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Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

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Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#41

Post by yoodenvranx »

alkonaut wrote: post #21

Can't we just make a proper, easy to use portable desktop application framework please? I really don't care what language is used so log as JS is avoidable (It can still be a compilation target so it could even be JS), and I can make a snappy desktop app that takes 10 not 100mb. I'm not even sure which one I'm hoping for at the moment. Xamarin seems to have bet fully on mobile. Avalonia looks nice but feels like it w…

> Can't we just make a proper, easy to use portable desktop application framework please?

We should just go back to Delphi, it was/is one of the best ways of doing GUIs.

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#43

Post by pjmlp »

alkonaut wrote: post #21

Can't we just make a proper, easy to use portable desktop application framework please? I really don't care what language is used so log as JS is avoidable (It can still be a compilation target so it could even be JS), and I can make a snappy desktop app that takes 10 not 100mb. I'm not even sure which one I'm hoping for at the moment. Xamarin seems to have bet fully on mobile. Avalonia looks nice but feels like it w…

According to the latest Windows Developer Day, Xamarin.Forms is that framework in what concerns Microsoft.

As for the rest, sorry for being so blunt, but it is just not wanting to learn.

We we were writing applications across multiple OS and hardware architectures for ages now.

It is easy, no, as it requires actually putting some effort into a proper architecture and OS/hardware abstractions, but it is surely doable.

It feels like devs now want to write apps without spending any real effort on them.

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#44

Post by thedonkeycometh »

asp_net wrote: post #42

I really like that. Re-using the existing Electron platform and not reinventing the wheel and making it usable with .NET underlying is really a good thing. People, XAML is dead. Get over it ;-).

Why is XAML dead?

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#45

Post by linguae »

alkonaut wrote: post #21

Can't we just make a proper, easy to use portable desktop application framework please? I really don't care what language is used so log as JS is avoidable (It can still be a compilation target so it could even be JS), and I can make a snappy desktop app that takes 10 not 100mb. I'm not even sure which one I'm hoping for at the moment. Xamarin seems to have bet fully on mobile. Avalonia looks nice but feels like it w…

It would be nice if GNUstep (http://www.gnustep.org/) received much more attention. GNUstep is a free software implementation of the OpenStep API (which Apple's Cocoa API is based on), and GNUstep is available for *nix and Windows. The OpenStep API has already been shown to be cross platform; back in the days when NeXT, Inc. existed, it sold an implementation of the OpenStep API and development tools for Windows NT called OPENSTEP Enterprise (see http://i.imgur.com/I7VivtO.jpg for a screenshot). After Apple bought NeXT, Apple renamed OPENSTEP Enterprise "Yellow Box for Windows" during their Rhapsody efforts. However, in 1998 Apple's business strategy shifted from maintaining NeXT's cross-platform support for OpenStep to devoting NeXT technology solely to the Mac. This is what killed OpenStep as a cross-platform development technology.

GNUstep could have picked up from where Apple left off in 1998 to be a major contender in cross-platform software development. Indeed; it could have attracted former OpenStep developers who liked the cross-platform nature of the API and were stranded when Apple stopped development of Yellow Box for Windows. But for various reasons GNUstep's development and adoption has been slow, and alternative APIs such as QT and GTK ended up winning out in terms of popularity. But I don't think it's too late to promote GNUstep, especially now when a vocal minority of Mac power users are increasingly becoming discontented with the state of the Mac and are looking for high-quality alternatives.

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#46

Post by ygra »

kristiandupont wrote: post #38

Ok, I normally find myself disagreeing with HN every time Electron comes up. Basically, I think the upsides are worth the size and performance tradeoffs. However, this seems to be almost an entire server deploy as well as a complete renderer all in one package. That does seem excessive to me for a desktop app.

Aren't there Electron applications that effectively bundle node.js as well? Isn't that kind of the same?

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#47

Post by bsaul »

pjmlp wrote: post #43
alkonaut wrote: post #21

Can't we just make a proper, easy to use portable desktop application framework please? I really don't care what language is used so log as JS is avoidable (It can still be a compilation target so it could even be JS), and I can make a snappy desktop app that takes 10 not 100mb. I'm not even sure which one I'm hoping for at the moment. Xamarin seems to have bet fully on mobile. Avalonia looks nice but feels like it w…

According to the latest Windows Developer Day, Xamarin.Forms is that framework in what concerns Microsoft. As for the rest, sorry for being so blunt, but it is just not wanting to learn. We we were writing applications across multiple OS and hardware architectures for ages now. It is easy, no, as it requires actually putting some effort into a proper architecture and OS/hardware abstractions, but it is surely doable.…

"It feels like devs now want to write apps without spending any real effort on them."

I think what people are fed up with, is to spend effort learning the "method du jour" of putting a button on a screen and updating the view on a click.

This is pretty much a solved problem, and has been since MVC was invented in the 70s (not saying it's perfect, but it does the job). So there should be an easy an portable way of doing it for decades now.

QT seems to be the kind of framework, but it's C++ so i won't qualify it as "easy".

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#48

Post by hacker_9 »

lwansbrough wrote: post #20

I think this highlights the need for Microsoft to open source Edge’s new rendering engine. I’d love to be able to use the renderer in .NET Core for a whole host of applications (including rendering dynamic HTML to OpenGL) but unfortunately EdgeHTML has remained closed source! With many components of the .NET stack being open sourced, and even some of the Edge stack, I had high hopes for seeing the rendering engine op…

> This would allow any components built in any language to interface and work together using a common protocol

No it wouldn't? How would a C++ app run my managed control built in C#? Or my JS page run components written in Rust, Java and Clojure? Unless you are expecting all of the runtimes to be bundled with the app/page too, in which case good luck with your file size and startup time...

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#49

Post by alkonaut »

nicoburns wrote: post #37
alkonaut wrote: post #21

Can't we just make a proper, easy to use portable desktop application framework please? I really don't care what language is used so log as JS is avoidable (It can still be a compilation target so it could even be JS), and I can make a snappy desktop app that takes 10 not 100mb. I'm not even sure which one I'm hoping for at the moment. Xamarin seems to have bet fully on mobile. Avalonia looks nice but feels like it w…

There's some promising early stage projects in Rust world. They're all building on WebRender (firefox's new renderer), but without the DOM/JavaScript bit.

Sounds cool. Do you have any links to these experiments on github?

Re: Electron.Net: Build cross platform desktop apps using .NET core and ASP.NET core

#50

Post by dspillett »

ygra wrote: post #46
kristiandupont wrote: post #38

Ok, I normally find myself disagreeing with HN every time Electron comes up. Basically, I think the upsides are worth the size and performance tradeoffs. However, this seems to be almost an entire server deploy as well as a complete renderer all in one package. That does seem excessive to me for a desktop app.

Aren't there Electron applications that effectively bundle node.js as well? Isn't that kind of the same?

All Electron apps do - that is what the Electron framework is: a bundle of Chromium for the front-end and Node for the back-end (where here front/back are UI/internals rather than client/server as they are in an online web application).

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(software_framework) along with the official docs (though the official docs don't state this construction quite as plainly, it doesn't hide the fact).

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