3 ms·

Aren't there lots of caveats for each platform when using so called "cross-platform" code?

by CardenB 10y ago

Nadya 10y ago
Yes - totally! You either limit yourself more or double/triple your work making different system API calls depending what platform you're compiling for. Not too different from tripling your workload to support "offline" applications or dealing with IE/Safari/Chrome/Firefox differences. Most web apps I've come across either don't run in IE or have various bugs/issues in Firefox as most of them are coded on and targeting Chrome due to Chrome's dominance of the web. Which reminds me of people building/testing only on Windows. I will admit that the comparison I'm drawing are "same but different" problems. Browsers are a lot more standardized than operating systems and fixing a difference between Firefox/Chrome is usually a lot more trivial than fixing a difference between Windows/Mac.
CorvusCrypto 10y ago
yes. There can be a lot of boilerplate code present, however in terms of speed, using Qt for instance, can be much faster still than a web application that accomplishes the same task even if you get a huge binary after compilation. Oh and as Nadya said, sometimes this generalization causes issues. Engineering is a game of trade-offs I think :P.
- kaoD 10y ago
  > in terms of speed That's the point. Most applications don't need speed, and most that need it can offload speed-critical code with no significant drawbacks. The web is fast enough for 99% of use cases.
  - CorvusCrypto 10y ago
    I agree. Was there any thought I didn't ;)?
- Klathmon 10y ago
  What's the speed of the install process for those apps? How's the update system work? How quickly can you release them to all platforms? Can they be easily customized and modified by the user? Can they be easily shared? What's the permissions model like? How much can that application access?
  - izacus 10y ago
    Same way as that worked since 1980ties for all millions of home PC users.
    - Klathmon 10y ago
      But compared to the web, native applications are significantly worse in these areas. Especially on that first point. I can go to the vast majority of web apps on just about anything with a browser and get it up and running in less than a second knowing nothing more than a domain name. And there's "cross platform" then there's "cross platform". Something like QT is amazing, but you are still looking at the big-3 desktop OS's, and maybe the big mobile guys if you work for it. A web app includes all of that, plus my TV, my car headunit, and even my damn watch! (I often use a web home-automation app from a browser on my watch, the UI adapts pretty damn well for quick light-flips) Nothing is perfect for everyone, but just because it's been done since the 80's doesn't mean it can't be improved on. And as always it depends on your actual needs. There aren't any "better" and "worse" architectures.
  - Nadya 10y ago
    Can it interop with other applications? eg. can output be piped from another program? Will it still be around to use if the company goes bankrupt? Can settings be backed up at all? Can I even restore settings from a backup? Can I easily share these settings? Is there a way to carry it on a thumb drive so that in the event I find myself without internet for a first install/use - I can still use it? How much control do I have over any data used/stored by the application?
    - Klathmon 10y ago

Aren't there lots of caveats for each platform when using so called "cross-platform" code?

by CardenB 10y ago

Aren't there lots of caveats for each platform when using so called "cross-platform" code?

Nadya 10y ago

Yes - totally! You either limit yourself more or double/triple your work making different system API calls depending what platform you're compiling for. Not too different from tripling your workload to support "offline" applications or dealing with IE/Safari/Chrome/Firefox differences. Most web apps I've come across either don't run in IE or have various bugs/issues in Firefox as most of them are coded on and targeting Chrome due to Chrome's dominance of the web. Which reminds me of people building/testing only on Windows. I will admit that the comparison I'm drawing are "same but different" problems. Browsers are a lot more standardized than operating systems and fixing a difference between Firefox/Chrome is usually a lot more trivial than fixing a difference between Windows/Mac.

CorvusCrypto 10y ago

yes. There can be a lot of boilerplate code present, however in terms of speed, using Qt for instance, can be much faster still than a web application that accomplishes the same task even if you get a huge binary after compilation. Oh and as Nadya said, sometimes this generalization causes issues. Engineering is a game of trade-offs I think :P.

kaoD 10y ago
> in terms of speed That's the point. Most applications don't need speed, and most that need it can offload speed-critical code with no significant drawbacks. The web is fast enough for 99% of use cases.
- CorvusCrypto 10y ago
  I agree. Was there any thought I didn't ;)?
Klathmon 10y ago
What's the speed of the install process for those apps? How's the update system work? How quickly can you release them to all platforms? Can they be easily customized and modified by the user? Can they be easily shared? What's the permissions model like? How much can that application access?
- izacus 10y ago
  Same way as that worked since 1980ties for all millions of home PC users.
  - Klathmon 10y ago
    But compared to the web, native applications are significantly worse in these areas. Especially on that first point. I can go to the vast majority of web apps on just about anything with a browser and get it up and running in less than a second knowing nothing more than a domain name. And there's "cross platform" then there's "cross platform". Something like QT is amazing, but you are still looking at the big-3 desktop OS's, and maybe the big mobile guys if you work for it. A web app includes all of that, plus my TV, my car headunit, and even my damn watch! (I often use a web home-automation app from a browser on my watch, the UI adapts pretty damn well for quick light-flips) Nothing is perfect for everyone, but just because it's been done since the 80's doesn't mean it can't be improved on. And as always it depends on your actual needs. There aren't any "better" and "worse" architectures.
- Nadya 10y ago
  Can it interop with other applications? eg. can output be piped from another program? Will it still be around to use if the company goes bankrupt? Can settings be backed up at all? Can I even restore settings from a backup? Can I easily share these settings? Is there a way to carry it on a thumb drive so that in the event I find myself without internet for a first install/use - I can still use it? How much control do I have over any data used/stored by the application?
  - Klathmon 10y ago