Between Cascades and CoreNative, the two main Blackberry Playbook C++ frameworks, which is easier to use?

Question

I'm thoroughly confused by the number of SDK/API choices in Blackberry Playbook development. Is one or the other recommended more to complete beginners in mobile app development?

Leaving aside the Flash/Air, HTML and JAVA options, which of the two native C/C++ choices is easier to start in? I take it that Cascades is the future, so unless there's a reason not to recommend that to beginners, I'm guessing it's probably the "easier" choice for someone who wants to get more done, faster.

Answer 1

It seems like you have the gist of it. Cascades is where the focus should be for any beginner building native BlackBerry 10 applications from scratch. It provides high level tools and APIs for UI development and integration with other elements of the platform (BBM, sensors, notifications, etc.) It will let you easily create applications with the BlackBerry feel using Cascades and QML.

The Core Native option is a lower level option for developers who don't want to or can't use Cascades. It is useful for game developers, for example, who are porting an OpenGL ES game from another platform. With the Core Native option you'll have to worry about things like setting up your screen, which Cascades handles for you. However, many open source libraries have already been ported to BB10 which expand the realm of possibilities beyond just what Cascades offers.

Note that this only applies to BlackBerry 10 development, whereas Cascades is not part of the current Playbook OS.

Answer 2

Basically, Native is for if you are writing a game or porting and existing app. You have to build all of the UI stuff yourself. Cascades is for normal app developers. You get a lot of really nice UI components with implicit animations for free, and you can work at a higher level language (Qt for application logic, QML and JavaScript for your UI).

There is also nothing stopping you from mixing and matching, it's the same tool. If you started with a Cascades project, but later find that you really need to use some open source library or a block of C code for something, go right ahead. You can even render stuff in OpenGL and drop it right into the rest of your Cascades app via the Foreign Window Control.

The Native and Cascades SDKs are the same thing, you just create a different project.

PlayBook will get BlackBerry 10 sometime after launch.