Reactive Programming Choices in Native Mobile Application Development

Abstract

Reactive programming has emerged as a pivotal paradigm in modern mobile application development, enabling developers to handle asynchronous events and data streams seamlessly. The choice of reactive programming framework can significantly impact the performance, maintainability, and scalability of native mobile applications. In this research, we aim to conduct a comprehensive comparative study of reactive programming choices in native mobile development. Our research reveals significant performance disparities among various reactive programming frameworks in mobile application development. Specifically, Combine outperforms RxSwift in iOS environments, offering more efficient load times. Like- wise, Coroutines demonstrate a marked performance edge over RxJava in Android development, excelling in load time across multiple test scenarios. This consistent advantage positions Coroutines as a highly favorable choice for native Android app development, due to its efficiency and effectiveness. An intriguing aspect of our study is the performance of the Delegate Pattern in iOS development, which, despite its simplicity and lack of a reactive programming framework, surpasses both Combine and RxSwift in load time, memory consumption, and CPU usage.