Chapter 1. What is Cordova?

Mobile development is one of the most important skills a developer can learn. The past decade has seen an explosion of mobile devices, from smartphones to tablets, creating an ecosystem of applications covering everything from the silly (remember the fart app?) to the life changing. Learning how to develop for mobile platforms is an important skill to acquire, but it isn’t something you can pick up quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to reuse the skills you already have as a web developer to create mobile applications? To take those skills and develop not just for one mobile platform but for multiple ones at once?

1.1. The history of PhoneGap (and Cordova)

1.2. How PhoneGap and Cordova relate

1.3. What Cordova provides

1.4. What Cordova doesn’t provide

1.5. When you wouldn’t use Cordova

1.6. Web standards and Cordova

1.7. Summary