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by cageface 4293 days ago
Can't agree with this at all. Auto Layout can do some things that are very hard to do with Android layouts but for the common cases I find Android's layouts vastly more logical and maintainable than the typical Auto Layout mess. There are fewer things I dread more than opening up a complex xib file to dig into a complex Auto Layout scheme. Let the hunt & peck party begin!

I can open up an Android layout file and almost instantly understand how it works and what I have to do to change it.
2 comments
interpol_p 4293 days ago
It might be too late for your project, but I'd highly recommend using Masonry (https://github.com/Masonry/Masonry) for Autolayout. It's a DSL for specifying constraints that is far better than Apple's NSConstraint API and constraint language.

Since discovering it I've fallen in love with Autolayout and its abilities — where I used to dislike it before.

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vyshane 4293 days ago
For me, it comes down to the fact that I find Auto Layout more declarative. I'm `saying what I mean` when I apply constraints - that can be done in code too, of course, although Xcode 6 is getting pretty good at surfacing that information. Whereas when I'm dealing with a box model I'm having to play compiler in my head. LinearLayout, RelativeLayout - these are terms that are optimised for the computer to understand. Constraints are the way we humans think about things. "Element A should always be 10 points to the left of Element B".

It's a bit like imperative vs. functional programming. In the former model, I have an idea in my head and I need to nest containers step by step to get to the final form. In the latter I'm simply building up a ruleset.

But like I said, that was my personal preference. I guess we'll have to differ on opinions ;)

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