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Neat. This and Oryol [1] appear to have similar goals, I think this already calls for a more in-depth comparison... Either way, this kind of technology could en

by pierrec 11y ago

Neat. This and Oryol [1] appear to have similar goals, I think this already calls for a more in-depth comparison... Either way, this kind of technology could end up being a better choice than the node-webkit / electron paradigm, for many projects that want to target in-browser and native platforms. I've been planning a project like that using raw GL, but with these frameworks popping up, the concept might go from experimental to very robust. The native version is inherently lightweight and the emscripten/browser version could also be very lightweight and efficient, depending on how much attention they pay to that target while developing the framework. Looking forward to see how this plays out. [1]: http://floooh.github.io/oryol/ http://floooh.github.io/oryol/

ricardobeat 11y ago
The main advantages of electron are html, css and javascript. This is not going to be an alternative to it unless you implement a browser engine on top of it, going full circle... On the other hand, something like react-native for desktop, coupled with a nice GUI library, could be very interesting.
- pierrec 11y ago
  Sure, this will never be a 100% alternative to electron. People who derive pleasure from writing HTML, Javascript, and CSS whenever possible will never stray from that kind of framework. As you say, some also choose these frameworks because of the extensive browser API features. However, some people who don't particularly appreciate these languages and API still use electron because it allows them to target browser and native with a single code base. This is where things might change. The sad fact is that most electron applications only use a small fraction of the massive featureset provided by a full browser, and whenever a tiny GUI application gets forcibly bundled with 70+MB of browser runtime, a cute fluffy animal dies. I think this new kind of framework has the potential to save some cute fluffy animals in the long term, though certainly not all of them.

by pierrec 11y ago

ricardobeat 11y ago

The main advantages of electron are html, css and javascript. This is not going to be an alternative to it unless you implement a browser engine on top of it, going full circle... On the other hand, something like react-native for desktop, coupled with a nice GUI library, could be very interesting.

pierrec 11y ago
Sure, this will never be a 100% alternative to electron. People who derive pleasure from writing HTML, Javascript, and CSS whenever possible will never stray from that kind of framework. As you say, some also choose these frameworks because of the extensive browser API features. However, some people who don't particularly appreciate these languages and API still use electron because it allows them to target browser and native with a single code base. This is where things might change. The sad fact is that most electron applications only use a small fraction of the massive featureset provided by a full browser, and whenever a tiny GUI application gets forcibly bundled with 70+MB of browser runtime, a cute fluffy animal dies. I think this new kind of framework has the potential to save some cute fluffy animals in the long term, though certainly not all of them.