My Nativescript Experience
Published: 2020-04-11 07:42:19

Well the quest start from a need to develop a next generation mobile application to solve a particular well posed problem. Then comes the element of time to progression ratio. Well from this element one decides “I need a technology that will allow me to save time in developing this mobile application whilst not compromising code quality”, then you decide to surf the web or ask someone they tell you about native script.

You compare the time saving features that native script offers with other alternatives

*Time saving Features*

    Cross platform development
    Third party libraries and Plugins
    The development Pipeline
    Debbuging Tools
    Availability of system development kits
    Adaptability and Learning Rate

Well as for me looking at all those factors native script prevailed comparing to competing technologies.

Then the problem starts, we are at a point in which i have confidence on the technology above other techs. Then i have to get my hands dirty on coding.

Problem 1: Setting Up the Environment

The technology offers full-setup which installs all required tools for local development and also offers the CLI - installation only, Full setup has a great initial setup costs in terms of time and internet connection related costs, from this cost one might decide to go for the CLI installation and get to work with native script, with a good hypothesis one might conclude that more than 70% choose this setup. However this setup comes with a limitation you can only preview your app using the nativescript preview app and that app by its self has a limitation, most of unverified plugins do not work on it.

How can this be a problem? Well lets say you have CLI setup and you continue to develop and write about 1000 lines of code and you decide a plugin might be help-full, then you install the plugin, you run command tns preview you get the warning message that plugin is not included on preview. Then you dont have a choice but to install the Full setup. Now the cost of setup includes both the full setup and the time component of CLI setup. With only the above knowledge assuming you dont have any knowledge about how sidekick works this event can be very discouraging, due to the complexity of the full setup.

Problem 2: Full Setup

Now you are done with the full setup assuming everything was done correctly, you want to preview your app on a connected device, you execute command “tns run android” the build method used by nativescript is incremental which is a complement to the technology. Lets assume its your first time running the command it can take about 7minutes to complete on a average machine. You understand ok that was my first build, then you run the incremental build you find out it takes about 80% of the initial build time to complete, then that when the real problem starts. Which is lower productivity due to the process that the technology applies.

The Core Problem

Native script is a good technology to work with if you have experience with its downfalls, my real challenge using this technology is productivity, productivity decreases asymptotically as you continue working with it. However if you expect the downfalls you can prepare for them, and i dont wanna lie you will love the technology.