Expo vs Qt

Overview

Stacks464

Followers637

Votes138

Expo

Stacks811

Followers693

Votes66

Expo vs Qt: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will explore the key differences between Expo and Qt. Expo and Qt are two different frameworks used for creating mobile and desktop applications, respectively. Understanding their differences can help developers make an informed decision on which framework to use for their projects.

Deployment Platforms: Expo is primarily focused on developing mobile applications and is specifically designed for iOS and Android platforms. On the other hand, Qt is a cross-platform development framework that supports multiple platforms including desktop, mobile, embedded, and more. Qt's versatility allows developers to target a wider range of devices and operating systems.
Programming Languages: Expo is mainly based on JavaScript and uses React Native as the underlying framework. This makes it easier for web developers to transition into mobile app development. Meanwhile, Qt primarily uses C++ for development, making it more suitable for developers with a strong background in C++ or who require low-level optimizations and performance.
User Interface Design: Expo relies heavily on a declarative UI style, where developers define the UI components using JSX and React Native styles. This approach simplifies the UI design process and promotes code reusability. In contrast, Qt provides a more traditional approach to UI design, allowing developers to create interfaces using a combination of Qt Widgets or QML (Qt Meta-Object Language), which offer more control and flexibility while sacrificing some simplicity.
Native Access and APIs: Expo provides a comprehensive set of pre-built APIs and modules that simplify access to device functionalities, such as camera, geolocation, sensors, and more. However, Expo apps are executed within a managed runtime environment, which restricts direct access to all native APIs and capabilities. On the other hand, Qt offers direct access to device APIs and allows developers to utilize platform-specific features more extensively, enabling greater control and optimization options.
Community and Ecosystem: Expo has a thriving open-source community and a large number of community-built components and libraries available. This active community ensures a wide range of resources and support for Expo developers. Qt also has a strong developer community, but it has been traditionally more focused on desktop application development. However, Qt's growing popularity in mobile and embedded development has also expanded its community and ecosystem offerings.
Development Tools and IDEs: Expo provides a comprehensive development toolset, including Expo CLI, Expo client app, and a web-based development environment known as Expo DevTools. These tools enable developers to quickly develop, test, and preview their apps without the need for complex setup or device emulators. Qt, on the other hand, provides its own IDE called Qt Creator, which offers powerful development and debugging features specifically tailored for Qt applications. Qt Creator also integrates well with other popular IDEs, providing flexibility for developers.

In summary, Expo and Qt differ in terms of deployment platforms, programming languages, user interface design, native access and APIs, community and ecosystem, and development tools. Understanding these differences can help developers choose the right framework based on their specific requirements and expertise.

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Advice on Qt, Expo

Furqan

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

React Native

Hello guys, I am new here. So, if I posted without specific guidelines, please ignore.

Basically, I am an iOS developer and developing native apps for the last three years. Recently, I started learning React Native to develop apps for both platforms. If anyone out there knows any useful resources that will become a better react native developer.

@{#newbie}|topic:null|

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Detailed Comparison

Qt	Expo
Qt, a leading cross-platform application and UI framework. With Qt, you can develop applications once and deploy to leading desktop, embedded & mobile targets.	It is a framework and a platform for universal React applications. It is a set of tools and services built around React Native and native platforms that help you develop, build, deploy, and quickly iterate on iOS, Android, and web apps.
Statistics
Stacks 464	Stacks 811
Followers 637	Followers 693
Votes 138	Votes 66
Pros & Cons
Pros 17 High Performance 13 Declarative, easy and flexible UI 12 Cross platform 12 Performance 9 Fast prototyping Cons 5 Paid 4 C++ is not so productive 2 Lack of community support 1 Lack of libraries 1 Not detailed documentation	Pros 15 Free 13 Hot Reload 9 Easy to learn 9 Common ios and android app setup 6 Open Source
Integrations
No integrations available	React Native

What are some alternatives to Qt, Expo?

Ionic

Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.

Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.

React Native

React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.

Xamarin

Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

NativeScript

NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

Apache Cordova

Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Framework7

It is a free and open source mobile HTML framework to develop hybrid mobile apps or web apps with iOS native look and feel. All you need to make it work is a simple HTML layout and attached framework's CSS and JS files.

PhoneGap

PhoneGap is a web platform that exposes native mobile device apis and data to JavaScript. PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova. PhoneGap allows you to use standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, avoiding each mobile platforms' native development language. Applications execute within wrappers targeted to each platform, and rely on standards-compliant API bindings to access each device's sensors, data, and network status.

Vue Native

Vue Native is a mobile framework to build truly native mobile app using Vue.js. Its is designed to connect React Native and Vue.js. Vue Native is a wrapper around React Native APIs, which allows you to use Vue.js and compose rich mobile User Interface.

Shoutem UI

Shoutem UI is a set of styleable components that enables you to build beautiful React Native applications for iOS and Android. All of our components are built to be both composable and customizable.

Related Comparisons

Expo vs Qt: What are the differences?

Introduction

Deployment Platforms: Expo is primarily focused on developing mobile applications and is specifically designed for iOS and Android platforms. On the other hand, Qt is a cross-platform development framework that supports multiple platforms including desktop, mobile, embedded, and more. Qt's versatility allows developers to target a wider range of devices and operating systems.
Programming Languages: Expo is mainly based on JavaScript and uses React Native as the underlying framework. This makes it easier for web developers to transition into mobile app development. Meanwhile, Qt primarily uses C++ for development, making it more suitable for developers with a strong background in C++ or who require low-level optimizations and performance.
User Interface Design: Expo relies heavily on a declarative UI style, where developers define the UI components using JSX and React Native styles. This approach simplifies the UI design process and promotes code reusability. In contrast, Qt provides a more traditional approach to UI design, allowing developers to create interfaces using a combination of Qt Widgets or QML (Qt Meta-Object Language), which offer more control and flexibility while sacrificing some simplicity.
Native Access and APIs: Expo provides a comprehensive set of pre-built APIs and modules that simplify access to device functionalities, such as camera, geolocation, sensors, and more. However, Expo apps are executed within a managed runtime environment, which restricts direct access to all native APIs and capabilities. On the other hand, Qt offers direct access to device APIs and allows developers to utilize platform-specific features more extensively, enabling greater control and optimization options.
Community and Ecosystem: Expo has a thriving open-source community and a large number of community-built components and libraries available. This active community ensures a wide range of resources and support for Expo developers. Qt also has a strong developer community, but it has been traditionally more focused on desktop application development. However, Qt's growing popularity in mobile and embedded development has also expanded its community and ecosystem offerings.
Development Tools and IDEs: Expo provides a comprehensive development toolset, including Expo CLI, Expo client app, and a web-based development environment known as Expo DevTools. These tools enable developers to quickly develop, test, and preview their apps without the need for complex setup or device emulators. Qt, on the other hand, provides its own IDE called Qt Creator, which offers powerful development and debugging features specifically tailored for Qt applications. Qt Creator also integrates well with other popular IDEs, providing flexibility for developers.

Expo vs Qt

Overview

Expo vs Qt: What are the differences?