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Web Developer Admits: Objective-C Beats HTML5

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Re: Web Developer Admits: Objective-C Beats HTML5

#21

Post by jonathantrevor »

hayksaakian wrote: post #4

Right tool for the right job and all that jazz. We don't need more flamebait like the OP.

One of the points I was trying to get through, and perhaps didn't do a great job of, was that I keep seeing people/apps trying to use HTML and various wrapping frameworks / toolkits to create the look and feel of an iOS app. Even worse, many of these "apps" don't even need to be apps (end of the article).

We went this route too and hoped we could re-use lots of code we already had but, as you say, the right tool for an iOS app is Objective-C. Un-JITed JS inside a wrapped app with a zillion Objective-C stubs using the DOM in a view-like manner its not meant to represent just doesn't do it.

Re: Web Developer Admits: Objective-C Beats HTML5

#22

Post by chrisringrose »

pooriaazimi wrote: post #16
chrisringrose wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An email app like Mail just download and keep offline copies of most of the mail. Opening the app and it instantly shows the pre-downloaded stuff. Yes, so in that sense, the mail app is faster. Bravo. The 40% faster boost takes us into the range of not-really-noticeable. If there were a dev tool to make efficient HTML5 apps just like there is to make native, and this speed difference was in miliseconds, not seconds,…

I have to disagree. I didn't mean that Mail.app "shows stuff" faster because it's cached the data and there's no roundtrip to the server (BTW, Gmail.app does this too). I meant the animations, scrolling and general speed with which "things" happen after you touch something or swipe. And as I said, even if HTML5 rendering gets 40% faster, it's still extremely slow compared to native UIKit stuff. HTML5 is like 3 times…

But I don't. I just loaded up gmail.com on the iPhone, and its nearly flawless. If I click the "show all folders" button, it seamlessly swings over. No lag, no jittery animation.

In fact, I use the built-in Mail app all the time. Loading gmail via IMAP in this Mail app is actually slower than the Gmail.com web app. For example, if I enter a subfolder I've created (labels), and haven't entered it in a long time, there's a considerable lag on the Mail app, and 1 second wait in the Gmail.com web app.

(iPhone 5 BTW)

Re: Web Developer Admits: Objective-C Beats HTML5

#23

Post by chrisringrose »

mikeash wrote: post #6
chrisringrose wrote: post #2

Beats it in how easy it is to create, yes. But HTML5 is cross platform, and if done properly, the speed differences are not noticeable to the human eye. In fact, "Fastbook" is proof that an HTML5 app can be FASTER than it's iOS counterpart. http://www.sencha.com/blog/the-making-of-fastbook-an-html5-l... Check out their video. They literally duplicated the iOS functionality, and made it faster, with HTML5.

Do you have any example of HTML5 "done properly"? I don't believe I've ever seen any. (Yes, saw the video link, but it would be nice to have something I can actually try.)

Sure. Gmail.com run on the iPhone. In some cases, such as opening a subfolder that I haven't been in, loads more quickly than Apple's Mail app. (This is provably because of IMAP lag.)

Re: Web Developer Admits: Objective-C Beats HTML5

#24

Post by mikeash »

chrisringrose wrote: post #23
mikeash wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any example of HTML5 "done properly"? I don't believe I've ever seen any. (Yes, saw the video link, but it would be nice to have something I can actually try.)

Sure. Gmail.com run on the iPhone. In some cases, such as opening a subfolder that I haven't been in, loads more quickly than Apple's Mail app. (This is provably because of IMAP lag.)

Scrolling has a noticeable and jarring pause when reaching the top or bottom of the list, and in general isn't smooth when the "pull to refresh" area is visible, at least on my 4S. It's really good overall, but definitely not quite in the realm of no noticeable difference from a native app.

Re: Web Developer Admits: Objective-C Beats HTML5

#25

Post by chrisringrose »

mikeash wrote: post #24
chrisringrose wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Gmail.com run on the iPhone. In some cases, such as opening a subfolder that I haven't been in, loads more quickly than Apple's Mail app. (This is provably because of IMAP lag.)

Scrolling has a noticeable and jarring pause when reaching the top or bottom of the list, and in general isn't smooth when the "pull to refresh" area is visible, at least on my 4S. It's really good overall, but definitely not quite in the realm of no noticeable difference from a native app.

This is a result of Google's decision to not "perfect" this on their web app - but it could be. It's just low priority.

Just as there is lag and jittery scrolling when loading older posts in the Android native Facebook app, it's not a result of the platform, but a result of poor design, or not putting the effort into that one area of optimization.

Re: Web Developer Admits: Objective-C Beats HTML5

#26

Post by chrisringrose »

mikeash wrote: post #6
chrisringrose wrote: post #2

Beats it in how easy it is to create, yes. But HTML5 is cross platform, and if done properly, the speed differences are not noticeable to the human eye. In fact, "Fastbook" is proof that an HTML5 app can be FASTER than it's iOS counterpart. http://www.sencha.com/blog/the-making-of-fastbook-an-html5-l... Check out their video. They literally duplicated the iOS functionality, and made it faster, with HTML5.

Do you have any example of HTML5 "done properly"? I don't believe I've ever seen any. (Yes, saw the video link, but it would be nice to have something I can actually try.)

For more examples of HTML5 in use, check: http://12devsofxmas.co.uk/post/2012-12-26-day-1-the-future-o...
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