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To be honest, I wouldn't like mobile going the html/js way at all. Html/js has moved to desktop with electron and the results aren't that great. They take up hu

To be honest, I wouldn't like mobile going the html/js way at all. Html/js has moved to desktop with electron and the results aren't that great. They take up huge amounts of memory ( gmail web on chrome takes up 500mb of ram on my machine, also slack is a noteworthy mention). Native desktop apps take up a fraction of that memory. For the sake of accessibility we have significantly sacrificed performance. I can't wait for webassembly to be widely adopted so that the browser can move away from html/js. Google has a nifty tool called ArcWelder which allows android apps to run in chrome. Apple has already announced support for running iOS apps on Mac. I actually believe that the reverse will happen and for more popular apps like fb, gmail etc people will move back to using native , less memory hogging applications once they are out.

mkirklions 8y ago
Whats the issue with using 500mb memory? I have 8gb on a 5 year old computer.
- me551ah 8y ago
  That's also multiplied by the number of tabs that you have open. A medium tab is right now taking up 200mb and so is Amazon. I have over 3 browser windows open with many tabs and need to use extensions to auto kills tabs so that the OS doesn't end up into swap space territory. I also run Android Studio and an emulator on the side which compete for memory.
  - mkirklions 8y ago
    I do similar where I have 60 tabs and 5 windows open, a few servers, text editors, etc... But I can always close tabs.
    - me551ah 8y ago
      You need to close tabs, but when was the last time you had to close apps on mobile for performance reasons? Even though mobile devices have significantly lesser specifications.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
SimeVidas 8y ago
Never mind Electron. Soon it will become normal to install web apps on desktop, directly from the browser—it will be basically a website rendered in a separate window without any browser UI. That system will not have Electron’s memory problems.
- me551ah 8y ago
  Memory problems aren't inherent to electron, they are inherent to html/js apps and you can also see that in chrome by opening up your task manager. Even small websites with minimal content end up taking 100+mb in memory. It has always been possible to install web apps from browser, chrome has supported it since a number of years but they haven't caught on as much.

mkirklions 8y ago

Whats the issue with using 500mb memory? I have 8gb on a 5 year old computer.

me551ah 8y ago
That's also multiplied by the number of tabs that you have open. A medium tab is right now taking up 200mb and so is Amazon. I have over 3 browser windows open with many tabs and need to use extensions to auto kills tabs so that the OS doesn't end up into swap space territory. I also run Android Studio and an emulator on the side which compete for memory.
- mkirklions 8y ago
  I do similar where I have 60 tabs and 5 windows open, a few servers, text editors, etc... But I can always close tabs.
  - me551ah 8y ago
    You need to close tabs, but when was the last time you had to close apps on mobile for performance reasons? Even though mobile devices have significantly lesser specifications.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

SimeVidas 8y ago

Never mind Electron. Soon it will become normal to install web apps on desktop, directly from the browser—it will be basically a website rendered in a separate window without any browser UI. That system will not have Electron’s memory problems.

me551ah 8y ago
Memory problems aren't inherent to electron, they are inherent to html/js apps and you can also see that in chrome by opening up your task manager. Even small websites with minimal content end up taking 100+mb in memory. It has always been possible to install web apps from browser, chrome has supported it since a number of years but they haven't caught on as much.