25 ms·

For the desktop, electron has mostly won really, the web browser becoming the primary most widely used platform for delivering applications made shipping a desk

For the desktop, electron has mostly won really, the web browser becoming the primary most widely used platform for delivering applications made shipping a desktop application with an embedded browser the next obvious choice.

dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
I'm sorry, but as for now, Electron is really not the best choice for a desktop platform, and you can't declare it a standard only because some developers choose it, mostly because it's easier for them to create or port apps using a familiar stack. In the future, certain things may change - the performance might be better and resource usage might get lower (although I honestly doubt - with browsers getting more features it's even likely to go the other way round), but as of now, Electron as a desktop platform is inferior when compared to a native app in all aspects.
- Scarbutt 9y ago
  I see Electron as an example of the "Worse is Better" theme.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
    In what respect? Start-up time, memory and cpu, speed, lack of native controls, poor optimization, complex debugging... What's the worst for me is the fact that you know there are certain parts of the app you will never be able to optimize. It's just like having empty loops inserted in different places of your app, only because of the choice of platform. Sometimes it feels like Swing in the old days.
  - pantalaimon 9y ago
    No, usability matters. I've removed the Slack app because it's way too sluggish, just use the website when I want to check it. I've tried Atom but it felt just not right, mainly because it lacked a certain snappyness - so I'm back to Sublime. Sure when the users don't have any alternative they might bear with it, but a major selling point of a native app is that it feels right.
    - tracker1 9y ago
      Agreed on the slack app... but I've been using VS Code very happily, especially since the integrated terminal was added, which is a feature I've wanted in my editor for a very long time... The terminal was pretty sluggish on some things at first, but works well... still not much of a fan of hyperterm, which shares the same terminal integration modules. Most of the electron apps I've used I don't use much... except vs code, and for what interactions I have they aren't bad. However, most of my time is in one of several browser tabs, vs code, and a terminal window. I keep Goofy (fb mobile as electron app), and Spotify (electron iirc) open... that's about it.
dep_b 9y ago
Electron means you need 2GB of memory for a simple chat app like Slack to talk about the application you're building in a fully featured all bells and whistles included application like Visual Studio that only takes 700MB of your memory. Compare what Visual Studio + ReSharper does versus what Slack does. I have no idea what 70% of the features in Visual Studio do yet I'm using it professionally for years and years, there's just too much.
- GordonS 9y ago
  > Electron means you need 2GB of memory for a simple chat app... No, it doesn't. Visual Studio Code is an extensible IDE that is stuffed with features - yet it doesn't use that much memory, and it's fast. And yet there are seemingly simple Electron apps that use a lot of memory and are slow - it seems, just like with any other framework, it's possible to write both good and crappy code.
  - nightski 9y ago
    I mean, I have one window open with one file right now and it is using 400MB which is kind of crazy.
    - GordonS 9y ago
      I just opened a large project in VS 2017 - 1GB of memory usage, vs 250MB by VS Code. Sure, 250MB is a lot by 1990 standards, but for something as fully featured as cross-platform VS Code with today's machines (and especially when compared to full VS), it's rather impressive.
  - flukus 9y ago
    > No, it doesn't. Visual Studio Code is an extensible IDE that is stuffed with features - yet it doesn't use that much memory, and it's fast. When I first used Visual Sutdio it was VC++ 6 and I upgraded my machine to have 256MB of RAM so I could run it. What features does VS Code have that VC++ 6 didn't?
    - 9y ago
pjmlp 9y ago
I hope it dies quicker than Flash.

dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago

I'm sorry, but as for now, Electron is really not the best choice for a desktop platform, and you can't declare it a standard only because some developers choose it, mostly because it's easier for them to create or port apps using a familiar stack. In the future, certain things may change - the performance might be better and resource usage might get lower (although I honestly doubt - with browsers getting more features it's even likely to go the other way round), but as of now, Electron as a desktop platform is inferior when compared to a native app in all aspects.

Scarbutt 9y ago
I see Electron as an example of the "Worse is Better" theme.
- dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
  In what respect? Start-up time, memory and cpu, speed, lack of native controls, poor optimization, complex debugging... What's the worst for me is the fact that you know there are certain parts of the app you will never be able to optimize. It's just like having empty loops inserted in different places of your app, only because of the choice of platform. Sometimes it feels like Swing in the old days.
- pantalaimon 9y ago
  No, usability matters. I've removed the Slack app because it's way too sluggish, just use the website when I want to check it. I've tried Atom but it felt just not right, mainly because it lacked a certain snappyness - so I'm back to Sublime. Sure when the users don't have any alternative they might bear with it, but a major selling point of a native app is that it feels right.
  - tracker1 9y ago
    Agreed on the slack app... but I've been using VS Code very happily, especially since the integrated terminal was added, which is a feature I've wanted in my editor for a very long time... The terminal was pretty sluggish on some things at first, but works well... still not much of a fan of hyperterm, which shares the same terminal integration modules. Most of the electron apps I've used I don't use much... except vs code, and for what interactions I have they aren't bad. However, most of my time is in one of several browser tabs, vs code, and a terminal window. I keep Goofy (fb mobile as electron app), and Spotify (electron iirc) open... that's about it.

dep_b 9y ago

Electron means you need 2GB of memory for a simple chat app like Slack to talk about the application you're building in a fully featured all bells and whistles included application like Visual Studio that only takes 700MB of your memory. Compare what Visual Studio + ReSharper does versus what Slack does. I have no idea what 70% of the features in Visual Studio do yet I'm using it professionally for years and years, there's just too much.

GordonS 9y ago
> Electron means you need 2GB of memory for a simple chat app... No, it doesn't. Visual Studio Code is an extensible IDE that is stuffed with features - yet it doesn't use that much memory, and it's fast. And yet there are seemingly simple Electron apps that use a lot of memory and are slow - it seems, just like with any other framework, it's possible to write both good and crappy code.
- nightski 9y ago
  I mean, I have one window open with one file right now and it is using 400MB which is kind of crazy.
  - GordonS 9y ago
    I just opened a large project in VS 2017 - 1GB of memory usage, vs 250MB by VS Code. Sure, 250MB is a lot by 1990 standards, but for something as fully featured as cross-platform VS Code with today's machines (and especially when compared to full VS), it's rather impressive.
- flukus 9y ago
  > No, it doesn't. Visual Studio Code is an extensible IDE that is stuffed with features - yet it doesn't use that much memory, and it's fast. When I first used Visual Sutdio it was VC++ 6 and I upgraded my machine to have 256MB of RAM so I could run it. What features does VS Code have that VC++ 6 didn't?
  - 9y ago

pjmlp 9y ago

I hope it dies quicker than Flash.