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Nobody has the resources for that. Some companies make OSes, and some companies send rockets to space. Those feats are also powered by thin wrappers over electr

Nobody has the resources for that. Some companies make OSes, and some companies send rockets to space. Those feats are also powered by thin wrappers over electron. /s People seem to forget that C++ and opengl is cross-platform. And there are projects far bigger than slack, like ffmpeg and OpenCV that have existed for decades, always had very fast development cycles, with only a subset of the funding and money that Slack has, and stayed native and close to the metal forever. A better answer would be, that Slack has deemed the benefits that would result from this as not that important. Or that the current team's expertise cannot handle the task. But they always looking into ways of improving the core product and experience.

bendixso 7y ago
It is telling that the person arguing in favor of native C/C++ has to use a throwaway account for fear of going against the dominant force of opinion in our industry. We should be able to have these conversations openly without wondering if it makes us less employable.
- hellofunk 7y ago
  You shouldn't make assumptions about why someone's account is named throwaway.
  - bendixso 7y ago
    Fair point. It's a thought that has gone through my head a few times. There are places that want you to conform to whatever it is we call "modern" software development, and I often find myself feeling uncomfortable about expressing an alternate viewpoint. There's no conspiracy or anything going on here, and you're right it's wrong to assume. That's the general sentiment of what I was trying to say though.
- qudat 7y ago
  Please. This is literally the same argument I read over and over again on HN. This IS the bastion for this kind of argument.
- illuminati1911 7y ago
  When you are in hackers news your new gods are: shoehorning JS everywhere, Go and complaining how women get discriminated in the tech industry. Disagree -> dv.
johnzim 7y ago
Slack also grew out of the team that made Glitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game) That core team therefore had a lot of frontend web dev experience. It made sense that they'd stick to their strengths
- stephenr 7y ago
  The performance and resource usage of slack both on the desktop and in a browser indicates that “front end code” is not their strength.
  - SkyMarshal 7y ago
    Creating a web app with a multi-billion dollar valuation indicates it is their strength. Who cares about a little superfluous memory usage compared to that.
    - nameismypw 7y ago
      Developers who respect their work, for one.
    - sixstringtheory 7y ago
      Drilling and refining fossil fuels are BP's strengths, who cares about a little oil spilling into the environment? Can you see how maybe other people might have valid concerns about the effects of a product, and ask for more rigor in the company's processes?
      - SkyMarshal 7y ago
        >Drilling and refining fossil fuels are BP's strengths, who cares about a little oil spilling into the environment? That's perhaps the most tortured analogy I've ever heard. I can't even begin to fathom how you think that's comparable or relevant.
        7y ago
chocolatkey 7y ago
See the other child comment about ripcord. Made by one (smart) person
somethingnot 7y ago
> People seem to forget that C++ and opengl is cross-platform OpenGL is dying. It's already deprecated on MacOS. https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/04/opengl-opencl-deprecated-in-favor-of-metal-2-in-macos-1014-mojave https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/04/opengl-opencl-dep...
- Groxx 7y ago
  Sure, but there are multiple "OpenGL on Metal/Vulkan" projects. Because it's possible to do so without all that much of a performance loss. OpenGL effectively should die... but it's not going to be in favor of raw Metal/Vulkan, except in rare cases. Most people already use engines that abstract most of that away, and Metal/Vulkan are in basically every way better for those engines.
- yellowapple 7y ago
  Apple deprecates lots of things that are still alive and well (see also: headphone jacks). I wouldn't read too much into that.

bendixso 7y ago

It is telling that the person arguing in favor of native C/C++ has to use a throwaway account for fear of going against the dominant force of opinion in our industry. We should be able to have these conversations openly without wondering if it makes us less employable.

hellofunk 7y ago
You shouldn't make assumptions about why someone's account is named throwaway.
- bendixso 7y ago
  Fair point. It's a thought that has gone through my head a few times. There are places that want you to conform to whatever it is we call "modern" software development, and I often find myself feeling uncomfortable about expressing an alternate viewpoint. There's no conspiracy or anything going on here, and you're right it's wrong to assume. That's the general sentiment of what I was trying to say though.
qudat 7y ago
Please. This is literally the same argument I read over and over again on HN. This IS the bastion for this kind of argument.
illuminati1911 7y ago
When you are in hackers news your new gods are: shoehorning JS everywhere, Go and complaining how women get discriminated in the tech industry. Disagree -> dv.

johnzim 7y ago

Slack also grew out of the team that made Glitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game) That core team therefore had a lot of frontend web dev experience. It made sense that they'd stick to their strengths

stephenr 7y ago
The performance and resource usage of slack both on the desktop and in a browser indicates that “front end code” is not their strength.
- SkyMarshal 7y ago
  Creating a web app with a multi-billion dollar valuation indicates it is their strength. Who cares about a little superfluous memory usage compared to that.
  - nameismypw 7y ago
    Developers who respect their work, for one.
  - sixstringtheory 7y ago
    Drilling and refining fossil fuels are BP's strengths, who cares about a little oil spilling into the environment? Can you see how maybe other people might have valid concerns about the effects of a product, and ask for more rigor in the company's processes?
    - SkyMarshal 7y ago
      >Drilling and refining fossil fuels are BP's strengths, who cares about a little oil spilling into the environment? That's perhaps the most tortured analogy I've ever heard. I can't even begin to fathom how you think that's comparable or relevant.
      - 7y ago

chocolatkey 7y ago

See the other child comment about ripcord. Made by one (smart) person

somethingnot 7y ago

> People seem to forget that C++ and opengl is cross-platform OpenGL is dying. It's already deprecated on MacOS. https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/04/opengl-opencl-deprecated-in-favor-of-metal-2-in-macos-1014-mojave https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/04/opengl-opencl-dep...

Groxx 7y ago
Sure, but there are multiple "OpenGL on Metal/Vulkan" projects. Because it's possible to do so without all that much of a performance loss. OpenGL effectively should die... but it's not going to be in favor of raw Metal/Vulkan, except in rare cases. Most people already use engines that abstract most of that away, and Metal/Vulkan are in basically every way better for those engines.
yellowapple 7y ago
Apple deprecates lots of things that are still alive and well (see also: headphone jacks). I wouldn't read too much into that.