Ask HN: What language/framework do you recommend for UI-heavy desktop apps?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22492991

by fileeditview • 6 years ago

8 15 6 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

To clarify what I am looking for:

A language/framework to build a cross-platform (linux,windows,mac) desktop application which will feature many charts and graphs.

This is currently a hobby project so it could also be something more exotic. So far I had the following ideas:

- Qt: I am not too hyped because I would like to avoid C++ and Python. Also the licensing of Qt always confused me. If this project was to be sold at one point would I have to pay for licensing?

- Javascript/Electron/d3.js: This is my current approach. Big plus here is d3 is offering me all the charts/graphs I can imagine for my app. Drawback is that Electron has a bad rep for being wasteful etc.

- Gtk: I recently saw that gtk even offers Javascript bindings.. maybe that would be an alternative? Seemed to be poorly documented at a first glance. It's also not clear what gtk would bring to the table in terms of graphs and charts.

- Racket Scheme: This was a fun idea because playing around with Racket again would be lovely. I saw that some kind of UI is part of the standard library but I am doubtful if this is a serious option, especially considering the charts/graphs.

What else could be worth checking out? Would love to get some unexpected recommendations!

okareaman2• 6 years ago

I'm still using Meld since I switched to Windows from Linux. It's not a quite a native UI but close enough. I was surprised to find it is written in Python. It uses GTK for UI. It's worth looking into. I know I am.

fileeditview4• 6 years ago

Do you mean Meld the merge and diff tool? I do not know any other Meld and could not Google anything related to UI programming..

Maybe you misread my question? I was asking for UI frameworks to develop applications with.. such as GTK, Qt etc.

okareaman2• 6 years ago

Yes, I meant Meld the merge and diff tool. It uses the GTK sdk to produce a pretty nice UI (although their UX is a little clunky) https://meldmerge.org/

lotwxyz• 6 years ago

The idea of creating cross platform desktop applications is why I created Linux on the Web. First of all, it is merely a website, so there is no concept of downloading anything, and needing to give system-level permissions. But it is a website that looks, acts, and most importantly feels like any other desktop environment in the world.

I have been working on this, nearly full-time, in one form or another, since 2011, ie, near the beginning of the Chrome/v8/nodejs-led webapp "blastoff" point. You can give the desktop environment a try at https://lotw.xyz/desk.os (pay attention to the bottom-left corner of the screen).

My main audience at the present time is people just like yourself, so hopefully we can keep in touch (I'm Dennis). There are ways to communicate built into the interface.

davismwfl2• 6 years ago

Honestly the only one I have used successfully and the one I see most professional companies choose is Qt. Yes you possible have to pay for a license when you get to that point, but they work with small companies/startups and the license fees are not crazy and it saves you tons of time while making your app performant, portable and clean.

Gtk to me is just not worth the effort, it is a mess and documentation is horrid. We tried Gtk on one project I worked on a while back and it was abandoned because of the struggles we had to go through just to make it work as expected. While Qt isn't a panacea by any means, it is lightyears better than Gtk. I know I am pissing off someone that knows Gtk well and can't see why it is hard to use, but coming from the perspective of I need to get an app running and not struggle through a framework, Gtk just doesn't cut it.

And especially if you are talking about graphing, performance etc, Qt will be the best of them. While you are on the open source Qt you get community support and lots of help/examples. And if you do reach the point you are paying for a license then at least with Qt you will get quick support and problem resolution not based on a communities best efforts which may not align with your companies issues.

If I didn't mind some pain in framework maturity, I'd probably try Flutter. Flutter desktop is in early previews IIRC, but it (at least for mobile) is documented much better and is easier to use than Gtk IMO. Flutter does work pretty well for mobile, but that's the only thing I've used it for, so no clue on what the desktop preview even looks like.

fileeditview4• 6 years ago

Thanks for your input. It coincides with my impression about Qt and Gtk. Years ago I made an application (for myself) with Qt and C++ and it was kind of a pleasant experience. I was only reluctant because I would like to not use C++ in my free time.. I will however consider this again and maybe see what bindings exist for Qt.

I don't think Flutter is an option for me. I would then rather go the JS/Electron route. It just makes no sense to learn Dart to me.. the only use for it seems Flutter.

davismwfl2• 6 years ago

Yea, I only mentioned flutter because it is there and is growing, but if I wanted to ship a desktop app quickly to get moving, it'd be Qt for me. I personally love C/C++, but understand not everyone does, but for installed desktop apps, C/C++ still just makes the most sense to me.

I know Wireshark moved off Gtk to Qt for a variety of reasons, but some of their key points from what I remember was Gtk was falling further behind on issues, current trends and platform support whereas Qt has really kept up and keeps evolving with the market.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

jboynyc2• 6 years ago

Don't dismiss Racket too soon, I would say. The developer of ActivityLog2 has been doing a lot to integrate charts and graphs into Racket GUI applications, and the program itself (https://github.com/alex-hhh/ActivityLog2) is a good showcase of that work. His blog is also worth a read (https://alex-hhh.github.io/index.html). Take a look!

fileeditview4• 6 years ago

Thanks for mentioning this.. very interesting. I even had this project starred on Github but did not remember it.. :)

I will give racket another look. Do you by any chance know some more real world Racket applications?

jboynyc2• 6 years ago

Maybe some of the stuff Fractalide is doing? I vaguely remember some impressive stuff from a FOSDEM talk.

soegaard• 6 years ago

Check this example:

https://dev.to/goober99/learn-racket-by-example-gui-programm...

newfeatureok• 6 years ago

Use Electron. If your app takes off then you can reevaluate and re-write as necessary.

tnolet• 6 years ago

Correct. Seems to work fine for Slack and Notion among others.

baspey• 6 years ago

I'm surprised that nobody talks about wxWidgets!

https://www.wxwidgets.org/

It's what I use for my app "Coollector Movie Database" and I'm very happy with it.

Ok, it's C++, but you get a super fast app, and there's no licensing issue contrary to Qt (it's completely free even for commercial apps). I recommend!

Ask HN: What language/framework do you recommend for UI-heavy desktop apps?

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