a couple questions about the titanium platform

I have recently been browsing frameworks such as JavaScriptMVC, qooxdoo, Sproutcore and others alike which are using javascript to create desktop-like apps in the browser with minimal, or none css/html (depending on the framework).

What I know of titanium is that it uses html/css for the views, and language of choice (javascript, ruby,python,php) for everything else. Then it gets compiled(?) into a native app.

What are the quirks? if any?

1. Is it necessary for the user to install some sort of a runtime to execute the compiled app?
2. I suppose javascript is the prefered language, but how are the other ones handled?
   • For example, which Ruby interpreter would be included, would I be albe to use the ruby stdlib or external libraries? Would it affect the speed of the app? I.e JS > Ruby in terms of speed.
3. Since the views are CSS/HTML, would it still be necessary to style the elements, add them effects via JS librarier to achieve a widget-like feeling? Or does it come with some pre-made settings/classes for that?
4. I am not sure if it applies to the desktop package, but is there some syncing with the appcelerator's server required? What would it be necessary for?

I am sorry if the questions sound stupid, but I didn't even realise the开发者_如何学Gore are than many tools until recent. I am ultimately looking for something which is easy to use, has an option to work with a back-end server for data exchange, looks preferably good 'out of the box' or doesnt require that much work to get it themed nicely and works on mobile as well as desktop devices.

With Titanium you build your app out using javascript. Titanium ultimately generates its own XCode project for you that is compiled and deployed to a device.

1. The user does not require any runtime be installed prior to installing your app.
2. Unless your building custom modules to hook up your own controls you stick with javascript.
3. Your javascript calls end up as native controls, early versions required css like styling due to reliance on webkit but this is no longer the case.
4. There is no IDE but it does come with an app to create Titanium projects, test in emulator, deploy etc. It also talks back to HQ for updates.

In answer to (2), Titanium Mobile is Javascript only, but Desktop also supports Python, Perl and PHP.