d@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4
very interesting discussion which is now my go-to example for why talking about software outside of the political dynamics is a complete fabrication https://front-end.social/@mayank/116172356183037750
Mayank (@[email protected])

i agree with most of this article. https://tonsky.me/blog/fall-of-native/ (the title mentions Clyde (or is it Clint?) but that's unrelated to the actual substance of the article)

Front-End Social
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4
in comparing two sets of APIs, the difference is framed as inherent to the technologies as opposed to carefully constructed by the owners of the tech
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4
the article link itself is extremely funny because it quite literally presumes microsoft and apple are the only two ways apps exist
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4
this reply though (which seems genuine; not trying to call out the author here) is kind of remarkable to me https://front-end.social/@mayank/116172385250368984
Mayank (@[email protected])

i would add that native apps are simply out of reach for most indie devs and small teams. that is unless they're ok with deliberately locking themselves into a single platform/ecosystem. until progressive web apps become actually viable, building native apps using web tech is the most pragmatic approach. the amount of extra work required to go from a cross-platform pseudo-native app to individual fully-native apps is hard to justify.

Front-End Social
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4

i would add that native apps are simply out of reach for most indie devs and small teams. that is unless they're ok with deliberately locking themselves into a single platform/ecosystem.

like if we're describing web apps as a fundamentally different paradigm than executing code on the cpu, then why are we still using the terminology of platform specificity?

Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4
because of course the web is not an open protocol. it is a google product. and electron is famously difficult to package. and electron apps take up memory like chrome does because chrome is trying to be an os
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Mar 4
one of the basic functions of distro packaging is sharing resources and one of the basic ways this is achieved is through shared libraries. it makes sense that this is extremely nonobvious if your worldview is windows vs apple because nothing is actually packaged on those systems and everything comes as an opaque binary. of course chrome is indistinguishable in those terms
Show threadJohn Breen
@hipsterelectron One of the patterns I recall from the early days was people packaging their own MSCRT.DLL version of the C runtime library. I mean, the great Microsoft could not figure out shared libraries, versioning, OS vs Application layer responsibilities, etc.
There was a term for it "DLL Hell".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows_library_files#MSVCRT.DLL,_MSVCP*.DLL_and_CRTDLL.DLL
Microsoft Windows library files - Wikipedia

Mar 4 at 8:47pmWeb