Why I'm Not a React Native Developer • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#141

Post by Sanddancer » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:25 AM UTC

Lazare wrote: post #72

qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it gives Facebook legal leverage over your company.

How, exactly? My company doesn't have any patents; what legal leverage does Facebook have over us? (Trick question, the answer is "zero".)

One of the first questions I would ask is what is an indirect assertion of a patent in this situation? If you get shaken down by a patent troll for a patent related to React stuff, would that be considered an indirect assertion? After all, you're making a statement there that React is violating some patent. While I can agree with patent severance clauses, this one just feels full of real ugliness that would drive a lawyer crazy.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#142

Post by pitaj » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:43 AM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #124

To add to the list of javascript gripes, performance is terrible. For the web we can sort of excuse it because ok, it's running in a browser and has to be cross platform and interpreted and etc. But for a native app? No excuse to burden the user with a slow, sluggish, resource and battery draining app when a compiled native app can be snappy, quick to load, and light on the CPU.

Have you tried it? Unless you're handling custom animations in the main thread, the UI feels exactly the same as native.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#143

Post by chii » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:49 AM UTC

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #65

Lazare wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my biggest takeaway was the more abstract parts of his post, such as patents and uncertain roadmap. These are very REAL problems. I would say the patent issue is more FUD than a real issue; he praises Swift but Swift has a very similar patent grant and termination clause. The key difference is that the Swift grant terminates if you end up in a patent dispute with Apple over something related to Swift; the React gra…

My point was not about the details, but about the uncertain nature of an open source project driven by a company. The patent issue is just one of the "symptoms" of this problem. When someone open sources their technology and adds a set of detailed clauses that adds some restriction (doesn't matter if it's a "real" restriction or not), it means they couldn't go all out. It also means as a user, you do have reasons to…

> pretty sure it's either iOS or Android.

it's web, android, iOS, and PC. That's 4 platforms, if you consider web and PC separate, and more if you consider windows and linux as separate.

Crossplatform is more valuable than ever. But react-native may not be the answer.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#144

Post by mbrock » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:50 AM UTC

bikamonki wrote: post #76

Could FB plug the cord on React once it does no longer align with its core strategy? Sure, it did it with parse.com without the least concern for the community of users/clients. The apology was to leave behind a half-cooked open source version of parse server. The exact same thing could happen to the React community. I'd say stick to true open source projects and descentralized communities.

What's not true about the open source of React?

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#145

Post by pekk » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:52 AM UTC

Pfhreak wrote: post #61

STRML wrote: post #21

This is simply a list of things the author doesn't like about JS, very much of which is practically solved by Flow/TS and ESLint. He also makes some of the React examples quite a bit more complicated than they need to be. Declarative UI is very simple! Here's the same code, using both class and functional styles (whichever you prefer), in a much more succinct style (11 LOC vs 49): class Root extends Component { rende…

> This is simply a list of things the author doesn't like about JS, very much of which is practically solved by Flow/TS and ESLint. That's definitely not a fair characterization of this article. Concerns about roadmap and patent usage show up before any concerns about JS. Edit: Though I agree, a strangely large amount of the article is dedicated to "Why I just don't like Javascript."

If you are considering how to build a native app, reasons why you don't like Javascript are relevant.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#146

Post by pekk » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:54 AM UTC

greggman wrote: post #127

The author's rant on JS and npm deps has a point but his rant on typescript, flow, and other transpilers completely misses the mark. If JavaScript is an unsafe language and therefore anything that compiles on top of it is unsafe the same is true of Swift as it compiles to assembly/machine language which is unsafe. If you consider JavaScript some cross platform assembly language then there is no difference between the…

> He also rants about using the best language that catches the most errors but then picks Swift as his solution.

That is because he is weighing solutions for developing native apps on Apple devices, where Swift is one of the best options.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#147

Post by mbrock » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:57 AM UTC

Bahamut wrote: post #117

overgard wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I think the bug catching aspect of static typing is its least useful property. (Useful, but not like, amazing -- you can write assertions on a type in a dynamic language). I think the good thing about static typing is it makes a code-base much easier to navigate and much more self documenting. I spend most my time navigating other peoples code. I know you can get most of the reliability of static typing with…

Writing assertions has a runtime cost that isn't present when using something like TypeScript. Granted, that benefit is probably minor, but it is a benefit in TypeScript's favor.

It does have a compile time cost and that's not negligible... although with all the heavy transpilation going on these days, a bit of type checking might drown that out.

At a previous job we tried TypeScript but it took around 20 seconds to build our front end. Since then I hear speed has improved.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#148

Post by pekk » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 4:58 AM UTC

chukye wrote: post #47

The most part of cons is criticising JavaScript and NOT React Native. I know how JS works, and I LOVE IT. The only part of the post that I liked is when he talks about the license, all the rest is just bullshit from a person who don't like JS.

It's not bullshit if it's a valid consideration when you are trying to build an app on say iOS and weighting it against say Swift. How many times does this need to be said? It depends on what you are trying to do and what you want.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#149

Post by jayajay » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 5:08 AM UTC

This is very ominous. In other words, don't build a RN app because, if it takes off, Facebook can copy the business model independently and claim it as their own. And, if you try to do anything about it, your license to use RN is revoked, rendering your app as nothing more than a petty copyright infringement.

If you're going to RN, go Pure Native at the same damn time ;) It's awfully ironic since they market RN to rid us of the need for Pure Native. Or, is it ironic? It seems this clause and their marketing efforts are truly shield and sword. I'm not really surprised; it's a very cunning way to hijack ideas from other people.

I have used RN, though, and it's a blast to develop with it. Thankfully, none of my kooky ideas are going to be important enough for this fine print to apply to me.

Re: Why I'm Not a React Native Developer

#150

Post by iOSGuy » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 5:09 AM UTC

I use React Native and he's mostly right. Coming from the perspective of a native platform, this ecosystem is bat shit insane. It's harder, full of pitfalls, rife with complications, and rickety as all hell.

However, there are also some pretty excellent benefits that come with all the Bad of React Native and JS so for the moment, it can be very much worth the trade offs. I've been working with it for over a year, and for now I'll be sticking with it.