6 ms·

Hmm, does Electron really == "native" ??

by ummjackson 10y ago

a85 10y ago
== yes but probably not ===
- Rapzid 10y ago
  oh.snap()
colordrops 10y ago
It's a native binary executable with standard access to system APIs, so in the technical sense, yes.
- josephg 10y ago
  That just makes the platform native, which doesn't say anything at all. Presumably the app itself is still written in javascript, so its not native at all - its just bundling its own (native) copy of chrome.
  - colordrops 10y ago
    So are you saying anything with a runtime is not native, even if embedded in an executable? Is a go app native?
    - meditationapp 10y ago
      Does a go app use the native toolkit? QT isn't native either.
      - danieldk 10y ago
        Actually, Qt (as in Qt Widgets) is a peculiar case. Qt draws its own widgets, but on some platforms uses native theming APIs to draw widgets (e.g. HITheme in macOS[1]). Though they are apparently experimenting with native widgets now [2]. So I'd say Qt is more native than e.g. Electron, but it is definitely not completely native. Except on Linux of course. [1] http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/qmacstyle.html#details http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/qmacstyle.html#details [2] http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/ http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/
- meditationapp 10y ago
  The technical sense meaning it's not interpreting some random scripting language and rendering with HTML/dom? Because that's the meaningful sense.
- Qwertious 10y ago
  By that logic, if I fork chromium and make a custom version of it that's hard-coded to start up HN in the first tab, then I've made a native HN app.
  - MadcapJake 10y ago
    No, you've "made" a native browser that opens HN in the first tab.
    - radisb 10y ago
      By that logic Postman native is a native browser hardcoded to open only one tab and load Postman's javascript code upon start-up
      - MadcapJake 10y ago
        Basically this is true but the browser (Electron) is designed to be single-purpose (your app) and has pathways to the filesystem that you can't get in a web browser. Also, it is treated as an application by the OS rather than a Chrome window (and all the benefits that come with that shift).
  - Antrikshy 10y ago
    But you won't have access to the file system unless you further modify it.

Hmm, does Electron really == "native" ??

a85 10y ago

== yes but probably not ===

Rapzid 10y ago
oh.snap()

colordrops 10y ago

It's a native binary executable with standard access to system APIs, so in the technical sense, yes.

josephg 10y ago
That just makes the platform native, which doesn't say anything at all. Presumably the app itself is still written in javascript, so its not native at all - its just bundling its own (native) copy of chrome.
- colordrops 10y ago
  So are you saying anything with a runtime is not native, even if embedded in an executable? Is a go app native?
  - meditationapp 10y ago
    Does a go app use the native toolkit? QT isn't native either.
    - danieldk 10y ago
      Actually, Qt (as in Qt Widgets) is a peculiar case. Qt draws its own widgets, but on some platforms uses native theming APIs to draw widgets (e.g. HITheme in macOS[1]). Though they are apparently experimenting with native widgets now [2]. So I'd say Qt is more native than e.g. Electron, but it is definitely not completely native. Except on Linux of course. [1] http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/qmacstyle.html#details http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/qmacstyle.html#details [2] http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/ http://blog.qt.io/blog/2017/02/06/native-look-feel/
meditationapp 10y ago
The technical sense meaning it's not interpreting some random scripting language and rendering with HTML/dom? Because that's the meaningful sense.
Qwertious 10y ago
By that logic, if I fork chromium and make a custom version of it that's hard-coded to start up HN in the first tab, then I've made a native HN app.
- MadcapJake 10y ago
  No, you've "made" a native browser that opens HN in the first tab.
  - radisb 10y ago
    By that logic Postman native is a native browser hardcoded to open only one tab and load Postman's javascript code upon start-up
    - MadcapJake 10y ago
      Basically this is true but the browser (Electron) is designed to be single-purpose (your app) and has pathways to the filesystem that you can't get in a web browser. Also, it is treated as an application by the OS rather than a Chrome window (and all the benefits that come with that shift).
- Antrikshy 10y ago
  But you won't have access to the file system unless you further modify it.