7 ms·

React Native v0.4

109 points by dandelany 12y ago

dntrkv 12y ago
I have built some basic apps like the to-do list using Swift and Objective-C but haven't built anything significant yet. I have an idea for an app I want to build in the coming weeks, but I'm unsure if I should use this as an opportunity to learn React Native or just go the Swift route and really cement my knowledge there. Can anyone who's tried both weigh in?
- colinramsay 12y ago
  React Native has a really low barrier for entry, it's easy to knock something together quickly though it's not ready for certain kinds of more complex apps yet IMO. The community is putting out new components and plugins quickly though, which is encouraging.
- iLoch 12y ago
  I'm the opposite. I've done about 2.5 months of React Native now. I'm pretty certain React Native is what you want to roll with. Anything you can do in Objective-C can be done in React Native (since you can create Native modules anywhere RN falls short). You could see MAJOR improvement in development time. I'm not a mobile developer and I tried writing a mobile app a while back - I'm completely useless. With React Native, I've made huge strides in developing a fairly complex app with a completely custom look and feel. I'm sure if I had stuck to native coding I'd either never finish, or this app would take me an order of magnitude more time to complete. If you want an example of how awesome React Native is, go check out Apple's example app "AVCam" then take a look at the example code for my react-native-camera module on GitHub.
  - strife25 12y ago
    How do you handle the storage tier (e.g. Core Data) of your react-native apps? Do you just write native Obj-C that handles interacting with core data and integrate it w/ your react code?
    - iLoch 12y ago
      Yeah that would be how you'd do it. Writing modules is dead simple too. Doing something like that would just require you making an async interface to your Obj-C Core Data manager.
  - therealwill 12y ago
    What about apps that using OpenCV or C++ code?
    - masklinn 12y ago
      https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/nativemodulesios.html#content https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/nativemodulesio...
- gdubs 12y ago
  What's your goal? Are you looking to gain knowledge in the platform, or is your focus the product itself?
  - dntrkv 12y ago
    A bit of both, I would like to finish this app within the near future, but I also am interested in exploring mobile development as a career. I guess my main question would be, is there enough overlap in the two that learning React Native would help ease me into development in Swift.
mindw0rk 12y ago
Looking forward to see how it performs on Android. Even WebViews in Cordova runs smooth on iOS.
- masklinn 12y ago
  What webviews are you talking about? Unless you instantiate one yourself[0] there's no webview in a reactnative application. [0] https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/webview.html#content https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/webview.html#co...
  - scotu 12y ago
    I think he is just saying that iOS is not proof of the native performance of react native as also cordova on iOS is smooth
    - mindw0rk 12y ago
      Exactly, Cordova/PhoneGap works quite smooth on iOS too.
shaohua 12y ago
Join us if you are in SF, http://www.meetup.com/SF-React-Native-Meetup/ http://www.meetup.com/SF-React-Native-Meetup/ We just had our first meetup last night and it was awesome!!!
- ereckers 12y ago
  Thanks for posting. I just joined! Oddly, I was searching for React Meetup groups just a couple weeks ago and the group didn't show up. (From San Francisco, search for "React"). I see that you were Founded Mar 15, 2015. I wonder if I just missed it or Meetup takes a while to index new groups. Anyways, looking forward to the Meetups!
  - shaohua 12y ago
    Thanks for joining... :) I think it might be the latter case. Anyway, we will probably have our next meetup coming up soon enough :)
- lucidrains 12y ago
  thanks for organizing the meetup! I attended and it was great, will definitely attend the next one
morley 12y ago
One thing that I think the HN crowd will appreciate: * Patent Grant: Many of you had concerns and questions around the PATENTS file. We pushed a new version of the grant[1]. The updated PATENTS file is https://github.com/facebook/osquery/blob/master/PATENTS https://github.com/facebook/osquery/blob/master/PATENTS. I still think it's ridiculous that people thought the previous PATENTS file was a Trojan horse with nefarious intent, but it's nice to see them making their intention unambiguous. [1] https://code.facebook.com/posts/1639473982937255/updating-our-open-source-patent-grant/ https://code.facebook.com/posts/1639473982937255/updating-ou...
- serve_yay 12y ago
  I agree it was ridiculous, I surmise that there's nobody now using it who was refraining from using it due to the contents of the PATENTS file.
  - ralmidani 12y ago
    I haven't used React (or related projects) because I prefer Ember, but with the new, non-offensive patent grant I will definitely keep them in mind.
- dmdeller 12y ago
  It doesn't matter what people thought. The complaints were coming from people at big companies with legal departments. The lawyers' job is to make sure there are no legal vulnerabilities, the same way it's your job to make sure your code doesn't contain any vulnerabilities. Intent is irrelevant.
  - peterjmag 12y ago
    Exactly. Looks like Google was among the companies with legal complaints: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9271331 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9271331. I wonder if the new version of the grant was enough to get them to reconsider? It'd be really interesting to see more of Google in the React community.
- 12y ago
peterjmag 12y ago
For anyone who's interested, I gave a talk called "Let's build a React Native app in 20 minutes" [1] at the React Berlin meetup a couple weeks ago, where I took a little example React web app and "ported" it to React Native. It was my first time giving a talk at something like this, so it's a bit rough around the edges (and the audio quality isn't great because the primary mic's batteries went out a couple minutes in), but it might still be helpful if you're looking to jump in. Don't forget to check out the companion Gist [2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ArhJiMGVDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ArhJiMGVDc [2] https://gist.github.com/peterjmag/2ef39ba5d25f3f1e0008 https://gist.github.com/peterjmag/2ef39ba5d25f3f1e0008
- elwell 12y ago
  Looks like an interesting talk. Wish the audio was better.
- jondot 12y ago
  Nice! added you here: https://github.com/jondot/awesome-react-native https://github.com/jondot/awesome-react-native Under "Videos". :)
goatforce5 12y ago
I'm super excited about integration within existing apps. https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/embedded-app.html#content https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/embedded-app.ht... Anyone have thoughts/comments/experience with this before I jump in and give it a whirl?
drcode 12y ago
Anyone working on a ReactNative cloud-based building service for linux/windows users? (ala build.phonegap.com?) I totally want to use this, but I haven't enjoyed my previous encounters with Macs.
- TheMakeA 12y ago
  If you write most of your code in JS, you technically don't even need to build this on a Mac. For development, you could get away with just updating the bundle and re-signing the app locally.
mandeepj 12y ago
I am yet to start on mobile development. There is a concern in the industry about writing same app 2,3 or more times - ios, android, windows etc. React native seems to be a step in the right direction. There are lot of options for this track besides react like ionic, phoneGap, appcelerator, telerik, meteor and there are few more. What you recommend out of these platforms for someone who is just getting started with mobile development? Thx
- findjashua 12y ago
  react native is better compared to appcelerator titanium - their thesis is that due to the dom's limitations, hybrid apps currently can't compete with native (compare scrolling quickly in a web vs native app), so compiling to native components is the way to go phonegap, ionic, meteor etc are in the hybrid app camp, and their take is that if your app doesn't need to have native like performance, then just write one app and deploy on multiple platform I personally think react native is an intermediate step to the eventual goal. I'm a supporter of the open web, hopefully we'll figure out a way around dom's limitations, and hybrid apps will be able to match performance of their native counterparts.
  - doublerebel 12y ago
    React is pretty good, the most promising in a while, but Appcelerator still has far more API coverage on both major platforms than React, Telerik, or anyone else. Pay special attention to what kind of native integrations the app will require before choosing a framework.
- neovive 12y ago
  If you have experience with AngularJS, Ionic is a great option. Ionic v2 is in the works and will be built on Angular 2. The UI is built on Sass and it's very polished with a very talented and motivated team behind it. Ionic has it's own toolset that integrates with Cordova.
  - andrewrice 12y ago
    Will look into this. Thanks for sharing!
ManuelKiessling 12y ago
I started working on a book on mobile app development with React Native, see http://beginning-react-native.com/ http://beginning-react-native.com/ if you are interested.
Fylight 12y ago
I wonder what the prospects for RN for Android are looking like.

109 points by dandelany 12y ago

I have built some basic apps like the to-do list using Swift and Objective-C but haven't built anything significant yet. I have an idea for an app I want to build in the coming weeks, but I'm unsure if I should use this as an opportunity to learn React Native or just go the Swift route and really cement my knowledge there. Can anyone who's tried both weigh in?

colinramsay 12y ago
React Native has a really low barrier for entry, it's easy to knock something together quickly though it's not ready for certain kinds of more complex apps yet IMO. The community is putting out new components and plugins quickly though, which is encouraging.
iLoch 12y ago
I'm the opposite. I've done about 2.5 months of React Native now. I'm pretty certain React Native is what you want to roll with. Anything you can do in Objective-C can be done in React Native (since you can create Native modules anywhere RN falls short). You could see MAJOR improvement in development time. I'm not a mobile developer and I tried writing a mobile app a while back - I'm completely useless. With React Native, I've made huge strides in developing a fairly complex app with a completely custom look and feel. I'm sure if I had stuck to native coding I'd either never finish, or this app would take me an order of magnitude more time to complete. If you want an example of how awesome React Native is, go check out Apple's example app "AVCam" then take a look at the example code for my react-native-camera module on GitHub.
- strife25 12y ago
  How do you handle the storage tier (e.g. Core Data) of your react-native apps? Do you just write native Obj-C that handles interacting with core data and integrate it w/ your react code?
  - iLoch 12y ago
    Yeah that would be how you'd do it. Writing modules is dead simple too. Doing something like that would just require you making an async interface to your Obj-C Core Data manager.
- therealwill 12y ago
  What about apps that using OpenCV or C++ code?
  - masklinn 12y ago
    https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/nativemodulesios.html#content https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/nativemodulesio...
gdubs 12y ago
What's your goal? Are you looking to gain knowledge in the platform, or is your focus the product itself?
- dntrkv 12y ago
  A bit of both, I would like to finish this app within the near future, but I also am interested in exploring mobile development as a career. I guess my main question would be, is there enough overlap in the two that learning React Native would help ease me into development in Swift.

mindw0rk 12y ago

Looking forward to see how it performs on Android. Even WebViews in Cordova runs smooth on iOS.

masklinn 12y ago
What webviews are you talking about? Unless you instantiate one yourself[0] there's no webview in a reactnative application. [0] https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/webview.html#content https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/webview.html#co...
- scotu 12y ago
  I think he is just saying that iOS is not proof of the native performance of react native as also cordova on iOS is smooth
  - mindw0rk 12y ago
    Exactly, Cordova/PhoneGap works quite smooth on iOS too.

shaohua 12y ago

Join us if you are in SF, http://www.meetup.com/SF-React-Native-Meetup/ http://www.meetup.com/SF-React-Native-Meetup/ We just had our first meetup last night and it was awesome!!!

ereckers 12y ago
Thanks for posting. I just joined! Oddly, I was searching for React Meetup groups just a couple weeks ago and the group didn't show up. (From San Francisco, search for "React"). I see that you were Founded Mar 15, 2015. I wonder if I just missed it or Meetup takes a while to index new groups. Anyways, looking forward to the Meetups!
- shaohua 12y ago
  Thanks for joining... :) I think it might be the latter case. Anyway, we will probably have our next meetup coming up soon enough :)
lucidrains 12y ago
thanks for organizing the meetup! I attended and it was great, will definitely attend the next one

morley 12y ago

One thing that I think the HN crowd will appreciate: * Patent Grant: Many of you had concerns and questions around the PATENTS file. We pushed a new version of the grant[1]. The updated PATENTS file is https://github.com/facebook/osquery/blob/master/PATENTS https://github.com/facebook/osquery/blob/master/PATENTS. I still think it's ridiculous that people thought the previous PATENTS file was a Trojan horse with nefarious intent, but it's nice to see them making their intention unambiguous. [1] https://code.facebook.com/posts/1639473982937255/updating-our-open-source-patent-grant/ https://code.facebook.com/posts/1639473982937255/updating-ou...

serve_yay 12y ago
I agree it was ridiculous, I surmise that there's nobody now using it who was refraining from using it due to the contents of the PATENTS file.
- ralmidani 12y ago
  I haven't used React (or related projects) because I prefer Ember, but with the new, non-offensive patent grant I will definitely keep them in mind.
dmdeller 12y ago
It doesn't matter what people thought. The complaints were coming from people at big companies with legal departments. The lawyers' job is to make sure there are no legal vulnerabilities, the same way it's your job to make sure your code doesn't contain any vulnerabilities. Intent is irrelevant.
- peterjmag 12y ago
  Exactly. Looks like Google was among the companies with legal complaints: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9271331 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9271331. I wonder if the new version of the grant was enough to get them to reconsider? It'd be really interesting to see more of Google in the React community.
12y ago

peterjmag 12y ago

For anyone who's interested, I gave a talk called "Let's build a React Native app in 20 minutes" [1] at the React Berlin meetup a couple weeks ago, where I took a little example React web app and "ported" it to React Native. It was my first time giving a talk at something like this, so it's a bit rough around the edges (and the audio quality isn't great because the primary mic's batteries went out a couple minutes in), but it might still be helpful if you're looking to jump in. Don't forget to check out the companion Gist [2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ArhJiMGVDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ArhJiMGVDc [2] https://gist.github.com/peterjmag/2ef39ba5d25f3f1e0008 https://gist.github.com/peterjmag/2ef39ba5d25f3f1e0008

elwell 12y ago
Looks like an interesting talk. Wish the audio was better.
jondot 12y ago
Nice! added you here: https://github.com/jondot/awesome-react-native https://github.com/jondot/awesome-react-native Under "Videos". :)

goatforce5 12y ago

I'm super excited about integration within existing apps. https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/embedded-app.html#content https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/embedded-app.ht... Anyone have thoughts/comments/experience with this before I jump in and give it a whirl?

drcode 12y ago

Anyone working on a ReactNative cloud-based building service for linux/windows users? (ala build.phonegap.com?) I totally want to use this, but I haven't enjoyed my previous encounters with Macs.

TheMakeA 12y ago
If you write most of your code in JS, you technically don't even need to build this on a Mac. For development, you could get away with just updating the bundle and re-signing the app locally.

mandeepj 12y ago

I am yet to start on mobile development. There is a concern in the industry about writing same app 2,3 or more times - ios, android, windows etc. React native seems to be a step in the right direction. There are lot of options for this track besides react like ionic, phoneGap, appcelerator, telerik, meteor and there are few more. What you recommend out of these platforms for someone who is just getting started with mobile development? Thx

findjashua 12y ago
react native is better compared to appcelerator titanium - their thesis is that due to the dom's limitations, hybrid apps currently can't compete with native (compare scrolling quickly in a web vs native app), so compiling to native components is the way to go phonegap, ionic, meteor etc are in the hybrid app camp, and their take is that if your app doesn't need to have native like performance, then just write one app and deploy on multiple platform I personally think react native is an intermediate step to the eventual goal. I'm a supporter of the open web, hopefully we'll figure out a way around dom's limitations, and hybrid apps will be able to match performance of their native counterparts.
- doublerebel 12y ago
  React is pretty good, the most promising in a while, but Appcelerator still has far more API coverage on both major platforms than React, Telerik, or anyone else. Pay special attention to what kind of native integrations the app will require before choosing a framework.
neovive 12y ago
If you have experience with AngularJS, Ionic is a great option. Ionic v2 is in the works and will be built on Angular 2. The UI is built on Sass and it's very polished with a very talented and motivated team behind it. Ionic has it's own toolset that integrates with Cordova.
- andrewrice 12y ago
  Will look into this. Thanks for sharing!

ManuelKiessling 12y ago

I started working on a book on mobile app development with React Native, see http://beginning-react-native.com/ http://beginning-react-native.com/ if you are interested.

Fylight 12y ago

I wonder what the prospects for RN for Android are looking like.