JavaScript is not only for webpages and web applications. Among other things, You can create realtime applications, serverside solutions, desktop and mobile applications. There are two types of moble applications: running in browser and native ones. These latter are often faster and more powerful. That’s because they have access to filesystem, accelometer, camera and et ceatera. Native applications are usually written in phone-specific language like Objective-C or Java, hence stanalone programmers generally choose HTML+CSS+JavaScript solutions. Happily, thanks to lastest technology, we are able to easily transform browser application into truly native one.

Titanium Appcelerator

This awesome tool allows you to create powerful mobile apps (for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry soon) with native controls using the web technologies you know. These include HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python. Moreover, there have been released new documentation recently.

You may use whatever framework you want (Mootools, jQuery, Prototype) and take advantage of the newest CSS3 and JavaScript features. That’s because Titanium applications actually run in cleverly embedded Webkit (Safari) window. Since Titanium 1.0 there’s only JavaScript emulator left from Webkit Webview. As Mitchell wrote:

In Titanium 0.8, WebKit’s WebView was used as the core around which things like GPS, UI, Camera, and Data were mapped to the OS. In Titanium 1.0, developers now have the option of bypassing the JavaScript bridge for Objective-C (iPhone) or Java (Android) with APIs that bind directly to the OS.

If you study Titanium Mobile API you will discover how simple is to use Geolocation or Gestures. You may even Connect your app to Facebook writing only few lines of code.

PhoneGap

As in the case of Titanium, with Phone Gap you can use your HTML/JavaScript skills to build apps for a variety of mobile platforms, including iPhone, Google Android, Symbian, Palm and Blackberry. You may see here what features of mentioned platforms are supported now.

Frankly, I’ve used only Titanium, but PhoneGap seems to be good alternative.

There’s also QuickConnectFamily and NibleKit. First one is pretty powerful but second one is less documented and not cross-platform (works only on iPhone and iPod). I would also recommend iWebkit, but it’s home page has been hacked recently (seriously).

You may also be interested in frameworks that would make your job even easier. For example if you want your application to have very iPhone look’n'feel, try:

jQTouch

It will allow you to easily create iPhone application that run in a Webkit browser (or thanks to Titanium or PhoneGap as mobile application).

There is also an alternative to jQTouch called IUI. You may find it on Google Code.

If you need something small and non-jQuery, then look at WebApp which has been also designed to mimic the actual iPhone and iPod Touch graphic user interface.

XUI

We hear your words. Why another JavaScript framework?! When development of PhoneGap was under way we noticed slow load times for modern JavaScript frameworks (such as Prototype, MooTools, YUI, Ext and (yes) even jQuery. A big reason why these libraries are so big is because is mostly they contain a great deal of cross browser compatibility code. The mobile space has less browser implementations (so far) and different needs. Thus XUI.

Enough said…

Cappuccino

That’s framework for ex-Objective-C programmers. Capucchino introduces Objective-J.

Objective-J is a new programming language based on Objective-C. It is a superset of JavaScript, which means that any valid JavaScript code is also valid Objective-J code. Anyone familiar with JavaScript and object-oriented programming concepts, classical inheritance in particular, should have no difficulty learning Objective-J. Familiarity with Objective-C will be helpful, but it is not required.

Use this framework to make desktop as well as mobile applications (thanks to Titanium). See some demos: 280 slides,Mockingbird or Github Issues.

iProcessing

With above frameworks you may not create 3D applications and games. Hence meet iProcessing. It is an open programming framework to help people develop native iPhone applications using the Processing language. It is an integration of the Processing.js library and a Javascript application framework for iPhone.

You know some worth mentioning framework? Write a comment!