from Hacker News

A new cross-platform solution for Web developers

by heapwolf on 12/9/23, 1:27 PM with 23 comments

  • by heapwolf on 12/9/23, 1:47 PM

    Hello HN! Creator and co-maintainer of the Socket runtime here. This project is new, and it's very ambitious, so I'm here to answer any and all questions. Some of the key take-aways are...

    - A focus on Web Devs (No new languages to learn)

    - A runtime, not a library (All developer code is encapsulated)

    - Provide a secure context that loads like local web server (to make it easy to bring existing code, and use it like a web developer)

    - Normalize native platform features like Bluetooth and UDP sockets - Normalize differences between wkwebview and Webview2, and provide things like a unified WHATWG fetch method and URL class.

    - Provides new kinds of communication protocols (like P2P)

    Please visit the post for more details and give it a star on GitHub to show your support. Cheers!

  • by mikealrogersHN on 12/9/23, 5:14 PM

    Looks great!

    Since I've never heard anybody prefer React Native to just regular old React, React Native seems kinda pointless now.

  • by spasquali on 12/9/23, 2:28 PM

    I have worked with some on the team in a professional setting in the past. I've seen them deliver brilliant enterprise-grade engineering to the Fortune 500. Now they're shaking up the world again. For some reason they're just giving it all away. Take advantage of their generosity. This is pro.

  • by throwaway-42808 on 12/9/23, 9:59 PM

    How easy would it be to make a Socket-based GUI program, stick it on a thumb drive and run it on a friend's PC?

    The Distribution Guide (https://socketsupply.co/guides/#distribution-guide) has instructions for code signing on Apple platforms, but I'm curious about the "weekend project" angle. Like, does `ssc` produce exe, apk? Could I use it to make a self-contained app that can launch without installation on Linux?

  • by insertcoffee on 12/9/23, 1:36 PM

    Been waiting forever for a tool to make native mobile apps using web tech, looks very promising.

  • by tylerdinner on 12/9/23, 2:14 PM

    I've been following the project for a bit and this is great, I'm really excited for this to get wider adoption. This is gonna save a lot of headaches and put power in the hands of web devs.

  • by mjamesderocher on 12/9/23, 2:40 PM

    I’ve been trying it for a contract where I have to wrap an existing PWA into a native app. The developer experience is really great!

  • by ssali123 on 12/9/23, 3:10 PM

    Do you guys have a tutorial on live p2p video/audio streaming? I wanna check it out!

  • by rpap on 12/9/23, 11:30 PM

    Very Cool! This is going to really speed up development

  • by night4walkers on 12/9/23, 1:55 PM

    How I didn't hear about this before? this going to be a game-changer.

  • by samblond on 12/9/23, 5:46 PM

    Looks cool

  • by jhaynie on 12/9/23, 1:46 PM

    great to see continued innovation in this area. especially great to see based around the web. something i have been pushing and trying to build since 2007

  • by markchipman on 12/11/23, 10:11 PM

    Looks great... just getting started :O

  • by ssali123 on 12/9/23, 3:06 PM

    Awesome