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If only Arc was native... uses so much memory. but the product is too good to switch to Orion.

srikz 4y ago
But Arc is native. They are building it in Swift. They have even taken on a mammoth task of building their windows version in Swift!
- youssefabdelm 4y ago
  Oh I didn't know! I thought it was Chromium under the hood which is just very memory hungry. Is Chromium actually Swift under the hood?
  - mkl 4y ago
    Chromium is C++, i.e. native. The amount of memory used is a separate issue for the most part, and any language or execution environment can use a lot.
    - youssefabdelm 4y ago
      Ah okay thank you for the correction. I had heard all this talk about how Electron is based on Chromium which is why developing with it tends to create memory intensive apps or something. Happy to be wrong on that.
      - mkl 4y ago
        Yes, Chromium is native, but apps built with Electron are written in (or compiled to) JavaScript or WebAssembly, so not native, which uses more memory. Since Chromium is a full web browser it has a kind of minimum memory use which is higher than simple Electron apps would take if they were rewritten to be native. But if you're making a browser, you're going to need all that anyway.
chipotle_coyote 4y ago
I'm not really sure what you mean here. Arc uses the Blink engine, which is written in C++ (just like WebCore, the core of WebKit, is), and the rest of the browser is written in Swift.
- freediver 4y ago
  "Native app" on Mac usually refers to an app following the Apple's HIG (Human Interface Guidelines), using OS native components and having integrations with native services (such as Keychain or iCloud). The reference browser (produced by the OS manufacturer) on macOS is Safari. It sets a standard for what a 'native' browser following HIG should look and feel like. You could also say that the reference web rendering engine on macOS is WebKit, which is not only made by Apple but is also the fastest, most resource efficient (probably what OP refers to) and comes with many native system integrations built-in. In all these regards, Orion is indeed a native app on Mac and many other browsers are not.

But Arc is native. They are building it in Swift. They have even taken on a mammoth task of building their windows version in Swift!

youssefabdelm 4y ago
Oh I didn't know! I thought it was Chromium under the hood which is just very memory hungry. Is Chromium actually Swift under the hood?
- mkl 4y ago
  Chromium is C++, i.e. native. The amount of memory used is a separate issue for the most part, and any language or execution environment can use a lot.
  - youssefabdelm 4y ago
    Ah okay thank you for the correction. I had heard all this talk about how Electron is based on Chromium which is why developing with it tends to create memory intensive apps or something. Happy to be wrong on that.
    - mkl 4y ago
      Yes, Chromium is native, but apps built with Electron are written in (or compiled to) JavaScript or WebAssembly, so not native, which uses more memory. Since Chromium is a full web browser it has a kind of minimum memory use which is higher than simple Electron apps would take if they were rewritten to be native. But if you're making a browser, you're going to need all that anyway.

chipotle_coyote 4y ago

I'm not really sure what you mean here. Arc uses the Blink engine, which is written in C++ (just like WebCore, the core of WebKit, is), and the rest of the browser is written in Swift.

freediver 4y ago
"Native app" on Mac usually refers to an app following the Apple's HIG (Human Interface Guidelines), using OS native components and having integrations with native services (such as Keychain or iCloud). The reference browser (produced by the OS manufacturer) on macOS is Safari. It sets a standard for what a 'native' browser following HIG should look and feel like. You could also say that the reference web rendering engine on macOS is WebKit, which is not only made by Apple but is also the fastest, most resource efficient (probably what OP refers to) and comes with many native system integrations built-in. In all these regards, Orion is indeed a native app on Mac and many other browsers are not.