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Why you should NOT use NativeScript

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Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#51

Post by alasdair_ »

isaiahg wrote: post #7
mouldysammich wrote: post #2

> We are about to rebuild our Android app in Flutter from scratch now… Why not use Java/Kotlin if its just on android? Flutter has its advantages sure, but from my experience developing with flutter is the apps end up a bit slower than native, and often you end up interacting with the Java ecosystem on android anyway so the experience doesn't end up being that much better.

The message I'm getting from Google is that flutter is the future and will get more support eventually. You can also see it in their fuchsia os which is heavily focused on the ecosystem.

Google always has two projects that cover “the future” - one is undocumented and the other was just deprecated.

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#52

Post by robocat »

chairhairair wrote: post #14
JamesSwift wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is absolutely no way flutter unseats java/kotlin unless it abandons dart and adopts kotlin as its language. Its much more likely that flutter gets absorbed in some way by the android ecosystem.

I don't see how it would make any sense whatsoever for Flutter to be "absorbed" by Android, it is entirely independent. Also, I'd be curious to hear what major advantages Kotlin would have for Flutter. The Flutter team has commented heavily on Dart's useful properties for Flutter's goals (small comment here, there are well written full articles as well: flutter.dev/docs/resources/faq#why-did-flutter-choose-to-use-dar…

From the FAQ “the LICENSE file is 54.3 KB (compressed)” - that is pretty large amount of uncompressed text! I couldn’t find the full licence file (presumably containing all the licences of library dependencies).

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#53

Post by mkrishnan »

bkm wrote: post #43

NativeScript surely has its struggles (like all the other hybrid frameworks), but the concept is strong: - It's multi-framework (Vue, Angular, React or Svelte); easy to pick up for web devs - The per-framework implementations are fairly similar to the web-variants (except it uses NS component tags vs HTML tags) - UI abstraction layer that maps the NS components to real native UI components for iOS/Android (instead of…

NativeScript is way better than flutter/dart. NS embraces open web technologies.

As you mentioned, NS has all the substance it needs but like any framework has some rough edges. What NS lacks is the PR army like the one flutter has.

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#54

Post by gwbas1c »

There's a lot that I don't understand in this post:

First, a mantra that I see repeated on Hacker News posts, is "pick boring technology." I don't understand why they kept with NativeScript so long with all of it's problems; and I don't understand why they didn't learn their lesson and just do a boring (but reliable) Java app.

But more importantly, why did the author stay so long in that job? I've been in a situation where I was forced to work in ^$#%^ stacks, and I left for a different job. Life is too short to waste time in a job like the author describes.

Finally: It's so important to "fail fast" with technology. There are so many tools, frameworks, kits, that just don't live up to their promises.

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#55

Post by mkrishnan »

JamesSwift wrote: post #8
isaiahg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The message I'm getting from Google is that flutter is the future and will get more support eventually. You can also see it in their fuchsia os which is heavily focused on the ecosystem.

There is absolutely no way flutter unseats java/kotlin unless it abandons dart and adopts kotlin as its language. Its much more likely that flutter gets absorbed in some way by the android ecosystem.

+1 to the dart part.

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#56

Post by hultner »

schmorptron wrote: post #37
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard great things about Flutter, and Flutter 2 sounds very interesting. However, I don't trust Google not to get bored and change directions, and so I won't invest my time until Flutter is strategically important to their business.

That's a good call, although if it becomes widely used outside of google, won't it be possible for a community to just fork it when google loses interest?

You mean like AngularJS (which is an entirely different framework then modern angular)

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#57

Post by horsawlarway »

reggieband wrote: post #11

I can't comment on NativeScript as a technology. However, I would like to comment on the issue of his treatment in support channels. He surrounded in quotes: "We are working on NS for 6 years, how dare you tell something is wrong?" and that seems suspiciously like a paraphrase on his part. I doubt it is a direct quote but rather a way the author wants to describe how he felt over the course of several exchanges. One…

I agree with you, but this sword cuts both ways -

They are free to ignore him in support channels.

He is free to strongly recommend avoiding the product.

---

Having spent a few hours reading through their docs when I was comparing flutter to NS, I have to say I agree with most of his points. It's mostly the equivalent of autodocs, with no conceptual foundation or guiding principles about how to use the system.

I hit their site again today and I have to say, I'm pretty confused by their support page - https://nativescript.org/support

They claim to be OSS, but they offer a form that appears to be equivalent to paid support, and mention "business personnel" whatever that means...

So if I went in blind and assumed I could get support (paid - of course), and it turns out I can't, and there's little community support to boot... I'd be a little negative too.

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#58

Post by schmorptron »

hultner wrote: post #56
schmorptron wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good call, although if it becomes widely used outside of google, won't it be possible for a community to just fork it when google loses interest?

You mean like AngularJS (which is an entirely different framework then modern angular)

Hahaha, that was before my time, so no idea. But I was just guessing based on flutter being open source. Guess taking over a huge codebase from an entirely different team who was being paid for it full time isn't feasible even in the slightest?

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#59

Post by modeswitch »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #34
300africans wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know much about nativescript, but picked up flutter 3 weeks back and am almost finished writing my first flutter app just coding during my free time. Feels great coding in it and seems well thought out. Just my 2 cents

I've heard great things about Flutter, and Flutter 2 sounds very interesting. However, I don't trust Google not to get bored and change directions, and so I won't invest my time until Flutter is strategically important to their business.

I had this conversation with a support engineer for Google Cloud one time. I mentioned that Google has a long history of dumping products that people rely on and he got really annoyed, as if that wasn't true. I don't know if they fully appreciate that they have a reputation for this.

Re: Why you should NOT use NativeScript

#60

Post by gagege »

starik36 wrote: post #31

This was the biggest mistake All the issues that are brought up the article could have been avoided by doing a simple proof of concept demo. We are about to rebuild our Android app in Flutter Spend a week doing a proof of concept first, so we don't have to read this in six months time.

You don't even need to do that! 6 years ago, I was exploring cross-platform mobile options (RN wasn't available for Android yet, also it was brand new and not to be trusted. It turned out OK in the end though.) and Native Script was one of the options I looked at. A couple things instantly made me reject it.

1) The official demo apps were slow and janky. (hmm, reminds me of Flutter. I don't think these guys will be much happier with Flutter, honestly)

2) It was made by Telerik, the company known for bloated and slow ASP.NET controls. Also, surprise surprise, poor documentation.

Eventually, I decided to make 2 separate iOS and Android apps.

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