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This is easy to say for Mac, where there’s a “true” platform framework. It’s not as clear cut for Windows/Linux, and hell if I’m going to spin my wheels writing

This is easy to say for Mac, where there’s a “true” platform framework. It’s not as clear cut for Windows/Linux, and hell if I’m going to spin my wheels writing UI code for ages. It’s been beaten to death relentlessly but there’s a reason nobody actually does this anymore. It’s also seriously funny that it’s the same accounts that argue this stuff every time it comes up on this site. ;P

rymate1234 7y ago
There's a true platform framework for Windows, and that's either WPF if you need to target Windows pre 10, and WinUI / UWP for targeting Windows 10 People do this all the time, there's native mobile applications using the true platform frameworks for both operating systems
- Longhanks 7y ago
  Win32 is still the definition of native on Windows, it's used by Explorer, Paint, cmd, WinRar, Chrome, Firefox and many more applications. Most UWP applications did not succeed their Win32 counterparts (yet?), for example Edge (which is replaced by Chromium, which is built on Win32), Paint 3D (where Microsoft paddled back from their initial statement of removing the "old" mspaint.exe), Groove Music (basically on life support). There's plenty of abstractions for Win32, too, such as Qt (see VLC for example, which feels native to Windows). The only major consumer program written in WPF I know is Visual Studio, but I haven't heard of WPF development in a long time (except for the move to open source).
catalogia 7y ago
I think at this point GTK is the de-facto "native" for Linux desktops unless you've named your application something that begins with 'k'.
- ilammy 7y ago
  Yeah, right. If you do that you are legally required to use Qt.
- kitsunesoba 7y ago
  GTK has the advantage of having fully capable bindings for every language under the sun, so I would generally agree. Qt is harder to create bindings for since it’s C++, meaning it’s more likely that your language of choice doesn’t have bindings, in which case if said language doesn’t have C++ interop you’re stuck.
tomjen3 7y ago
Honestly, just write the front-end in Visual Studio/C# and that should be native. Or write it in Win32 api, in C. For GNU/Linux, write it in GTK or QT, as appropriate.
saagarjha 7y ago
It comes up quite often ;)

rymate1234 7y ago

There's a true platform framework for Windows, and that's either WPF if you need to target Windows pre 10, and WinUI / UWP for targeting Windows 10 People do this all the time, there's native mobile applications using the true platform frameworks for both operating systems

Longhanks 7y ago
Win32 is still the definition of native on Windows, it's used by Explorer, Paint, cmd, WinRar, Chrome, Firefox and many more applications. Most UWP applications did not succeed their Win32 counterparts (yet?), for example Edge (which is replaced by Chromium, which is built on Win32), Paint 3D (where Microsoft paddled back from their initial statement of removing the "old" mspaint.exe), Groove Music (basically on life support). There's plenty of abstractions for Win32, too, such as Qt (see VLC for example, which feels native to Windows). The only major consumer program written in WPF I know is Visual Studio, but I haven't heard of WPF development in a long time (except for the move to open source).

catalogia 7y ago

I think at this point GTK is the de-facto "native" for Linux desktops unless you've named your application something that begins with 'k'.

ilammy 7y ago
Yeah, right. If you do that you are legally required to use Qt.
kitsunesoba 7y ago
GTK has the advantage of having fully capable bindings for every language under the sun, so I would generally agree. Qt is harder to create bindings for since it’s C++, meaning it’s more likely that your language of choice doesn’t have bindings, in which case if said language doesn’t have C++ interop you’re stuck.

tomjen3 7y ago

Honestly, just write the front-end in Visual Studio/C# and that should be native. Or write it in Win32 api, in C. For GNU/Linux, write it in GTK or QT, as appropriate.

saagarjha 7y ago

It comes up quite often ;)