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I have not for the life of me been able to imagine the purpose of building a Chrome app. Now I can.... but wait... isn't it just a "lipstick on the pig" html5 w

I have not for the life of me been able to imagine the purpose of building a Chrome app. Now I can.... but wait... isn't it just a "lipstick on the pig" html5 web app?

tjohns 13y ago
There are three reasons I really like Chrome apps: They can run in a windowed/chrome-less mode (no navigation bar), you can write offline HTML5 apps that actually work, and discoverability via the Chrome web store. And as somebody else mentioned, it gives you access to the USB JavaScript APIs, which is pretty cool.
drcode 13y ago
Yes, but this pig NEEDS more lipstick. It would be great to have a major company supply a fully cross-platform html5 app framework.
- wmf 13y ago
  Adobe PhoneGap?
  - lnanek2 13y ago
    The article actually says it is using Apache Cordova which is Adobe PhoneGap. I wish they would just contribute to the project directly, though. There's already quite a bit of bullshit platforms built on top of PhoneGap, like a business applet one by HP, and using the actually thing is always better.
    - iclelland 13y ago
      As a matter of fact, most of the engineers on this project are regular committers to the Cordova project. (Cordova is the underlying project, btw -- PhoneGap is Adobe's build system built on top of it) We're very committed to the Cordova platform, and we're very active in pushing it forward. Though there are a lot of individuals, and companies, involved, I suspect that, by any measure, Google is one of the top contributors to Cordova these days.
      - judk 13y ago
        In another view, PhoneGap is the trademark that Adobe bought. Cordova is the (not so) new name given to the PhoneGap product when the product moved to Apache and the branding went to Adobe. I have an app in the Android Market (er, Play Store) built with the old open source PhoneGap.
- _random_ 13y ago
  Or just forget the pig with lipstick and get the hot model - Xamarin.
  - icebraining 13y ago
    No Linux? No thanks.
    - programminggeek 13y ago
      Xamarian is based on Mono, which has had Linux support since forever.
      - icebraining 13y ago
        Yes, but Xamarin Studio isn't supported on Linux: https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=142 https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=142
        andyjohnson0 13y ago
        Have you tried MonoDevelop? Its still being actively enhanced by Xamarin. http://monodevelop.com/ http://monodevelop.com/
        icebraining 13y ago
        We were talking about mobile apps; how can you build those with MonoDevelop on Linux?
turing 13y ago
I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was combined with PNaCl down the line.
DanAndersen 13y ago
I found it useful to use Chrome's USB API to create a viewer to connect the Oculus Rift with remotely-hosted WebGL apps: https://github.com/DanAndersen/cupola https://github.com/DanAndersen/cupola It lets me feed in head-tracking data from the Rift, while avoiding the latency that you'd get from using something like WebSockets. I'd use something like vr.js, but that's an NPAPI plugin and Chrome is retiring those. Unfortunately Windows-only (and maybe Linux with some adjustment) so far, since the USB API doesn't yet properly work with HID devices on OSX.
niggasbalting 13y ago
Since 2002 half of everyone who's reached the age of 12 has learned enough HTML, CSS, Javascript, and can recognize PHP well enough to throw a basic, buggy website together. Suddenly, a trip to "chrome://extensions/" means these semi-non-developers can write an app for their Chromebook(or even PC) without having to install or compile anything, let alone commit themselves to mastering a programming language. It shouldn't mean much for large projects, but it does mean companies can hire less-skilled "programmers" to churn out minimally viable products whether that be for bootstrapped start-ups or to satisfy the demand from businesses that want to say "look I have a presence on mobile."
- msoad 13y ago
  I coded C++ in "large projects" and now coding JavaScript in another large project. Language itself doesn't mean anything for defining "skilled programmers". Skilled programmers are not limited to language nor platform. You are calling out people who started learning programming with HTML and CSS and telling them they are not programmers but you don't realize that your first program with BASIC was basically same shitty code copied from your book and you were thinking you were a "programmer". I don't know you are skilled or not but I know you are not "professional".
- pkulak 13y ago
  How delightfully elitist and condescending of you.
  - niggasbalting 13y ago
    Yeah, I need to work on my tone, because that came across exactly the opposite of how I intended.
- olalonde 13y ago
  I feel the same way about 3D printing. Now everyone and their mother can produce 3D objects without even committing themselves to mastering industrial design. And companies can now prototype half assed products cheaply without having to invest millions of dollars. This is truly a sad era...

I have not for the life of me been able to imagine the purpose of building a Chrome app. Now I can.... but wait... isn't it just a "lipstick on the pig" html5 web app?

tjohns 13y ago

There are three reasons I really like Chrome apps: They can run in a windowed/chrome-less mode (no navigation bar), you can write offline HTML5 apps that actually work, and discoverability via the Chrome web store. And as somebody else mentioned, it gives you access to the USB JavaScript APIs, which is pretty cool.

drcode 13y ago

Yes, but this pig NEEDS more lipstick. It would be great to have a major company supply a fully cross-platform html5 app framework.

wmf 13y ago
Adobe PhoneGap?
- lnanek2 13y ago
  The article actually says it is using Apache Cordova which is Adobe PhoneGap. I wish they would just contribute to the project directly, though. There's already quite a bit of bullshit platforms built on top of PhoneGap, like a business applet one by HP, and using the actually thing is always better.
  - iclelland 13y ago
    As a matter of fact, most of the engineers on this project are regular committers to the Cordova project. (Cordova is the underlying project, btw -- PhoneGap is Adobe's build system built on top of it) We're very committed to the Cordova platform, and we're very active in pushing it forward. Though there are a lot of individuals, and companies, involved, I suspect that, by any measure, Google is one of the top contributors to Cordova these days.
    - judk 13y ago
      In another view, PhoneGap is the trademark that Adobe bought. Cordova is the (not so) new name given to the PhoneGap product when the product moved to Apache and the branding went to Adobe. I have an app in the Android Market (er, Play Store) built with the old open source PhoneGap.
_random_ 13y ago
Or just forget the pig with lipstick and get the hot model - Xamarin.
- icebraining 13y ago
  No Linux? No thanks.
  - programminggeek 13y ago
    Xamarian is based on Mono, which has had Linux support since forever.
    - icebraining 13y ago
      Yes, but Xamarin Studio isn't supported on Linux: https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=142 https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=142
      - andyjohnson0 13y ago
        Have you tried MonoDevelop? Its still being actively enhanced by Xamarin. http://monodevelop.com/ http://monodevelop.com/
        icebraining 13y ago
        We were talking about mobile apps; how can you build those with MonoDevelop on Linux?

turing 13y ago

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was combined with PNaCl down the line.

DanAndersen 13y ago

I found it useful to use Chrome's USB API to create a viewer to connect the Oculus Rift with remotely-hosted WebGL apps: https://github.com/DanAndersen/cupola https://github.com/DanAndersen/cupola It lets me feed in head-tracking data from the Rift, while avoiding the latency that you'd get from using something like WebSockets. I'd use something like vr.js, but that's an NPAPI plugin and Chrome is retiring those. Unfortunately Windows-only (and maybe Linux with some adjustment) so far, since the USB API doesn't yet properly work with HID devices on OSX.

niggasbalting 13y ago

Since 2002 half of everyone who's reached the age of 12 has learned enough HTML, CSS, Javascript, and can recognize PHP well enough to throw a basic, buggy website together. Suddenly, a trip to "chrome://extensions/" means these semi-non-developers can write an app for their Chromebook(or even PC) without having to install or compile anything, let alone commit themselves to mastering a programming language. It shouldn't mean much for large projects, but it does mean companies can hire less-skilled "programmers" to churn out minimally viable products whether that be for bootstrapped start-ups or to satisfy the demand from businesses that want to say "look I have a presence on mobile."

msoad 13y ago
I coded C++ in "large projects" and now coding JavaScript in another large project. Language itself doesn't mean anything for defining "skilled programmers". Skilled programmers are not limited to language nor platform. You are calling out people who started learning programming with HTML and CSS and telling them they are not programmers but you don't realize that your first program with BASIC was basically same shitty code copied from your book and you were thinking you were a "programmer". I don't know you are skilled or not but I know you are not "professional".
pkulak 13y ago
How delightfully elitist and condescending of you.
- niggasbalting 13y ago
  Yeah, I need to work on my tone, because that came across exactly the opposite of how I intended.
olalonde 13y ago
I feel the same way about 3D printing. Now everyone and their mother can produce 3D objects without even committing themselves to mastering industrial design. And companies can now prototype half assed products cheaply without having to invest millions of dollars. This is truly a sad era...