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Xojo VS Composer

Compare Xojo VS Composer and see what are their differences

Xojo logo Xojo

Real Software and Real Studio are now Xojo.

Composer logo Composer

Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.
  • Xojo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-28
  • Composer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19

Xojo features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Development
    Xojo allows users to create native applications for multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and the web from a single codebase. This simplifies development and reduces the effort required to maintain different versions of the same app.
  • Rapid Application Development
    The Visual IDE (Integrated Development Environment) provided by Xojo enables rapid prototyping and development. Users can drag and drop UI elements, which makes it easy to create complex user interfaces quickly.
  • Versatile Language Support
    Xojo uses a unique language that combines elements from various programming languages. It is straightforward enough for beginners to pick up while still being powerful for more advanced tasks.
  • Active Community and Support
    Xojo has a vibrant community and offers various forms of support, including forums, documentation, and dedicated customer service. This can be very beneficial for troubleshooting and learning best practices.
  • Regular Updates
    The platform receives frequent updates, which include new features, bug fixes, and improvements. This ensures that developers have access to the latest tools and functionalities.

Possible disadvantages of Xojo

  • Performance Limitations
    While Xojo is powerful for developing various applications, it may not be the best choice for highly performance-intensive applications, particularly those requiring extensive optimization.
  • Licensing Costs
    Xojo's licensing model can be considered expensive, especially for individual developers or small teams. The cost may be a barrier for some users considering long-term use.
  • Limited Third-Party Integrations
    Compared to more widely-adopted development platforms, Xojo has fewer third-party libraries and integrations. This limitation can make it harder to extend the platform with additional functionalities.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its simplicity, there is still a learning curve associated with mastering Xojo, especially for developers accustomed to more conventional programming languages. This may require additional time and resources for training.
  • Less Popular
    Xojo is not as widely used as some other development platforms, which means there are fewer resources, tutorials, and third-party tools available. This could be a limiting factor for some developers.

Composer features and specs

  • Dependency Management
    Composer allows for easy and efficient management of PHP dependencies, ensuring that the correct versions are used and conflicts are minimized.
  • Autoloading
    Composer supports autoloading, which means you don't have to manually include or require files, reducing boilerplate code.
  • Version Control
    It allows developers to specify and install the exact versions of the libraries they need, which helps in maintaining consistency across different environments.
  • Community Support
    Composer has a vast and active community, resulting in a plethora of libraries and packages readily available for use.
  • PSR Compliance
    Composer adheres to PHP-FIG PSR standards, promoting best practices and interoperability among PHP projects.
  • Custom Repositories
    Ability to use custom repositories allows for flexibility, enabling enterprises to create their own repository for internal use.

Possible disadvantages of Composer

  • Learning Curve
    Beginners may find Composer overwhelming due to its command-line interface and the complexity of managing dependencies.
  • Performance
    Installing or updating packages can sometimes be slow, particularly for projects with many dependencies.
  • Dependency Conflicts
    While Composer aims to minimize conflicts, complex projects can still face issues with dependency resolution that require manual intervention.
  • File Size
    Projects using Composer can lead to increased file sizes due to the inclusion of multiple libraries and their dependencies.
  • Security
    Including third-party packages can expose a project to potential security vulnerabilities if those packages are not well-maintained or audited.

Xojo videos

Try Xojo

More videos:

  • Review - What is Xojo?
  • Review - Xojo 2020 with Geoff Perlman

Composer videos

AI vs Human Music Composer 2019 - Orb Composer Review

More videos:

  • Review - Review Composer Cloud from EastWest / Soundsonline.com
  • Review - Behringer Composer PRO-XL MDX2600 Review (AUDIO TEST)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Xojo and Composer)
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Development Tools
4 4%
96% 96
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Javascript UI Libraries
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Xojo and Composer. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Xojo and Composer

Xojo Reviews

12 Best Frameworks and Toolkits to Build Desktop Applications
If you are looking for a beginner-friendly framework, Xojo can be a good option. It is a cross-platform application development framework with a simple drag-and-drop user interface. Developers with basic web development skills can easily use this platform to build desktop applications.
Source: geekflare.com
Frameworks & Tools to Develop Cross-Platform Desktop Apps – Best of
Xojo is a programming environment available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. With its Xojo IDE, it provides an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop UI builder, and its own language for coding your application. The IDE also allows testing the app immediately, and when it’s ready, it converts this app to run on multiple platforms.

Composer Reviews

We have no reviews of Composer yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Composer seems to be a lot more popular than Xojo. While we know about 143 links to Composer, we've tracked only 5 mentions of Xojo. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Xojo mentions (5)

  • PysimpleGUI
    Xojo is basically VB6's spiritual successor. https://xojo.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Why did Visual Basic die?
    For anyone looking for a modern alternative to Visual Basic, you might want to take a look at Xojo. Xojo's a rapid application development platform (both a language and an IDE) that you can use to develop desktop apps (for macOS, Windows, Linux), Web apps, mobile apps (for iOS and Android), as well as console apps. It's been around for more than 20 years, and some of you might remember it from back when it was... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Small Visual Basic
    I really recommend Xojo[1] (formally RealBasic). It’s like a modern VB6 but runs on macOS, Windows and many flavours of Linux. It has very polished drag and drop UI editor. I’ve been developing with it for over 20 years and my 10 year old daughter is now learning programming with it. You can create and debug apps for free and only need a license to deploy an app as a binary so it’s ideal to learn with. Heck, it... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Do any of you code with/on steno?
    I have yet to get into actual programming, but when I do, it will probably be with the multi-platform programming environment called XoJo. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Performance Improvements in .NET 6
    I've been using Xojo (https://xojo.com) for about 15 years now to make cross-platform GUI apps. The language is similar to VB6 but it's been constantly updated. No affiliation, just a happy customer. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago

Composer mentions (143)

  • Arguments a customer can understand not to use WordPress
    There is also no requirement to follow the PHP-FIG standards. The best thing that is build because of those standards is Composer. The most plugins I downloaded while writing use composer. The problem is that the plugins ship with their own vendor directory. While the standard is to have one vendor directory for the whole project. This results in different packages with the same or different version of it in the... - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • Insights from the PHP Foundation Executive Director
    “Extensions are now very close to being like packages; they basically look like Composer packages. It’s still open to discussion whether PIE will be part of Composer someday. It’s not decided yet, but I hope it will be,” Roman added. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • PHP Core Security Audit Results
    Dependencies are managed by Composer (like npm, cargo, etc) for more than 10 years now. https://getcomposer.org. - Source: Hacker News / 28 days ago
  • WordPress and Components
    Composer and Packagist have become key tools for establishing the foundations of PHP-based applications. Packagist is essentially a directory containing PHP code out of which Composer, a PHP-dependency manager, retrieves packages. Their ease of use and exceptional features simplify the process of importing and managing own and third-party components into our PHP projects. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • 2025 Best PHP Micro Frameworks: Slim, Flight, Fat-Free, Lumen, and More!
    Simplicity: Getting started is a breeze—install via Composer, define some routes, and you’re off. Scaling up? Add middleware or libs like Twig or Eloquent as needed. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Xojo and Composer, you can also consider the following products

PureBasic - Fantaisie Software Official WebSite. PureBasic - Feel The Pure Power. PureBasic is a programming language based on established BASIC rules.

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

B4X - Cross platform development tools for native iOS, Android, desktop and server applications.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

FreeBASIC - FreeBASIC is a completely free, open-source, 32-bit BASIC compiler, with syntax similar to...

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.