast to its competitors [33], Xamarin compiles to native code and achieves enhanced results and native UI. Programmers may build "Xamarin.Forms" with page, style, and displays as the three key elements for creating the user interface.…”

“…Local Database Access: Data must be stored in a portable device using a database to retain despite the power being turned off. Although ADO.NET access offers a standard entry point and the SQLite.NET element is a featureful choice, local database access through SQLite is a departure from the regular database providers [33]. Listing 1 depicts database connectivity.…”