The End of Cross-Platform as We Know It
In 2015 I was a native iOS developer working as a freelancer. I knew Objective C — the only language I could type in my sleep. Swift was still struggling with ABI compatibility, and I was waiting.
When I decided to reenter the job market, everyone wanted React Native.
It was the new kid on the block. Every engineering blog, mainly including Airbnb, shouted from the rooftop about the advantages of write once, ship everywhere. My friends advised me to move to cross-platform, or retire soon.
I was partly OK to learn native Android on the job, if someone offered me that opportunity, trusting my engineering skills in Windows + iOS world.
But I hesitated to go for RN. LinkedIn dumping its HTML5 based cross platform app in 2013 was fresh in my memory. Though React Native was perfectly native in terms of execution, it failed to betray the native feeling the way Objective C / Java did.
My hesitation was validated soon:
I read about the news wherein Facebook — the creator of RN — announced switching its iOS app main page (the Newsfeed) to component Kit — a framework created based on Objective C++. They heavily borrowed the declarative approach of React, but implemented everything using Objective C++ to harness the true power of iOS architecture — something…
