It would help if you clarified what kind of environment you will be working in; Linux, Windows or MacOS? And do you want freeware or commercial software?
Personally I’m on a Mac and using TextMate to do web development (currently in Ruby)—I’ve tried many other editors but TextMate is by far the best one for me. However, if you’re working with Java and C++, maybe you have other needs and an IDE with debugger would be more suitable.
If by your own definition you’re not a strong programmer then you’ll probably find a cross platform mobile development platform easier and more efficient than learning objective C and java separately. Dreamweaver cs5.5 has phonegap capability which would be a good option if you’re familiar with it already, and appcelerator titanium now has the titanium studio IDE which is based around eclipse.
Well, you can’t even develop on iOS without a mac, so you’ll have to start there.
Frankly, the dev environment is the least important part of the stack these days. Moreover, for many things, the choice is effectively made for you – iOS effectively requires using XCode while 'Droid tools are all eclipse-based. I’d focus on getting source control and continuious integration setup and not even get hung up on the low-hanging fruits.
I’m not a big fan of programmers letting their personal preference and current knowledge dictate their choice of platform—choosing something because it’s “easy”. Instead, I suggest basing that decision upon first of all the project requirements, and time and budget constraints, and to then look at your capabilities to learn something new (how long it would take you and so on). You may need something that is “easy” if you have that kind of time constraint but that shouldn’t be the main concern.
But I understand what you mean; I think we’re on the same page here. He may very well find such platforms easier. Been thinking about learning one of those myself but then I figured I should instead learn Objective-C to code the “real” native apps with “real” iOS feel and performance.
While phonegap can sometimes be less responsive, appcelerator titanium is indistinguishable from native. If you like ruby you should check out rhomobile.
For a beginner programmer I think learning javascript and being able to put what they’ve learned into practice on both the web, and mobile apps via a framework, is probably going to be more productive than starting out learning a language that only has a single purpose.
Kinda sorta. Monodroid is owned by the outfit that bought novell who’s name I’m forgetting. As part of the acquisition they fired the whole dev team. Said dev team has reformed and started a new company with the express purpose of building a better monotouch/monodroid toolchain.
Been thinking about learning one of those myself but then I figured I should instead learn Objective-C to code the “real” native apps with “real” iOS feel and performance.