Have I told you how much I love the Xojo community? I’ve been part of it for fifteen years and I’ve met hundreds of Xojo developers at developers conferences and probably exchanged emails with thousands more. I am amazed at how much this community helps each other and I wish there was a way to promote that as a key feature of the product. It’s a big deal. Really!
If you’re just starting out using Xojo know that there are a bunch of people, myself included, that are willing to help out, if we can, on your journey. Programming is hard. Well, I don’t think it’s hard because I’ve been doing it for so long, but it is complex at times and that makes it hard. Just ask your question in the Xojo forums and you’ll almost always get an answer within hours.
Even Xojo pros, such as myself, have need of help. Xojo covers Mac, Windows, Linux desktop, console, and web apps. It does iOS apps for iPhone and iPad. It now does Raspberry Pi for heavens sake! It works with dozens of different databases. There is simply no way any one person is going to know everything there is to know about Xojo. It just can’t happen. So yes, I go to the forums, all the time, and ask for help.
Just the other day I asked for some help with WooCommerce. Not Xojo related, really, but certainly related to a project we’re working on for a client. Within a few hours I had half a dozen developers private message me saying they might be able to help. Subsequent contact narrowed that list down a bit but the point is that I have probably shaved off several days worth of work simply by asking for advice.
I am biased towards Xojo, naturally, as it’s been my primary development language for fifteen years. I think I’d be hard pressed to find such a friendly community. I call many on the forums my friends even though I’ve never physically met them. The few that I’ve met in person have lived up to their forum reputations and are really friends for life.
So maybe this is my belated Thanksgiving post. I am thankful that so many years ago I jumped both feet first into the tool. I asked questions – many of the silly and redundant. I became more proficient and then made another jump to start blogging about it, making products for other developers, and training the next generation of developers.
So if you are in need of a cross-platform development tool I highly recommend Xojo. It ain’t perfect but no development tool is. If you jump in I think you’ll love the community. I know I do.
What say you fellow Xojo developers?