Looking to get into app building!

[Razor42]

Hi guys,

Iv recently decided I would like to get into the app building industry, mostly iOS but would also like to do for androids aswell but I don't have much knowladge about what languages they are coded with and also how it works!

I have knowladge in HTML, CSS, PHP & MySQL would these help me at all? And why new languages would I need to learn?

Another thing is how do they even work? Are they run via servers like websites or what?

If you have any knowladge and experience if working with iOS or android then please let me know.

[Dayo]

to develop for iOS you need to use xCode what you can only get on apple systems and it is very similar to C++ i think

[a_bertrand]

xCode is the environment to code, the language is called objective C. It's more related to C than C++ in my opinion, anyhow, yes you MUST have a mac to develop it. Yet it's way not the only solution to develop on iOS.

You may check http://xamarin.com/monotouch which would let you develop application for android and ios while re-using the same code. C# is what runs under. There is other options as well but you should check / find them.

For your question about server and whatever else, normally no, an ios or android app do not require a server, and should actually run without any server. That means it needs to run offline right on the phone. PHP, JS, and HTML knowledge will help but not much. You will have to think a bit differently as standalone application do have other requirements and ways to work than web apps. Actually it's normally easier to develop a standalone application.

BTW before going to develop a new app, make sure there isn't something already existing as the app market is somewhat over-flooded by thousand apps which are all more or less the same. Also it's pretty clear that the majority of the money made by a very little minority of apps.