I wonder if there's a better option for crossplatform apps than Electron. Maybe Rust? Or Python+PyQT?
Source: https://whatdoesmysitecost.com/test/161007_QR_78c23294113b6c...
If the binary size is big because of the (lack of) tools the author knows, the alternative to this is an editor made by someone who knows tools that don't bloat the binary.
This exists because the tools existed to enable the author to make this in a reasonable timeframe/effort.
If something better/smaller exists, use it. If it doesn't exist, it might be because making it smaller requires tools that take more effort/time to use and thus no one has bothered.
I've traditionally liked crapping on bloated software too, but have come to realize that the plethora of software is fine and I can use whatever I like and abstain from what I dislike. The simple fact is that the alternative to bloated software is a subtraction of that software. And sometimes they happen to be useful, despite their size.
I am merely correcting the point that the only alternative is no editor at all.
But my comment was really in response to your second line here. I disagreed with your assertion. The alternative is that this editor doesn't exist, meaning "no editor at all" with this specific featureset/design/etc. And if this editor is better than a less bloated editor, why shouldn't it exist?
Maybe one day, when we'll run out of whatever-it-takes to build computers, we'll have to optimize for size, but that's another story.
To use a tool and give up on size really doesn't bother me. I rather have elegant solutions then full on hackery or difficult memory management type solutions.
That said I'm getting back into GUI editors. Anaconda for research computing. And Atom for text and code. Including Markdown.
The advantage is Atom's module system. 5000+ third-party creations. Including really edge cases. That, I believe, is due to the reach of JS/HTML/CSS.
But binary size is big :-) The Qt libs are not exactly small nor is the python interpreter.
Maybe Xamarin?
Sure, they seem tiny alongside Electron, but a giant doesn't look big next to Jupiter.
Nim competes in the same space, and seems to hit this problem a whole lot nicer. [1]
[0] http://forum.dlang.org/thread/yhcopkgdkhclbkfpisut@forum.dla...
Nim though? Who knows! I've never seen it in production, so I can't tell the downfalls!
I think the popularity of Electron is a travesty.
I live in Australia, but despite it being a first world nation, the Internet speed is miserable and bandwidth is precious. (I pay $50 a month for 100gb, at 1.5mbms). Size still matters.
I do quite like D and the structured process of developing the language they use.
But I also find it incredibly depressing that Nim has a better optimising compiler.
Metaprogramming. The best metaprogramming anywhere.
There's github.com/therecipe/qt which is a full Qt binding (not just QML). You have to set-up a proper dynamic linking build process if you don't want 100MB binaries though, and the bindings require a default Qt installation or a folder full of symlinks to fake one if your Linux distro splits Qt in different folders.