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React Native is native. There’s no HTML. You’re using JSX (probably) which is basically XML in JavaScript (it’s not as bad as it sounds) to build native UI. Can

React Native is native. There’s no HTML. You’re using JSX (probably) which is basically XML in JavaScript (it’s not as bad as it sounds) to build native UI. Can’t stress the native bit enough. Where React Native differs from truly Native is that UI orchestration is batched into chunks on the JS side and sent asynchronously to a native receiver, which then applies those changes to the native side. This means that currently if your JS thread gets blocked, or the main thread gets blocked, your app will snag. Performance is a top priority for React Native and it mostly fulfills that goal too. It’s not hard to keep your app running at 60fps.

wvenable 8y ago
React native is an abstraction layer. It has all the problems of any abstraction layer has ever had on any platform that has ever existed. The lessons from this article (that is 15 years old) is still relevant today: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-abstractions/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-a... Using the term "native" to say something is "not HTML" is sort of disingenuous. There is just a whole different custom layer in the middle instead.
- ricardobeat 8y ago
  Not disingenuous at all - all the rendering code is _native_, no subtle hidden meanings. No webviews, no custom drawing, all existing platform components - that's as 'native' as you can get.
  - wvenable 8y ago
    By that argument, all the rendering code in my browser is also native. The browser takes a markup language and CSS and renders this text using native components. React Native takes smaller markup and a subset of CSS and renders it using native components. So how is that as native as you can get in comparison? I agree that layer between markup and native controls is thinner in React Native but the actual abstraction is actually very comprehensive. iOS and Android applications are constructed quite differently from each other. And React Native is itself different from that. It has an entirely different API with a whole different model for how applications are made. So much so that the platform differences are almost completely papered over. So is that native? I disagree that the idea of "native components" trumps the fact that practically everything you do in React Native is different from the underlying platform. Ultimately that seems like the least important detail. The abstraction is actually what makes React Native useful but it shouldn't be sold as "native".

wvenable 8y ago

React native is an abstraction layer. It has all the problems of any abstraction layer has ever had on any platform that has ever existed. The lessons from this article (that is 15 years old) is still relevant today: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-abstractions/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-a... Using the term "native" to say something is "not HTML" is sort of disingenuous. There is just a whole different custom layer in the middle instead.

ricardobeat 8y ago
Not disingenuous at all - all the rendering code is _native_, no subtle hidden meanings. No webviews, no custom drawing, all existing platform components - that's as 'native' as you can get.
- wvenable 8y ago
  By that argument, all the rendering code in my browser is also native. The browser takes a markup language and CSS and renders this text using native components. React Native takes smaller markup and a subset of CSS and renders it using native components. So how is that as native as you can get in comparison? I agree that layer between markup and native controls is thinner in React Native but the actual abstraction is actually very comprehensive. iOS and Android applications are constructed quite differently from each other. And React Native is itself different from that. It has an entirely different API with a whole different model for how applications are made. So much so that the platform differences are almost completely papered over. So is that native? I disagree that the idea of "native components" trumps the fact that practically everything you do in React Native is different from the underlying platform. Ultimately that seems like the least important detail. The abstraction is actually what makes React Native useful but it shouldn't be sold as "native".