Ask HN: Best way to write Native apps for Mac, Windows and Linux?

4 points by interactivecode 5y ago ↗ HN

I'm interested in building an desktop app for all platforms. I would like to move away from building apps in the browser but I'm only familiar with JavaScript and web-technologies.

Since Electron is frowned upon, what language or platform would be suitable?

Requirements: - Mature language - Mature ecosystem - Performance better than Electron or a fast website

A major plus: - Big community of quality tutorials - Big community of packages - It's not too hard to learn for someone who knows JavaScript

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I've looked at the Rust eco-system, but most GUI libraries are not there yet. Swift UI looks great to work with, but would only target 1 platform. React Native or Flutter for desktop is in alfa/beta state.

6 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 25.7 ms ] thread

kenniskrag 5y ago ↗

qt?

Akcium 5y ago ↗

Why Elector is bad btw? I haven't used it, but just curios, since I want to.

For small apps it seems okay?

I'm in the same boat as you, I'm a javascript developer but I want to also promote my app to desktop.

1_player 5y ago ↗

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

pestatije 5y ago ↗

"Best" is relative. Two "classical" ones are c++ (qt) and java (swing, swt, or fx).

rvz 5y ago ↗

Then the answer to your question is Qt or in your case QtQuick.

NikGeeonx 5y ago ↗

Perhaps give Geeonx https://www.geeonx.de a try. It is a multiplatform C shared library. Geeonx offers one C sourcecode for Linux, Windows and macOS.