When someone makes a platform as easy to use as Electron that makes tiny executables with zero friction and lets me easily style and debug a live running app I'll switch. Maybe that already exists?
My previous experience with native dev is that every platform requires 1000s of lines of platform specific setup and then special code all over the place and further I need deep familiarity with all the different platforms' APIs
On Electron, if I start on Mac (you can start anywhere), it's
npm init -y
npm install --save-dev electron electron-builder
git add .
git commit -m "initial commit"
./node_modules/.bin/electron-builder
Then I ssh to a linux box, clone the repo and
npm i
./node_modules/.bin/electron-builder
Then I ssh to a windows box, clone the repo and do exactly the same thing.
I just created all 3 apps. On each platform the file is setting in the 'dist' folder as a .dmg in Mac, an .exe on Windows, an .AppImage on linux
No other installs needed (just node), no installing 57 standard or custom libraries and runtimes. no sudo apt install for dependencies. No setting environment variables telling various compilers where they can find stuff, don't generally even have to run my code on the other platforms even, an app pops out and I'm done. And, if I've written tests they'll generally work similarly, "npm test", zero friction, zero extra things to worry about.
If someone want's to beat Electron those are the features they need to provide.
My previous experience with native dev is that every platform requires 1000s of lines of platform specific setup and then special code all over the place and further I need deep familiarity with all the different platforms' APIs
On Electron, if I start on Mac (you can start anywhere), it's
Then I ssh to a linux box, clone the repo and Then I ssh to a windows box, clone the repo and do exactly the same thing.I just created all 3 apps. On each platform the file is setting in the 'dist' folder as a .dmg in Mac, an .exe on Windows, an .AppImage on linux
No other installs needed (just node), no installing 57 standard or custom libraries and runtimes. no sudo apt install for dependencies. No setting environment variables telling various compilers where they can find stuff, don't generally even have to run my code on the other platforms even, an app pops out and I'm done. And, if I've written tests they'll generally work similarly, "npm test", zero friction, zero extra things to worry about.
If someone want's to beat Electron those are the features they need to provide.