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Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

josephg.com

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Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#921

Post by Asooka »

bnastic wrote: post #394
jhasse wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It has multiple language bindings. Not many of them are good though, as it's hard to bind C++. If you want to work with Qt, C++ is really the best option. And not many people know that language well enough. They know JavaScript though ;)

Software/web devs are such hypocrites, optimising software for production and not for the platform or the user.

That's the entire rationale behind e.g. using python or php on the backend. Oh, the requests are IO-bound, we don't need to use a cumbersome language like C++ or Java to develop our backend, we'll just throw more cores at it if it gets too slow. Developer time will always be the first thing to be optimised, not least because the first to ship win and the first to ship is the one with the fastest development stack.

Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#922

Post by lmm »

tigershark wrote: post #898
lmm wrote: post #825

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Python still doesn't seem to have a great cross-platform desktop GUI, as far as I can find. PyQt is literally the best cross-platform desktop GUI going, in any language.

Last time that I tried QT was a huge pain compared to WPF or other solutions, admittedly something like 5-6 years ago. And it was proprietary and it needed a licence. With all my good will I find quite difficult to believe that now PyQT is the silver bullet to write all UIs. For sure it's not for me given that I find python a pretty average language with the huge handicap of duck typing (and before someone starts, ye…

> Last time that I tried QT was a huge pain compared to WPF or other solutions, admittedly something like 5-6 years ago.

Shrug, I found it much nicer than anything else I'd used, but I've never used WPF (which is single-platform in any case).

> And it was proprietary and it needed a licence.

Neither Qt nor PyQt is proprietary in the usal sense of the word (nor were they 5-6 years ago). If you're using a non-standard definition it would probably be more productive to use a different word.

> For sure it's not for me given that I find python a pretty average language with the huge handicap of duck typing (and before someone starts, yes, I'm aware of the 'type annotations')

I'm a huge fan of type systems. I wish I could find a UI framework that's anywhere near as nice as PyQt for an ML-family language.

Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#923

Post by flukus »

koko775 wrote: post #920
flukus wrote: post #883

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To be honest, we would have never built this app without Electron. It allowed us to have a small team (2 devs) ship the first version of the app without learning an entire new dev toolchain on multiple platforms. There are a number of email apps around, why would I want to use one from developers that put their convenience above mine (and my batter life)? > But I predict it will be like Java-- everyone "hates" the…

Wrong on all counts. I say this as someone currently writing a native desktop app and someone who doesn't like Android (having shipped substantial Android and iOS apps): Android apps are not incredibly slow compared to native apps, and the ones that are aren't due to Java. Android has always _used_ the JVM, just not run binaries _on_ the VM – they created their own (Dalvik) because they couldn't ship a Java virtual m…

> Android apps are not incredibly slow compared to native apps

I still have to wait seconds for simple apps to startup. Apps of the complexity that would have opened instantly on a desktop of 20 years ago. Part of that is the speed of java and part is the extra memory it uses.

>Also, Android has and will be running on the JVM, because they're transitioning to OpenJDK.

Android is switching to the OpenJDK class libraries, not the VM, they've already built their own VM twice to avoid it. I think your confusing the VM and the libraries everywhere else too.

Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#924

Post by [deleted] »

Ambroos wrote: post #18

A lot of Slack's high (background) CPU usage is caused by GIFs, in my experience. Just did a quick check on my quadcore MBP, having Slack fullscreen out-of-view with nothing animated in view gives it a CPU usage of 0,1% with spikes up to 2,5%. Switch to a conversation with a single animated party parrot emoji, go to another fullscreen app once again, and CPU usage never drops below a whopping 22%. For an animated par…

[deleted]

Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#925

Post by 15155 »

Ambroos wrote: post #18

A lot of Slack's high (background) CPU usage is caused by GIFs, in my experience. Just did a quick check on my quadcore MBP, having Slack fullscreen out-of-view with nothing animated in view gives it a CPU usage of 0,1% with spikes up to 2,5%. Switch to a conversation with a single animated party parrot emoji, go to another fullscreen app once again, and CPU usage never drops below a whopping 22%. For an animated par…

Free consulting for Slack: convert gifs to webm, intercept requests to download or save with the original gif.

You're paying for the codecs, might as well use them.

Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#927

Post by gant »

frik wrote: post #624
gant wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, VGUI is not HTML. Here's a fun one. Start Steam with `-dev` and hit F7. Widget factory VGUI edition! Oh also, https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/VGUI_Documentation

Have I talked about VGUI? No. Valve used a very ubscure/niche HTML render engine initially for Steam (2006). The company/website behind that isn't online anymore. An older version of the Wiki had some brief info, but all these info vanished.

Stop spewing bullshit.

Here's an old revision from 2005 by a Valve employee confirming Steam used VGUI back then.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/w/index.php?title=VGUI_D...

Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#929

Post by ionised »

smokeyj wrote: post #403

There's two kinds of developers. Dorks who care about programming, and programmers who care about creating deliverable value. What do consumers think about electron apps? That's all that matters. Consumers don't know what the heck electron is, only that their apps work seamlessly across platforms. The only people who complain about electron apps are dorks who have an axe to grind with web developers. I'd rather have…

Ironically, on my system it seems to be the Electron/Chrome apps that crash or run like crap more than native applications.

Re: Electron is flash for the desktop (2016)

#930

Post by ionised »

smokeyj wrote: post #886
ris wrote: post #820

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Dorks who care about programming, and programmers who care about creating deliverable value." I'd rather have 95% of the code on my machines written by those from the former camp. And if you think about it, the 5% of it is the stuff that comes & goes. Slack? Big now, but will anyone remember it in 5 years after the next big thing? So which camp is generating the true "value"?

Did you post this from a browser or using CURL? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.

It seems like you think you're making a game-ending point here.
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