Exclusive interview with Zeng Jian, senior web front-end engineer at Tencent: Node.js or H5?

With the continuous enrichment of mobile Internet services, neither the original Native App nor the traditional Web App can meet the current business needs. As a result, Hybrid App, which has the dual advantages of "good user interaction experience of Native App" and "cross-platform development of Web App", has become the new favorite of major Internet companies.

Why Hybrid App?

Some mainstream mobile applications on the market are developed based on the Hybrid App approach, such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Baidu Search, and China Eastern Airlines.

In Zeng Jian's opinion, the core functions of an APP should be implemented in a native way to ensure the stability of the user experience. Some non-core functions that need to be frequently updated and optimized should be implemented with H5, which greatly improves the R&D efficiency.

Tencent App Store is one of the largest APP distribution platforms in China, with an average daily distribution volume of 120 million. Its main tables—home page, discovery, games, etc.—are all implemented through Native. Smaller functions such as entertainment, reading, and gift package center are implemented through H5.

Since the last round of enterprise informatization mostly chose B/S architecture on the PC side, this also seamlessly transitioned to the way Web App is accessed through mobile browsers. However, WebApp is not good enough in 3D special effects and frequent input and output experience. Zeng Jian told reporters: "For example, pull-down refresh and left-right sliding are still difficult to achieve with H5. So when this experience is needed, we will choose a more reasonable technology.

In terms of plane structure layout and stability, Zeng Jian believes: "Layout is the natural advantage of H5. In terms of stability, H5's WebView will increase APP Crash, so we make Webview an independent process, even if it crashes, it will not affect App Crash, and then make some statistical reports on this basis. Another way is to use the kernel of the QQ Browser X5 team, so that the Crash rate will be relatively better.

In the past two or three years, many open source H5 frameworks have appeared, and many of them have been labeled as "excellent" and "not to be missed". Zeng Jian told the author: "Nowadays, the screen size of mobile phones is limited, and there are not many things that need to be displayed. It is either a list or one or two modules. The complex framework or module management is not a particularly good use case. It may be better to pull data display or directly use native js. So when doing pure H5 related things, you don't have to use other people's frameworks. You just need to think about how it is implemented, and then do what you want.

Node.js or H5?

Node.js or H5? This may be a difficult question for many front-end engineers. Some people think that Node.js is not stable enough and not mature enough, while others think that H5 is just new wine in old bottles. Zeng Jian said: "Some teams in Tencent are using Node.js, but not on a large scale. However, some businesses of Alibaba and Baidu have already used it.

Node.js provides a new direction for front-end development. In some successful practices, we can see that its role in improving R&D efficiency is indelible. However, when doing some online business, engineers not only need to make it, but also need to care about some operation and maintenance issues; for example, the server is down, the hard disk is down... This will greatly increase the requirements for engineers, and there are many aspects that need to be supplemented by themselves in order to provide online services. "

He also pointed out: "Although Node.js only needs one set of js code to run both the front-end and back-end, thus improving R&D efficiency. It also has its own advantages in high-concurrency services. However, its core data storage still requires C++, and C++ is better for large-scale access."

summary:

Whether it is NativeApp or HybridApp or Node.js and H5, they are all technical means for development. There is always a saying that technology is not good or bad, as long as it can achieve the function, it is a good technology. Otherwise, even the best technology cannot achieve the best effect if it is not used in a reasonable scenario.