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Electron Is Cancer

24 points by applekicks 9y ago

paulddraper 9y ago
VS Code is the hallmark of electron done well. Does it use more resources than vim or sublime? Yes. But it's fast enough to be a workhorse for gobs of devs. And it's core + community development outstrips every other IDE. Would I prefer saving $20 of RAM? Sure. But what I really like is best in class $LANG support. (In my case, Typescript.)
- scarface74 9y ago
  Why is it that VS Code works well and nothing else does? I just started using VS Code with Python after using Visual Studio almost exclusively for 20 years with C++ and then C#/Typescript/JavaScript. I actually like VSCode better than PyCharm and I am usually a fan of JetBrains products.
argimenes 9y ago
I liked these kind of articles better when they were called, "X considered harmful"...
ddtaylor 9y ago
> You are not your end-users, and you if you are a developer most likely do not run average hardware. Well, in that case (Atom) end users were developers.
- brandonjm 9y ago
  I believe this is implying that developers take Atom (and other Electron apps) working fine on their computer and believe Electron app products they build will also work fine on any computer their end user may be using. So that particular line doesn't apply to the original "which editor is faster" article, but it does apply to the context of this article.
tonetheman 9y ago
This article cannot be posted enough. :)
Clobbersmith 9y ago
My counterpoint to the frequent "electron is worse than Hitler and aids combined": what's the alternative? Especially when it comes to commercial software where certain open source licenses are a non-starter and there just aren't a lot of resources for writing desktop apps.
- scarface74 9y ago
  The alternative is to build a native app using a native tool chain like developers have been doing for years....
- seandougall 9y ago
  > there just aren't a lot of resources for writing desktop apps. Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? I develop primarily for macOS, and I’ve very rarely been unable to find resources for what I need. As far as alternatives for cross-platform, one possibility in many scenarios is to write your core functionality in a language that can target multiple platforms (e.g. C, C++, Rust, Swift) and then write platform-specific wrappers around it. (I don’t personally think Electron is the end of humanity, but it does irk me when people call it “native”.)
  - paulddraper 9y ago
    > Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? I'm 100% certain the OP meant "resources for writing cross-platform desktop apps". > write your core functionality in a language that can target multiple platforms...write platform-specific wrappers around it This is nearly always suggested by someone who has never attempted this. There is a reason there are mountains of Windows-only or Mac-only software out there.
    - seandougall 9y ago
      > This is nearly always suggested by someone who has never attempted this. Oh, I've done it, and seen it done many times—it all depends on what the application is attempting to do. If the goal is something platform-specific enough that this approach doesn't work well, then something like Electron generally doesn't seem to either.
pvh 9y ago
Worth noting that Electron and native apps both only need to run at the frame rate of your monitor, and do the actual work within your users' expected response times. The quality of your applications is primarily determined by what you care about, not by what tools you build them with.

24 points by applekicks 9y ago

VS Code is the hallmark of electron done well. Does it use more resources than vim or sublime? Yes. But it's fast enough to be a workhorse for gobs of devs. And it's core + community development outstrips every other IDE. Would I prefer saving $20 of RAM? Sure. But what I really like is best in class $LANG support. (In my case, Typescript.)

scarface74 9y ago
Why is it that VS Code works well and nothing else does? I just started using VS Code with Python after using Visual Studio almost exclusively for 20 years with C++ and then C#/Typescript/JavaScript. I actually like VSCode better than PyCharm and I am usually a fan of JetBrains products.

argimenes 9y ago

I liked these kind of articles better when they were called, "X considered harmful"...

ddtaylor 9y ago

> You are not your end-users, and you if you are a developer most likely do not run average hardware. Well, in that case (Atom) end users were developers.

brandonjm 9y ago
I believe this is implying that developers take Atom (and other Electron apps) working fine on their computer and believe Electron app products they build will also work fine on any computer their end user may be using. So that particular line doesn't apply to the original "which editor is faster" article, but it does apply to the context of this article.

tonetheman 9y ago

This article cannot be posted enough. :)

Clobbersmith 9y ago

My counterpoint to the frequent "electron is worse than Hitler and aids combined": what's the alternative? Especially when it comes to commercial software where certain open source licenses are a non-starter and there just aren't a lot of resources for writing desktop apps.

scarface74 9y ago
The alternative is to build a native app using a native tool chain like developers have been doing for years....
seandougall 9y ago
> there just aren't a lot of resources for writing desktop apps. Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? I develop primarily for macOS, and I’ve very rarely been unable to find resources for what I need. As far as alternatives for cross-platform, one possibility in many scenarios is to write your core functionality in a language that can target multiple platforms (e.g. C, C++, Rust, Swift) and then write platform-specific wrappers around it. (I don’t personally think Electron is the end of humanity, but it does irk me when people call it “native”.)
- paulddraper 9y ago
  > Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? I'm 100% certain the OP meant "resources for writing cross-platform desktop apps". > write your core functionality in a language that can target multiple platforms...write platform-specific wrappers around it This is nearly always suggested by someone who has never attempted this. There is a reason there are mountains of Windows-only or Mac-only software out there.
  - seandougall 9y ago
    > This is nearly always suggested by someone who has never attempted this. Oh, I've done it, and seen it done many times—it all depends on what the application is attempting to do. If the goal is something platform-specific enough that this approach doesn't work well, then something like Electron generally doesn't seem to either.

pvh 9y ago

Worth noting that Electron and native apps both only need to run at the frame rate of your monitor, and do the actual work within your users' expected response times. The quality of your applications is primarily determined by what you care about, not by what tools you build them with.