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Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

nativescript.org

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Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#31

Post by fokinsean »

sheraz wrote: post #24
fokinsean wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just took a look at Titanium and holy moley their documentation was overwhelming. I haven't used a "native" hybrid app framework yet (only have experience with ionic), but NativeScript looks a bit more accessible to me than Titanium does.

I say the documentation is pretty ok once you get familiar with how the API is laid out. And for everything else they have the developer QA section, which is like a self-hosted stack-overflow. I've been building a couple of simple apps on it the last few months, and it has been a pleasure. I should be clear here -- I've been using Titanium, not Alloy.

A self hosted QA is pretty awesome. I think another thing that threw me off was how every section I clicked opened up a tab.

I'm still new to the hybrid app world and have only used ionic. I want to eventually try one of these "native" frameworks though.

Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#32

Post by pbreit »

Firegarden wrote: post #17

Native apps with JavaScript? Give me a break. The only "Native" apps worth writing in JavaScript are web apps. Thank you coming out Nativescript - pack a lunch.

Whoever eventually delivers a viable offering will clean up in the corporate apps market. Companies have lower expectations for internal apps and don't want to hire Java and Swift developers to create each.

Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#33

Post by arturadib »

sheraz wrote: post #30

Is it actually "native" if it is a JS interpreter passing calls into the runtime? Yes, it is native widgets and UI, but the "brains" of the operation are seemingly outside. PS - I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Haha, I wish more people were as honest as you are!

Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#34

Post by bmj »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #19
gagege wrote: post #14

I tried out their little Tasks app on Android that is supposedly build with this. It's very unfinished. Slow too. I was kind of getting excited about this, but so far I'm not impressed.

I haven't tried NativeScript, but I am curious why it would be slow. Slow JavaScript engine on mobile platforms? Emulation library perhaps is not efficient? I would appreciate some feedback. I just wrote a Firefox addon to work with a rich web app I am working on, and it would be nice to also provide "native" apps. BTW, most of my client code is Clojurescript; has anyone tried NativeScript with Clojurescript?

I have fairly extensive experience with Titanium, and my impression is that the UI can get very laggy if you are not very careful with the way you generate and manipulate the elements on the screen. Going "over the bridge" (parlance for communicating between the JS and native layers via the proxy) is quite expensive.

Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#35

Post by 13years »

fokinsean wrote: post #20
troymc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try to keep track of all those platforms, and you're right, it's hard. My findings are summarized at http://www.mobilechameleon.com/ (hosted for free by Weebly, a YC alum).

Holy shit I never realized how many hybrid app frameworks there are. Nice site by the way.

There is also Tabris.js

Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#36

Post by coldtea »

sheraz wrote: post #30

Is it actually "native" if it is a JS interpreter passing calls into the runtime? Yes, it is native widgets and UI, but the "brains" of the operation are seemingly outside. PS - I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Native is mostly about widgets and UI -- which is what matters to the user.

Else even Objective-C apps, with the Obj-C messaging system are not native, e.g. they delegate a lot to C-based APIs...

Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#38

Post by sheraz »

pbreit wrote: post #28
sheraz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say the documentation is pretty ok once you get familiar with how the API is laid out. And for everything else they have the developer QA section, which is like a self-hosted stack-overflow. I've been building a couple of simple apps on it the last few months, and it has been a pleasure. I should be clear here -- I've been using Titanium, not Alloy.

They lost me with the switch to Alloy.

Exactly, I started on Alloy and quickly found that there was too much magic in going from templates to js code.

Once I took a step back to Titanium it all felt a lot more sane. Yes it is a little more verbose, but at least I can follow the data flow in code.

Appcelerator is going through some changes as of this week[1] which I hope will improve the documentation and ecosystem around the product.

[1] - http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/04/appcelerator-slashes-staff/

Re: Nativescript: Build truly native apps with JavaScript

#39

Post by TylerJay »

sheraz wrote: post #30

Is it actually "native" if it is a JS interpreter passing calls into the runtime? Yes, it is native widgets and UI, but the "brains" of the operation are seemingly outside. PS - I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I think what makes it "native" or not is how the app is rendered. You can basically take any web application and wrap it into an app, but it displays in a "web view" whereas a "native" app uses the built-in display components of the OS. For example, the little slider gray/green icon instead of radio buttons on iOS. Also, native apps have access to certain device APIs like the camera while non-native apps don't (at least I don't think so).
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