Nidium – A new browser engine • Hacker News Board

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#21

Post by ThomPete » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 1:56 PM UTC

duiker101 wrote: post #19

ThomPete wrote: post #12

I find it saddening that the primary response from a crowd normally considering themselves visionaries and pushers, seems to be ridiculing other peoples hard work. I cannot for the life in me understand how introducing a new browser engine deserves this kind of welcoming.

I think that people here are mostly confused. There is not really a clear explanation of what this does or anything. We are just presented with a video of things that are not exactly revolutionary and said that this is the future. This leave most of the community puzzled I would say. It is ok to create hype for a product that is not out yet but still we would have to know what we should get hyped on.

I thought the up votes were meant to serve a way to filter out the good for the bad. If something got to the front thats outright bad then it should be flagged.

Otherwise questions can be asked.

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#22

Post by masklinn » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 1:58 PM UTC

saejox wrote: post #20

This does not look like a browser. It's a gui application framework, that happens to be using javascript as the preferred programming language. A lot like https://github.com/rogerwang/node-webkit

Or using QtWebkit or a Cocoa WebView, possibly with limited glue for exposing host objects.

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#23

Post by shadowmint » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 1:59 PM UTC

I'd venture to guess from the presentation and the site that this is basically trying to be Node.js with a graphics engine attached.

ie. Throw away the browser DOM and provide a bunch of new apis (and maybe a few existing ones which already seem ok, like the canvas stuff).

I'm curious what you get as a benefit of doing this instead of just using Node itself and providing an api to work with the graphics/sound/whatever engine.

No HTML or CSS renderering -> A considerably more plausible project, and certainly one that won't complete with existing browsers in the short term.

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#24

Post by masklinn » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:01 PM UTC

sker wrote: post #17

File I/O alone is a good enough reason for this kind of projects to exist. I've always wanted to be able to use the power of the browser for standalone, cross-platform desktop applications. I was shocked when I discovered I couldn't write a simple JS/HTML application and connect it to a local DB like SQLite without going through a server. Each browser has its own hackish way of doing something like that, but they're…

> Each browser has its own hackish way of doing something like that, but they're far from a complete solution.

How is the File API "hackish", let alone each browser having its own way of doing it?

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#25

Post by masklinn » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:02 PM UTC

jordanmoore_ wrote: post #13

And once again our community snipes, takes cheap shots and shows a complete lack of appreciation for the effort in a project such as this. If you have nothing of value to add, just keep quiet. Otherwise you can come across as a bit of a dick. Thanks.

And once again our community snipes, takes cheap shot and shows complete lack of understanding for comments expressing confusion over a cryptic, unclear and fluff-filled page.

If you have nothing of value to add, just keep quiet. Otherwise you can come across a bit of a dick. Thanks.

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#26

Post by sker » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:04 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #24

sker wrote: post #17

File I/O alone is a good enough reason for this kind of projects to exist. I've always wanted to be able to use the power of the browser for standalone, cross-platform desktop applications. I was shocked when I discovered I couldn't write a simple JS/HTML application and connect it to a local DB like SQLite without going through a server. Each browser has its own hackish way of doing something like that, but they're…

> Each browser has its own hackish way of doing something like that, but they're far from a complete solution. How is the File API "hackish", let alone each browser having its own way of doing it?

Does the File API give you full access to the file system? Last time I checked it didn't.

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#27

Post by jeroen » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:05 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #12

I find it saddening that the primary response from a crowd normally considering themselves visionaries and pushers, seems to be ridiculing other peoples hard work. I cannot for the life in me understand how introducing a new browser engine deserves this kind of welcoming.

Of the 9 comments before yours, only 2 (ChikkaChiChi and rorrr2) are really negative. It's a bit much to call that "the primary response".

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#28

Post by AndreasFrom » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:05 PM UTC

sker wrote: post #17

File I/O alone is a good enough reason for this kind of projects to exist. I've always wanted to be able to use the power of the browser for standalone, cross-platform desktop applications. I was shocked when I discovered I couldn't write a simple JS/HTML application and connect it to a local DB like SQLite without going through a server. Each browser has its own hackish way of doing something like that, but they're…

Ligth Table [1] works well and uses node-WebKit.

1: http://www.lighttable.com/

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#29

Post by duiker101 » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:06 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #21

duiker101 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that people here are mostly confused. There is not really a clear explanation of what this does or anything. We are just presented with a video of things that are not exactly revolutionary and said that this is the future. This leave most of the community puzzled I would say. It is ok to create hype for a product that is not out yet but still we would have to know what we should get hyped on.

I thought the up votes were meant to serve a way to filter out the good for the bad. If something got to the front thats outright bad then it should be flagged. Otherwise questions can be asked.

I think that people are interested, but still not sure what this is about so they upvote in hope to have answers. (or vote rigging, but I prefer to have faith in people)

Re: Nidium – A new browser engine

#30

Post by masklinn » Mon, Sep 02, 2013, 2:06 PM UTC

sker wrote: post #26

masklinn wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Each browser has its own hackish way of doing something like that, but they're far from a complete solution. How is the File API "hackish", let alone each browser having its own way of doing it?

Does the File API give you full access to the file system? Last time I checked it didn't.

> Does the File API give you full access to the file system?

The File API gives you access to the files the user has selected for your access. No website-accessible API will ever give full access to anything for rather good reasons.