8 ms·

Hippy: React Native Alternative by Tencent

98 points by Jarred 7y ago

yonibot 7y ago
Looks like they haven't put up much documentation yet - hard to say what this is really. How do you work with different platforms? How does the performance compare to React Native? Can we see examples? What APIs exist to access native functionalities? How complete is the Flex implementation?
- Jarred 7y ago
  I dug around a little and installed their demo app in the iOS simulator: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hl3nk8jrcjleurj/hippy.mov?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/hl3nk8jrcjleurj/hippy.mov?dl=0. Visually, the only interesting part of the demo app is the RefreshWrapper example Code-wise, the most interesting things I've seen: - They expose wrappers for native recycling list views[0]. React Native does this in JavaScript through VirtualizedList, however some have experienced performance issues with it[1] - They wrote their own flexbox layout library[2] (likely based on Yoga) - It works with both Vue[3] and React - Hippy supports web as a build target out of the box[4] (react-native-web is a 3rd party library) - Touch events work on the `<View />` component directly, instead of needing to wrap `<View />`'s in the `<Touchable />` components[5] - It uses a closed-source fork of libv8 on Android called X5[6]. The API & coding style is quite similar to React Native, but the implementation seems different. I'm guessing this started as an internal fork of React Native and turned into a large refactor, but that's just a guess [0]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/component/listview/HippyBaseListView.m https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/compone... [1]: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/13413 https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/13413 [2]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/layout https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/layout [3]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-vue https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-... [4]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-react-web https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-... [5]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-react#migrate-from-react-native https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-... [6]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/issues/9#issuecomment-568228569 https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/issues/9#issuecomment-56822...
  - dnate 7y ago
    > - It uses a closed-source fork of libv8 on Android called X5[6]. this makes my spidey senses tingle. What might be hidden there?
    - weego 7y ago
      Maybe they hid casual racism.
    - GeoffIsTheBest 7y ago
      I agree. If Facebook had a closed source lib in RN it would be DOA. I would be very curious to know why and if there are plans to replace with open source.
dazhbog 7y ago
Hippy is now applied in 18 Tencent apps concerning tens of billions of ordinary users. Having used a lot of these apps I wonder if this is indeed what they use to deliver near native experience with web technologies..
- CGamesPlay 7y ago
  Where did they find the extra 2.5 billion people?
  - K0nserv 7y ago
    They are probably talking about unqiue users in each app. 10b/18 ≈ 555m per app which isn't unreasonable for Tencent.
    - curist 7y ago
      According to their chinese doc, the number is actually "multiple hundred millions", so it's more likely just a translation issue.
  - cbnotfromthere 7y ago
    Users != people
  - dcsan 7y ago
    Chinese (and japanese) use 4 digit separated factors, so it's easy to make these kind of mistakes. eg 100 ten-thousands not 1000 x 1000s. Even after living there awhile, converting big currency numbers is a pain.
- sandGorgon 7y ago
  Does anyone know which app this is ?
wilt 7y ago
Anyone done a security audit on this yet?
- bnt 7y ago
  Why?
  - gigatexal 7y ago
    The Chinese state perhaps including backdoors to spy on users?
    - rat9988 7y ago
      I guess we should do the same about any open source project. I don't know a state who has proven to be reliable.
      - shrimpx 7y ago
        Any state could spy on users but china is known to blatantly do so.
        tirpen 7y ago
        To be fair, so is the US (NSA) , but people rarely suggest that packages from the US should be monitored extra closely for some reason. Of course every package used in any code that contains sensitive data should be audited along with its dependant, but I see no reason to be more afraid of this particular package than anything people happily install from npm.
        cbnotfromthere 7y ago
        You're equating a democracy with a totalitarian state.
        TomMarius 7y ago
JamesPhung 7y ago
Don't use, please. All chinese big corps are controlled by evil communist party. See what they are doing with their people: HongKong, Xinjiang, Falungong ... Lie everywhere, control everything
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
K0nserv 7y ago
I opened a random file(HippyBridge.h[0]) and it looks very similar to React Native's RCTBridge.h[1] which leads me to believe Hippy is either a fork of React Native or heavily "inspired" by it. A lot of the comments and symbols match React Native's 1-to-1. EDIT: I've read through more of the source and compared it to React Native. Like Jarred mentioned[2] it probably started out as a fork of React Native. 0: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/base/HippyBridge.h https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/base/Hi... 1: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/React/Base/RCTBridge.h https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/React/B... 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21877857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21877857
- unityByFreedom 7y ago
  If it is a react native fork, I wonder if they plan to acknowledge that. Seems like that is the first thing you'd mention. I can't see a reason not to mention this unless you're trying to fool someone.
  - yorwba 7y ago
    They do acknowledge using code from Vue: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/e284c6b399e50bfb256469072dd8afdb8cd0e13b/LICENSE#L205 https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/e284c6b399e50bfb256469...
    - unityByFreedom 7y ago
      Not from react, which is what parent comment was talking about. That they acknowledge code use from another source is irrelevant.
      - yorwba 7y ago
        It's not irrelevant, since that makes it more puzzling why they'd acknowledge one project but not another.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
d0100 7y ago
I won't use this probable spyware, however I do hope that some RN competition can make RN grow, and be, a bit faster.
- FooBarWidget 7y ago
  Why speculate on whether it is spyware? Read the source and verify it for yourself. If there is spyware I would appreciate a link to the relevant lines.
  - d0100 7y ago
    Like Jarred wrote up there: - It uses a closed-source fork of libv8 on Android called X5[6].
  - natch 7y ago
    How do you read the source of a closed source library? I mean sure reverse engineering is possible but it’s a bit flippant to suggest that everyone has time to do this. Even if it did not have closed source libraries, it’s a bit much to assume everyone affected can understand the source. We already know that tencent engages in bad stuff on behalf of the Chinese government (Sesame Credit as a concrete example) so they shouldn’t be presumed innocent right out of the box. What’s wrong with existing cross platform frameworks? You have to wonder what their agenda is for creating this.
    - yorwba 7y ago
      > Sesame Credit as a concrete example Sesame Credit is not a Tencent project. If you're going to get facts wrong, at least don't repeat them more than once. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879422 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879422 > You have to wonder what their agenda is for creating this. Career advancement for everyone on the list of contributors.
      - natch 7y ago
        I believe that when it started out they were also working on it, but I’ll admit to not having a source at the moment. Would not be surprised if all evidence of their involvement has been wiped from the internet though. In the meantime I’m pretty sure they fully cooperate with the Chinese government in supplying data to the Sesame Credit system through their social media properties like WeChat. Something that more ethical competitors like WhatsApp have refused to do.
chvid 7y ago
I think it is really great to see the Chinese internet giants releasing some of their software as open source. In a time of geopolitical "tech wars" open source culture could easily become collateral damage.
- verttii 7y ago
  Or a weapon.
  - chvid 7y ago
    How is that?
    - imvetri 7y ago
      Give it some time.
      - KaoruAoiShiho 7y ago
        It doesn't make any sense, open source is far less likely than proprietary to become weapons, and users have far more recourse.
    - Vesuvium 7y ago
      Corporations have been using open source to exert technological dominance and push standards that favour their agenda for some time. It's proving so effective to have direct control on software and standards that more and more companies are engaging into this activity. Certain tools come with telemetry that is used to track the users. On top of this, by making open source these corporations are seen as good for the community by naive engineers. You can find here on HN articles that talk about how Google is using Chrome to bend the web to its will, how Visual Studio Code tracks its users and how Facebook uses its Android SDK to track smartphones. JetBrains declared they made Kotlin with the intent of gaining an edge on competition for Java IDEs (no spying intent declared or reported, but I want to highlight that even for a $300 million company technological domain is proving effective). Tencent is merely doing what other corporations have been doing for decades.
mechnesium 7y ago
Disconcerting and suspicious to see so many Chinese codebases being advertized here. I feel that there is some nation state activity behind it. There is a ban on Chinese work products in sensitive industries (aerospace/defense, military, and government), and other industries should follow suit if they care about security.
- dang 7y ago
  Please do not copy/paste comments on HN. That strictly lowers the signal/noise ratio. Also, your comment breaks the site guideline against insinuating astroturfing, shillage, etc., without evidence. I replied to you about that here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879877 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879877. Please don't do it again.
calmworm 7y ago
"New React Native"
nkkollaw 7y ago
I don't think it would be easy to push the switch to management: "We'd like to rewrite our React Native up to use Hippy..."

98 points by Jarred 7y ago

Looks like they haven't put up much documentation yet - hard to say what this is really. How do you work with different platforms? How does the performance compare to React Native? Can we see examples? What APIs exist to access native functionalities? How complete is the Flex implementation?

Jarred 7y ago
I dug around a little and installed their demo app in the iOS simulator: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hl3nk8jrcjleurj/hippy.mov?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/hl3nk8jrcjleurj/hippy.mov?dl=0. Visually, the only interesting part of the demo app is the RefreshWrapper example Code-wise, the most interesting things I've seen: - They expose wrappers for native recycling list views[0]. React Native does this in JavaScript through VirtualizedList, however some have experienced performance issues with it[1] - They wrote their own flexbox layout library[2] (likely based on Yoga) - It works with both Vue[3] and React - Hippy supports web as a build target out of the box[4] (react-native-web is a 3rd party library) - Touch events work on the `<View />` component directly, instead of needing to wrap `<View />`'s in the `<Touchable />` components[5] - It uses a closed-source fork of libv8 on Android called X5[6]. The API & coding style is quite similar to React Native, but the implementation seems different. I'm guessing this started as an internal fork of React Native and turned into a large refactor, but that's just a guess [0]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/component/listview/HippyBaseListView.m https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/compone... [1]: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/13413 https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/13413 [2]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/layout https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/layout [3]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-vue https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-... [4]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-react-web https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-... [5]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-react#migrate-from-react-native https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/tree/master/packages/hippy-... [6]: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/issues/9#issuecomment-568228569 https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/issues/9#issuecomment-56822...
- dnate 7y ago
  > - It uses a closed-source fork of libv8 on Android called X5[6]. this makes my spidey senses tingle. What might be hidden there?
  - weego 7y ago
    Maybe they hid casual racism.
  - GeoffIsTheBest 7y ago
    I agree. If Facebook had a closed source lib in RN it would be DOA. I would be very curious to know why and if there are plans to replace with open source.

dazhbog 7y ago

Hippy is now applied in 18 Tencent apps concerning tens of billions of ordinary users. Having used a lot of these apps I wonder if this is indeed what they use to deliver near native experience with web technologies..

CGamesPlay 7y ago
Where did they find the extra 2.5 billion people?
- K0nserv 7y ago
  They are probably talking about unqiue users in each app. 10b/18 ≈ 555m per app which isn't unreasonable for Tencent.
  - curist 7y ago
    According to their chinese doc, the number is actually "multiple hundred millions", so it's more likely just a translation issue.
- cbnotfromthere 7y ago
  Users != people
- dcsan 7y ago
  Chinese (and japanese) use 4 digit separated factors, so it's easy to make these kind of mistakes. eg 100 ten-thousands not 1000 x 1000s. Even after living there awhile, converting big currency numbers is a pain.
sandGorgon 7y ago
Does anyone know which app this is ?

wilt 7y ago

Anyone done a security audit on this yet?

bnt 7y ago
Why?
- gigatexal 7y ago
  The Chinese state perhaps including backdoors to spy on users?
  - rat9988 7y ago
    I guess we should do the same about any open source project. I don't know a state who has proven to be reliable.
    - shrimpx 7y ago
      Any state could spy on users but china is known to blatantly do so.
      - tirpen 7y ago
        To be fair, so is the US (NSA) , but people rarely suggest that packages from the US should be monitored extra closely for some reason. Of course every package used in any code that contains sensitive data should be audited along with its dependant, but I see no reason to be more afraid of this particular package than anything people happily install from npm.
        cbnotfromthere 7y ago
        You're equating a democracy with a totalitarian state.
        TomMarius 7y ago

JamesPhung 7y ago

Don't use, please. All chinese big corps are controlled by evil communist party. See what they are doing with their people: HongKong, Xinjiang, Falungong ... Lie everywhere, control everything

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

K0nserv 7y ago

I opened a random file(HippyBridge.h[0]) and it looks very similar to React Native's RCTBridge.h[1] which leads me to believe Hippy is either a fork of React Native or heavily "inspired" by it. A lot of the comments and symbols match React Native's 1-to-1. EDIT: I've read through more of the source and compared it to React Native. Like Jarred mentioned[2] it probably started out as a fork of React Native. 0: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/base/HippyBridge.h https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/master/ios/sdk/base/Hi... 1: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/React/Base/RCTBridge.h https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/React/B... 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21877857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21877857

unityByFreedom 7y ago
If it is a react native fork, I wonder if they plan to acknowledge that. Seems like that is the first thing you'd mention. I can't see a reason not to mention this unless you're trying to fool someone.
- yorwba 7y ago
  They do acknowledge using code from Vue: https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/e284c6b399e50bfb256469072dd8afdb8cd0e13b/LICENSE#L205 https://github.com/Tencent/Hippy/blob/e284c6b399e50bfb256469...
  - unityByFreedom 7y ago
    Not from react, which is what parent comment was talking about. That they acknowledge code use from another source is irrelevant.
    - yorwba 7y ago
      It's not irrelevant, since that makes it more puzzling why they'd acknowledge one project but not another.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

d0100 7y ago

I won't use this probable spyware, however I do hope that some RN competition can make RN grow, and be, a bit faster.

FooBarWidget 7y ago
Why speculate on whether it is spyware? Read the source and verify it for yourself. If there is spyware I would appreciate a link to the relevant lines.
- d0100 7y ago
  Like Jarred wrote up there: - It uses a closed-source fork of libv8 on Android called X5[6].
- natch 7y ago
  How do you read the source of a closed source library? I mean sure reverse engineering is possible but it’s a bit flippant to suggest that everyone has time to do this. Even if it did not have closed source libraries, it’s a bit much to assume everyone affected can understand the source. We already know that tencent engages in bad stuff on behalf of the Chinese government (Sesame Credit as a concrete example) so they shouldn’t be presumed innocent right out of the box. What’s wrong with existing cross platform frameworks? You have to wonder what their agenda is for creating this.
  - yorwba 7y ago
    > Sesame Credit as a concrete example Sesame Credit is not a Tencent project. If you're going to get facts wrong, at least don't repeat them more than once. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879422 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879422 > You have to wonder what their agenda is for creating this. Career advancement for everyone on the list of contributors.
    - natch 7y ago
      I believe that when it started out they were also working on it, but I’ll admit to not having a source at the moment. Would not be surprised if all evidence of their involvement has been wiped from the internet though. In the meantime I’m pretty sure they fully cooperate with the Chinese government in supplying data to the Sesame Credit system through their social media properties like WeChat. Something that more ethical competitors like WhatsApp have refused to do.

chvid 7y ago

I think it is really great to see the Chinese internet giants releasing some of their software as open source. In a time of geopolitical "tech wars" open source culture could easily become collateral damage.

verttii 7y ago
Or a weapon.
- chvid 7y ago
  How is that?
  - imvetri 7y ago
    Give it some time.
    - KaoruAoiShiho 7y ago
      It doesn't make any sense, open source is far less likely than proprietary to become weapons, and users have far more recourse.
  - Vesuvium 7y ago
    Corporations have been using open source to exert technological dominance and push standards that favour their agenda for some time. It's proving so effective to have direct control on software and standards that more and more companies are engaging into this activity. Certain tools come with telemetry that is used to track the users. On top of this, by making open source these corporations are seen as good for the community by naive engineers. You can find here on HN articles that talk about how Google is using Chrome to bend the web to its will, how Visual Studio Code tracks its users and how Facebook uses its Android SDK to track smartphones. JetBrains declared they made Kotlin with the intent of gaining an edge on competition for Java IDEs (no spying intent declared or reported, but I want to highlight that even for a $300 million company technological domain is proving effective). Tencent is merely doing what other corporations have been doing for decades.

mechnesium 7y ago

Disconcerting and suspicious to see so many Chinese codebases being advertized here. I feel that there is some nation state activity behind it. There is a ban on Chinese work products in sensitive industries (aerospace/defense, military, and government), and other industries should follow suit if they care about security.

dang 7y ago
Please do not copy/paste comments on HN. That strictly lowers the signal/noise ratio. Also, your comment breaks the site guideline against insinuating astroturfing, shillage, etc., without evidence. I replied to you about that here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879877 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21879877. Please don't do it again.

calmworm 7y ago

"New React Native"

nkkollaw 7y ago

I don't think it would be easy to push the switch to management: "We'd like to rewrite our React Native up to use Hippy..."