Featured dev – Boydlee Pollentine

About

Boydlee is a freelance mobile developer based in London, after having moved here from Australia in the middle of 2011. He has written articles for TutsPlus+ and is currently writing is a book about Titanium development.

“.. many companies see Titanium as a solution to getting a prototype up and running quicker than if they had chosen the native development route.”

Interview with Boydlee Pollentine

Why did you choose Appcelerator Titanium as your platform?
I was developing iOS applications in native Objective-C and had written a number of apps, and was looking to port those apps across to Android – which was just becoming big at the time. The only problem I had was Java is one of the few languages I don’t know very well, so I went on the hunt for a cross-platform tool. After investigating PhoneGap and a few others I decided on Titanium – I liked that it was more “developer” focused than the others, with a solid and ever-growing set of API’s, and the performance of the resulting apps is much better as it compiles down to native code as opposed to running all it’s processing through a WebView. I started building apps in Titanium way back when it was only version 0.8, and haven’t looked back since!

I hear your writing a book on Titanium, who’s it aimed at & when it coming out?
The book is aimed primarily at new comers to Titanium Mobile, although I am sure there will be some interesting things in there for those already familiar with the framework. It focuses solely on developing for the iPhone and Android devices, and is set out in a ‘cookbook’ style, where each chapter is broken down into a number of recipes pertaining to a single topic. While most of the recipes are self-contained, you can also work through each chapter from start to finish in order to build a simple, complete app. It’s being published by PacktPub and should be available by the beginning of December in both paperback and eBook formats – just in time for Christmas! #LINK HERE

Do you have any apps created in Titanium?
I have built numerous apps, including a stamp creation application for passport books, an Android travel diary for tablets, a social chat app and a prototype iPhone app for a medical company. I’ve also created a number of small apps and games that are open-source and publicly available from my website.

Congrats on your TCAD certification, please explain why you chose to do this & how the test was?
I had intended to take on the TCAD certification for quite awhile, but work and other commitments always seemed to get in the way. Recently, all Titanium Titan members were given the chance to complete the exam for free – although being a Titan the passing grade was increased up to 80% while the time limit was halved. Naturally though, I jumped at the chance and passed it first time. The test is not that difficult if you understand the subject matter, most good developers who have been using Titanium for a decent period of time should be able to pass it with flying colours.

What are you plans for the future? Any BlackBerry/Nook development?
I have intentions of starting up a digital agency in the next couple of months, primarily focus on mobile development – using Titanium of course. I have never been a big fan of the Blackberry platform so I doubt I will end up doing too much there, however with Nokia starting to release Windows Phone 7 devices later this year (and my background being in .NET) I may try to expand my skills to that platform.

Are you available for private development?
Yes, anyone can reach me via my website at http://boydlee.com. I have clients from all over the world – including Britain, Australia, Germany and the USA and I’m always happy to talk mobile development and Titanium with anyone who is interested.