My thoughts on iPhone coding a master-detail set of two views on iPhone versus Windows Phone 7 and why the designer-developer story is better with the Microsoft toolset thanks to Expression Blend and the C# language.. This is just an opinion piece, but realize I am not a newbie at either platform. I was using Interface Builder on NeXT boxes in 1993-1994 and unfortunately in my opinion not enough has changed, to put real design into the hands of the iPhone coder..

Remember this is an opinion piece, but the reality of how rapidly I can develop an app in C# and have it look like the design that the designer gave me is very diverse when you compare Interface Builder to Expression Blend for Windows Phone.. Also, C# coding is much much easier than generic C and requires a lot less code. Plus you get a full design environment..

When I started doing app development for the iPhone and iPad I had hoped for something like quartz composer (which is a very nice dev tool for the Mac) but it’s just not there.. This further infuriates me as to why they don’t let you do Adobe Photoshop imports or I must call out to a separate API to play a video and I can integrate the media elements and controllers right on the same page on the iPhone.. I feel like when I am designing on the iPhone I am stuck using that NeXTStep box in 1993-4.. When I code for it, I remember my coding horrors and the excessive amount of time I spent coding specific things in C/C++, before Microsoft made the world much much easier with .NET..

When I see even governments paying excessive amounts to iPhone development houses I wonder if that’s the best use of the money, just because it’s popular. For a company that supposedly is all about design, I feel like I am living under some Communist regime that says “I must conform” to Apple’s coding practices. Even if it takes longer to get a basic application out there done, and it’s technically not as flexible with UI and interfacing..

Honestly I don’t see much difference here with Google’s new App Inventor than I see with Apple’s interface builder, just a more generic minimalist approach..

Anyway here’s my presentation on it in Slideshare.. I want to make sure that the Blend Team and Laura Foy from Channel 9 get credit for the video Expression Blend for Windows Phone in 90 seconds which is linked to in one slide of the video..

Slideshare Document:

Office 2010 PowerPoint Embed: