4 ms·

What's the point of going this route when things like React native exist for cross-platform dev? Lots more devs, documentation, industry-use, etc. in the React

What's the point of going this route when things like React native exist for cross-platform dev? Lots more devs, documentation, industry-use, etc. in the React world. Serious question. Is it just performance?

naasking 5y ago
Not sure what React has to do with anything, this is a UI framework for .NET.
- adamc 5y ago
  I'm not the OP, but I would guess he was coming at it from an app point of view rather than an implementation environment point of view -- as in, "why should I write an app this way (assuming I could use any language/tools)?" If you are already locked-in to .NET, then it's a different question.
jmnicolas 5y ago
Web dev allergy in my case. You probably don't see it anymore, but for someone that didn't start with it, it's very convoluted and seems very brittle. I want a compiler that colors my code red when I make a mistake, not an environment that behaves like nothing happened. I don't want to juggle 3 different languages, need to download the whole internet when I want a simple function like left pad. Although I despise what MS stands for, C# is a joy to use. I can't comment on Uno, I chose Flutter for my mobile needs, mainly because MS still hasn't got its shit together as far as UI are concerned.
- JamesSwift 5y ago
  Xamarin (soon to be MAUI) is the best option in my opinion, especially if you enjoy C#.
  - jmnicolas 5y ago
    I went directly with Flutter so I don't have any experience with Xamarin. However I have read a lot of bad comments about it, they say it's buggy and frustrating.
    - JamesSwift 5y ago
      Xamarin.Forms is buggy and frustrating, Xamarin.Native (i.e. just native bindings without a huge opinionated framework on top) is really nice. If you know native dev already its a huge productivity boost (with the occasional hiccup).
      - noworriesnate 5y ago
        I don’t think Xamarin Native supports SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose? The thing about the new declarations UIs is they lend themselves really well to something like Xamarin Native. I wish Xamarin would support them.
        JamesSwift 5y ago
        No, those are new frameworks entirely vs the traditional SDKs. I'm not sure if there currently _is_ a way to generate bindings or not, or if they rely on compiler magic to do their things.
        pjmlp 5y ago
        Their way to provide macOS support is to make use of Catalyst, hardly the way to sell having macOS support to anyone that knows the ecosystem, but apparently they act surprised when we point out this to them. No wonder that MAUI isn't being used on the VS for Mac rewrite.
        JamesSwift 5y ago
        Ive been pretty disappointed being a fly on the wall of Github during the MAUI transition. I dont see a lot of "lessons learned" from Xamarin coming through in the effort and there are several issues similar to yours where they seem to be disconnected from the dev community on large issues.
- nawgz 5y ago
  > I want a compiler that colors my code red when I make a mistake, not an environment that behaves like nothing happened. This is what any half-decent React and TypeScript app will do for you. I write fully typed applications in TS & React and any typo, call site update, interface change, or other mistake you can imagine surfaces a TS error, in my text editor, with helpful text editor highlighting 90% of the time (sometimes the IDE is slightly different than the console).
  - willio58 5y ago
    Not sure why you're getting downvoted. This is the whole point of typescript in my eyes. Those red squiggles before you even save the file.
    - nawgz 5y ago
      People are displeased when you inform them their 5 year old view of JS and React is indeed outdated, I suppose.
- cxr 5y ago
  > need to download the whole internet when I want a simple function like left pad That can't be the reason. These kinds of projects don't address that problem. In the ordinary case, it's usually made worse by a factor of 2–10.
JamesSwift 5y ago
At a high level there are pros/cons to JS-based frameworks and "compiles to native" frameworks. Performance is one part of that, but also ability to bind to existing native code also, among other things.
sdflhasjd 5y ago
A huge strength of Xamarin is how easy it is to use the native platform APIs and things like real multithreading in C#. > Lots more devs, documentation, industry-use, etc. in the React world. Serious question. Don't forget that C#/.NET has its own rich ecosystem.
dgellow 5y ago
React native desktop is still experimental, the current version is 0.66 and not really that stable.
m_fayer 5y ago
Every "native feeling but glitchy mess" app I've had the displeasure to use turned out to be RN.
crossroadsguy 5y ago
I didn’t begin learning coding with web dev. It was C Python Java. I tried web dev later. Both personally and professionally. I just despise it. Maybe because I don’t “grok” it, but that’s how it is. I have noticed this - people who didn’t start with it simply not getting the point of things it does and in the ways it does. Mere mention of word “react” brings disinterest and nausea. I get panic attacks when see those projects’ loooong dependency list and then yarn or whatever else downloading them. Besides it’s finicky, cumbersome, and unstable.

naasking 5y ago

Not sure what React has to do with anything, this is a UI framework for .NET.

adamc 5y ago
I'm not the OP, but I would guess he was coming at it from an app point of view rather than an implementation environment point of view -- as in, "why should I write an app this way (assuming I could use any language/tools)?" If you are already locked-in to .NET, then it's a different question.

jmnicolas 5y ago

Web dev allergy in my case. You probably don't see it anymore, but for someone that didn't start with it, it's very convoluted and seems very brittle. I want a compiler that colors my code red when I make a mistake, not an environment that behaves like nothing happened. I don't want to juggle 3 different languages, need to download the whole internet when I want a simple function like left pad. Although I despise what MS stands for, C# is a joy to use. I can't comment on Uno, I chose Flutter for my mobile needs, mainly because MS still hasn't got its shit together as far as UI are concerned.

JamesSwift 5y ago
Xamarin (soon to be MAUI) is the best option in my opinion, especially if you enjoy C#.
- jmnicolas 5y ago
  I went directly with Flutter so I don't have any experience with Xamarin. However I have read a lot of bad comments about it, they say it's buggy and frustrating.
  - JamesSwift 5y ago
    Xamarin.Forms is buggy and frustrating, Xamarin.Native (i.e. just native bindings without a huge opinionated framework on top) is really nice. If you know native dev already its a huge productivity boost (with the occasional hiccup).
    - noworriesnate 5y ago
      I don’t think Xamarin Native supports SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose? The thing about the new declarations UIs is they lend themselves really well to something like Xamarin Native. I wish Xamarin would support them.
      - JamesSwift 5y ago
        No, those are new frameworks entirely vs the traditional SDKs. I'm not sure if there currently _is_ a way to generate bindings or not, or if they rely on compiler magic to do their things.
        pjmlp 5y ago
        Their way to provide macOS support is to make use of Catalyst, hardly the way to sell having macOS support to anyone that knows the ecosystem, but apparently they act surprised when we point out this to them. No wonder that MAUI isn't being used on the VS for Mac rewrite.
        JamesSwift 5y ago
        Ive been pretty disappointed being a fly on the wall of Github during the MAUI transition. I dont see a lot of "lessons learned" from Xamarin coming through in the effort and there are several issues similar to yours where they seem to be disconnected from the dev community on large issues.
nawgz 5y ago
> I want a compiler that colors my code red when I make a mistake, not an environment that behaves like nothing happened. This is what any half-decent React and TypeScript app will do for you. I write fully typed applications in TS & React and any typo, call site update, interface change, or other mistake you can imagine surfaces a TS error, in my text editor, with helpful text editor highlighting 90% of the time (sometimes the IDE is slightly different than the console).
- willio58 5y ago
  Not sure why you're getting downvoted. This is the whole point of typescript in my eyes. Those red squiggles before you even save the file.
  - nawgz 5y ago
    People are displeased when you inform them their 5 year old view of JS and React is indeed outdated, I suppose.
cxr 5y ago
> need to download the whole internet when I want a simple function like left pad That can't be the reason. These kinds of projects don't address that problem. In the ordinary case, it's usually made worse by a factor of 2–10.

JamesSwift 5y ago

At a high level there are pros/cons to JS-based frameworks and "compiles to native" frameworks. Performance is one part of that, but also ability to bind to existing native code also, among other things.

sdflhasjd 5y ago

A huge strength of Xamarin is how easy it is to use the native platform APIs and things like real multithreading in C#. > Lots more devs, documentation, industry-use, etc. in the React world. Serious question. Don't forget that C#/.NET has its own rich ecosystem.

dgellow 5y ago

React native desktop is still experimental, the current version is 0.66 and not really that stable.

m_fayer 5y ago

Every "native feeling but glitchy mess" app I've had the displeasure to use turned out to be RN.

crossroadsguy 5y ago

I didn’t begin learning coding with web dev. It was C Python Java. I tried web dev later. Both personally and professionally. I just despise it. Maybe because I don’t “grok” it, but that’s how it is. I have noticed this - people who didn’t start with it simply not getting the point of things it does and in the ways it does. Mere mention of word “react” brings disinterest and nausea. I get panic attacks when see those projects’ loooong dependency list and then yarn or whatever else downloading them. Besides it’s finicky, cumbersome, and unstable.