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Comment by desmondl

I'll keep an eye on this, it seems cool - write once in typescript, compiler compiles typescript into native apps. Seems like it combines ideas from React Native (one language/application model across platforms), Svelte (compiles away high level abstractions to avoid a heavy runtime), and Flutter (own enough of the UI model to target very different platforms).

What I still don't understand (and can't find documentation for) is how Gea defines the portable abstraction boundary.

The targets are radically different: embedded devices, native UI kits, framebuffer-style rendering, and webviews. The docs don't make it clear which Typescript/JS/node/browser semantics are guaranteed. If I write something like `requestAnimationFrame` and `fetch` and `queueMicrotask`, does it work on every target? The lack of caveats in the documentation implies "Yes" but provides no assurance. Where is the compatibility matrix?

Does an application developer mostly stay inside a portable Gea model, or do they need to understand both Gea internals and the target platform to know what will work? If it's the latter, then it's hard to see the advantage of Gea vs just writing a native app.

My impression right now is: potentially VERY interesting, but needs clearer technical documentation about the portability/limitations and convincing real world proof before I can believe it and let myself be excited about it :)

Looking at the compiler repo, it looks like there is just one contributor. So I'm curious, what AI coding tools did you use? Which models? What's your workflow like? (I'm really interested in first hand experience on how models perform on truly difficult projects, not just at drawing pelicans)

parent desmondl 1 month ago

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