Smashing Mobile Web Development

Chapter 3: Development and Production Setup

For every developer, having a sufficient development and production environment is the key to success for any project. When you are building a mobile application, having the right tools to test your application can make the difference when it comes to creating a good user experience. You don’t have to hire an IT guy to help you set up your environments. You can do it yourself without breaking sweat.

This chapter talks about the differences between development and production environments and discusses the tools you need to manage, develop, and deploy your web app. You get insight into how to create a local development site on your machine so that you can quickly test features as you develop them. It also discusses basic tools that can help you develop and test your application, such as iOS and Android emulators, Firebug, code IDEs, and more.

In addition, the chapter talks about the infrastructure components you need to make sure your web app can scale from 1 user to 10,000 users without skipping a beat.

This chapter will help you accomplish the following goals:

• Learn the difference between production and development environments and understand the need for both.

• Create your own local development environment using tools for Windows and Mac OS X.

• Learn about emulators, IDEs, and browser tools to help you develop your app faster and be more efficient.

• Discover production infrastructure solutions and scaling for your mobile web ...