SproutCore and Cappuccino [closed]

Dilemma indeed it is.

I personally took a chance on Cappuccino, but that is because I'm currently involved in objective-c and having the theoretical possibility to plug my code (with some adjustments) into a javascript/web environment - is tempting.

Anyway, if are you doing cocoa development, you will be up and running in a matter of hours, but I'm sure you've already figured that out by yourself.

You will (in Cappuccino) have a very nice abstraction to work with. I think that matters.

It actually isn't that much of a dilemma. It boils down to a simple question:

Do you have experience with Cocoa (Objective-C)? (Or alternatively, do you plan on using Objective-C heavily in the future by developing for OS X or iPhone?)

If so, choose Cappuccino. If not, choose SproutCore.

There is no reason to put your project behind from the start by trying to learn Objective-C and at the same time, all of the quirks and novelties of web applications and a new framework.

The level documentation for both projects is appalling.

However, since SproutCore is now supported by Apple, and Apple are rather good at providing good documentation, I expect this to change.

Cap, however has a released real world app (280Slides) which you can have a play with to get an idea of how you should structure your application. So at this point its probably easier to get started with Cap especially since you know objective-c.

Be aware that for both projects, the number of out-of-the-box controls are very limited, so you'll find yourself implementing your own. Also, SproutCore is ugly by default!

Personally, I think that the Cap approach is excellent.

You don't need to write any HTML or CSS. It genuinely feels like you are writing a desktop app and by coding in objective-js you're essentially abstracted from the browser.

However, I'm not a fan of the language itself. I would have preferred it if they had stuck with pov JavaScript.

I understand that Mac developers will like the potential portability of the code you create with Cap however since Apple go bust in 2012, I don't really see the point :)