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Write code for the web

mrmr.io

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Re: Write code for the web

#201

Post by continuational »

rubicon33 wrote: post #191
ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #15

Early on, I made the choice to not to invest in learning native mobile development. I focused all my limited time on the web, and I think that, for once, I made the right choice. Today, one can build amazing stuff for the browser. And, in my very humble opinion, the vast majority of apps should've been WebApps — except for maybe Uber, Google Drive, and games. I worked in the journalism business, and, in my country, t…

I just wish Web wasn't such a frustrating development experience. While it has improved leaps and bounds in the last decade, I still find it to be suboptimal when compared to native offerings. Most of that frustration comes down to tooling and more specifically TypeScript. I'm not sure how to succinctly express my pain here but I have found generally that I wrestle with the type system in TypeScript far more than nat…

The TypeScript type system is obscenely complicated because it has to be able to type almost any weird pattern people used when there was no type system.

Most dynamically typed languages are adding type systems right now, and they all face the choice between rewriting/wrapping the whole ecosystem or build a very complex and ultimately unergonomic type system.

Re: Write code for the web

#202

Post by skydhash »

mrweasel wrote: post #48
lagniappe wrote: post #7

Apple users are conditioned to pay for things. Apple applications have higher buy rates than other platforms because outside of HN the average Apple user is less capable and less likely to pirate or need "Free" to entice their attention. I don't think anybody writes software for Apple thinking that they "care" any more than Google or Microsoft.

> Apple users are conditioned to pay for things. Not that I entirely disagree, but that doesn't seem to be consistent with the complaint from app developers that they are unable or barely able to cover their development cost from app store sales.

Everyone is conditioned to pay for things. Either in the form of taxes or directly. Everyone is used to recccurent payments (internet, electricity, water,…). Google, Facebook have been the biggest proponents of software in exchange of your data instead of money.

Re: Write code for the web

#203

Post by jwells89 »

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #59

Years ago I decided to delve into learning Swift and native iOS development. I simply could not get accustomed to using XCode. The UI/UX of XCode is atrocious in a way that I’m struggling to articulate. I found myself constantly opening and closing panels just to click on icons that weren’t intuitively grouped together. To open one panel would forcefully minimize the other. It’s like a tenth of my time was dedicated…

Really depends on development style and what you’re used to, IMO.

Xcode doesn’t bother me at all while Android Studio, which is built around the vaunted IntelliJ, is constantly getting on my nerves. Visual Studio (the IDE, not the editor) is similarly frustrating and has odd restrictions to boot (I can’t use italics in syntax highlighting? Why??).

This goes for editors too. I find VS Code mildly irritating in ways that Sublime Text and TextMate aren’t.

Re: Write code for the web

#204

Post by deadbabe »

jwells89 wrote: post #197

The web is great in theory, but the bare-bonesness of the browser environment makes it an exceedingly unappealing platform for apps specifically when you’re used to developing with a throughly batteries-included experience like you get on Apple platforms. Where on macOS a highly capable, polished app can be easily be developed with a list of dependencies and sub-dependencies that can be counted on a single hand (and…

What’s wrong with Javascript

Re: Write code for the web

#205

Post by lutoma »

zshrc wrote: post #2

Apple provides thousands of APIs to make developing on the platform easier, has created their own programming language that integrates nicely with the platform and has a fully integrated IDE that works with both above. Sure, buddy… They don’t care about you unless you develop for their platform. And who can blame? The above is a terribly expensive and timely investment.

> has created their own programming language

For me, that's part of the problem. I'm sure Swift is a nice enough language based on what I've seen. But I'm not going to invest a substantial amount of time learning a language that is realistically only ever going to be useful to target one platform by a single company.

Re: Write code for the web

#206

Post by ricardo81 »

Quirky that DDG is mentioned as a Google alternative when it's a meta search engine. I'd hope the average developer appreciates that DDG isn't a "true" search engine as in, they don't have their own index of web documents.

Re: Write code for the web

#207

Post by jwells89 »

continuational wrote: post #201
rubicon33 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wish Web wasn't such a frustrating development experience. While it has improved leaps and bounds in the last decade, I still find it to be suboptimal when compared to native offerings. Most of that frustration comes down to tooling and more specifically TypeScript. I'm not sure how to succinctly express my pain here but I have found generally that I wrestle with the type system in TypeScript far more than nat…

The TypeScript type system is obscenely complicated because it has to be able to type almost any weird pattern people used when there was no type system. Most dynamically typed languages are adding type systems right now, and they all face the choice between rewriting/wrapping the whole ecosystem or build a very complex and ultimately unergonomic type system.

It’s too bad that Swift → JS compiler projects are all stalled. Swift syntax is similar and I think it’d be a nice step up for people who don’t care for compatibility with legacy JS and want uncompromised static typing on the web.

Re: Write code for the web

#208

Post by vorticalbox »

deadbabe wrote: post #204
jwells89 wrote: post #197

The web is great in theory, but the bare-bonesness of the browser environment makes it an exceedingly unappealing platform for apps specifically when you’re used to developing with a throughly batteries-included experience like you get on Apple platforms. Where on macOS a highly capable, polished app can be easily be developed with a list of dependencies and sub-dependencies that can be counted on a single hand (and…

What’s wrong with Javascript

Nothing really but lots of it is not a nice experience.

Re: Write code for the web

#210

Post by skydhash »

bmitc wrote: post #119
motoxpro wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the GP. I feel like you're trying to walk into a steakhouse and ask for pancakes KNOWING it was a steakhouse before you went in. Pancakes are great, but it says steakhouse right on the sign that says "We sell steak and nothing else"

The analogy doesn't work. It's not like Apple provides their platform and then if you don't want to use it then fine, you're on your own. They are actively hostile towards you doing something else. If I leap off your analogy, which again doesn't really work, it's as if they throw tomatoes from their steakhouse as you go towards the pancake house.

Are they? They own the OS. And they reserve to themselves the rights to change how it behaves. There’s no standard API, only tooling. So yeah, it’s obvious that you’ll be in great pain if you try to sidestep the tooling. Everything apart from their SDK is and will always be an hack.
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