Once in a while I wonder whether we shouldn't just give up on any other languages and frameworks for building #desktop applications and focus on making #javascript (or maybe #typescript) and #electron really good. Not that I generally prefer both - but they seem more and more widespread these days, and they seem to counter virtually *everything* that seemed good about software development the last two decades before. :|
@wictory While I generally agree with you, I'm a bit torn about this. Initially, my post wasn't meant to be entirely serious - from my point of view, current #electron and #javascript tool chain is both so widespread and yet in so dire need of being fixed in so many aspects, maybe it would be better we all spent all our energy to fix at least the most severe issues about this approach... ;) However ...
@wictory ... the more serious point of view I am starting to see, meanwhile: On the desktop, #electron isn't being used as a browser anymore at all. It's being used as a runtime for desktop applications with a declarative UI approach. Looking at the fact people heavily use #electron could have two reasons: (a) They are pretty much used to working with web technologies - or in some cases even want to use the same code base for web and desktop. And (b) they lack any better widespread ...
@wictory ... option how to build cross-platform desktop applications. The only thing that comes to my mind here is #qt which definitely has a learning curve. Maybe we indeed should strive for providing a good desktop application runtime for people who have loads of experience using "the web"? I'm not sure this idea is all too stupid - it's just the current implementation that freaks me out at times. ;)
@z428 I that there is a lot of people that have a "build a native app, for all platforms" note their desk. The easiest way to solve that problem is to take the web page and bundle it with a cross platform browser. When you generalize this approach you get something like electron.
The developer finishes his task, but the customer gains very little added value.
Obviously not electron apps are like this, sometimes there is no web app at all, but the apps I have used are better in the browser.
@wictory Well I hate to say this but I have seen way more really *bad* than actually really good #electron apps. The point I see, however: People alwas are under pressure (limited ressources, limited skills, ...), so most of the devs seem to work for what's most "available" today - the web. All these will fail as soon as "the web" is not enough anymore (because you need heavy offline features, in example). To all those, #electron is a gift. And I wonder why ...
@wictory ... it just needed #electron to actually make this possible? I've spend a fair amount of time considering cross-platform desktop frameworks. Not too funny. Hate to say but #Java mostly sucks. #dotnet is limited to Windows, and #dotnetcore misses a load of the shiny UI stuff. #qt is bound to C++, "feels" a bit dated if you're used to other technologies. #python? No real experience. We have to ask why it needed #electron, #nodejs and #chrome to do something such as ...
@wictory ... providing a declarative and somewhat "straightforward" framework for cross-platform UI development. Why didn't anyone else managed to do this? :|
@z428 eh, electron is garbage for native apps. Just because a lot of people are doing it doesn't mean it's good.
People accept it as last resort but nobody really prefers it.
I like QT + Python. Just pop something up in qt creator add some logic and there you go! No ugly javascript or bloated web-stack needed. :)
@z428 why would anyone want to have something as complex as a browser as the foundation for everything you build? Electron is what people use when they cannot afford to do it properly.
There are a lot of low hanging fruit to improve electron, but fundamentally it still needs a full browser.